The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 1634 - Weird S＊＊ News Outlet Is Accused of Weird S＊＊ Stuff

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00:00:37.860 Daniel Penny is free, wokeness is on the ropes, and the libs are doubling down.

00:00:42.060 I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show.

00:00:56.980 Welcome back to the show.

00:01:04.160 A young woman who bedded 100 men in one day has reflected on it, and it's quite sad.

00:01:09.600 There's so much more to say first, though.

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00:02:24.580 Daniel Penny is free.

00:02:26.200 We mentioned that on the show yesterday.

00:02:27.940 Now he is speaking out.

00:02:29.880 This is the hero Marine who stopped a crazy career criminal from attacking people on a New York City subway car.

00:02:37.360 Here is what Mr. Penny had to say about his actions.

00:02:41.820 I mean, I'm not a confrontational person.

00:02:44.100 I don't really extend myself.

00:02:47.340 And this type of thing is very uncomfortable.

00:02:50.480 All this attention and limelight is very uncomfortable.

00:02:54.900 And I would prefer without it.

00:02:56.900 I didn't want any type of attention or praise.

00:03:01.060 And I still don't.

00:03:02.440 The guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did do what he was threatening to do,

00:03:14.040 would never be able to live with myself.

00:03:15.720 And I'll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed.

00:03:32.420 Simple.

00:03:35.080 He says if he had not acted, he would have felt guilt for the rest of his life.

00:03:42.460 There is something really profound in Daniel Penny's first reflections, first public reflections that we've heard,

00:03:50.220 which is that the left is calling him a murderer and a racist or whatever stupid nonsense.

00:03:55.640 But the right is calling him a hero.

00:03:59.560 He's saying, wow, this man acted with such heroic virtue.

00:04:02.400 And he's saying, no, that's not true.

00:04:05.700 I acted with normal virtue.

00:04:08.280 It wasn't extraordinary virtue.

00:04:10.460 It was ordinary virtue.

00:04:12.480 And it only seems like extraordinary virtue because we live in a particularly vicious age.

00:04:18.060 I only seem like I'm a hero because we live in an age of cowards.

00:04:25.180 Fifty years ago, this man's actions would have been laudable, but not particularly notable.

00:04:32.660 You're on a subway car.

00:04:34.640 Some wacko comes on and says, I'm going to hurt all of you. 1.00

00:04:36.960 I'm going to kill you.

00:04:37.680 I don't care.

00:04:38.220 I'm not afraid of death.

00:04:39.440 He looks like a criminal.

00:04:40.580 It turns out he is a career criminal.

00:04:41.980 And if you are a man at all, certainly if you're a U.S. Marine, you're going to go and you're going to go restrain that guy.

00:04:49.180 Simple.

00:04:50.000 That would have been commonplace.

00:04:52.840 What makes it appear to be heroic virtue today is that we live in an age where people are selfish.

00:05:00.580 They're focused on themselves, not others, and not on God.

00:05:03.220 So the notion of living with guilt for not having acted to help other people, that doesn't occur to most people.

00:05:09.400 Because they say, I don't live to help others.

00:05:12.260 I don't live in the face of a transcendent moral order or accountable to God.

00:05:17.700 I don't even believe in God.

00:05:18.540 I'm just living for myself, so I'm going to run away.

00:05:20.320 I'm going to go cower under a bench or something.

00:05:21.800 The notion that you would risk your own life and safety to protect others who are weaker than you, maybe women, maybe children.

00:05:34.340 Today, we say, oh, men and women are exactly the same.

00:05:36.540 I don't need to protect women.

00:05:37.520 I'm going to go send women to the front lines in combat. 1.00

00:05:39.840 I'm going to erase the distinctions between men and women in bathrooms and sports leagues and schools and everything. 0.88

00:05:45.780 I don't even think there's a difference between adults and children.

00:05:47.480 I'm going to give children the right to choose to castrate themselves.

00:05:51.320 We're going to pretend that there is no age of consent, that there is no age of reason, that we're all just exactly the same.

00:05:56.540 That's what makes this so confounding to so many people.

00:06:01.780 This guy comes out like a lot of heroes.

00:06:04.020 He says, look, I'm not really a hero.

00:06:05.480 But in this case, his perspective is the better one.

00:06:09.380 His is the more accurate one.

00:06:10.460 He's saying, I really didn't do anything all that extraordinary.

00:06:13.900 I didn't go run in front of a moving train and untie the woman who was tied to the train tracks.

00:06:18.740 And I didn't do that.

00:06:20.380 I just restrained a dangerous man who was threatening people on a subway.

00:06:25.660 You all should have done that, too.

00:06:28.180 That's what he's saying.

00:06:30.700 He is exhibiting ordinary virtue in a vicious age, which makes this guy who would have been laudable.

00:06:39.260 It makes him into a true hero today and an exemplar for the rest of us.

00:06:46.020 There is no reason that every other man on that subway car shouldn't have acted exactly as he did.

00:06:50.280 Now, the libs are freaking out about it. 1.00

00:06:52.400 The Associated Press writes,

00:06:53.680 Is that the new euphemism we're using?

00:07:19.740 That's what we're calling him now?

00:07:20.920 This is the AP's version of when the head of ISIS was killed.

00:07:26.420 They said, an austere religious scholar, al-Baghdadi, is that what's distinct about him, that he's an austere religious scholar?

00:07:34.100 Is that what is notable about Jordan Neely, that he's a subway rider?

00:07:38.760 I was in New York about a week ago.

00:07:40.720 I rode the subway.

00:07:42.660 So how do you distinguish between me and Jordan Neely?

00:07:46.080 Might it have something to do with his criminal record a mile long?

00:07:51.160 Might it have something to do with the fact that Jordan Neely, who we're told is a subway rider, a Michael Jackson impersonator, a promising youth, might it have something to do with the fact that he broke an elderly woman's face?

00:08:02.340 And I think he punched an elderly man in the face too.

00:08:04.600 And he was just a violent, violent criminal forever, for like his whole life, and was in that moment.

00:08:12.000 And we're not even saying he deserved to die because he had been a criminal.

00:08:15.260 He was threatening to harm and kill people in that moment.

00:08:19.600 A subway rider.

00:08:20.760 Wow, man, what's Daniel Penny got against subway riders, you know?

00:08:24.280 Boy, I got to stash that one away.

00:08:26.000 That's a euphemism par excellence.

00:08:28.280 Meanwhile, you have a member of the New York City Council, Tiffany Caban, who says,

00:08:36.160 Jordan Neely deserved better than the violence of being denied access to stable housing and health care, and then dehumanized for it.

00:08:45.540 Jordan Neely deserved better than the systems that allow for and justify extrajudicial white supremacist violence, lowercase w, against black, capital B, people.

00:08:59.860 So thanks to Elon Musk, we now have community notes.

00:09:04.380 So readers have added context to this post from the New York City Councilman.

00:09:08.980 And they write, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors after he punched a 67-year-old woman in the street in 2021,

00:09:16.180 Jordan Neely was given free access to stable housing and health care at a treatment facility in the Bronx.

00:09:20.740 He abandoned the facility after 13 days.

00:09:22.640 Ooh, that really seems to undercut that argument.

00:09:26.820 Jordan Neely deserved better than being denied access to stable housing.

00:09:30.520 He was offered stable housing.

00:09:31.520 He turned it down because he was a violent career criminal and also on drugs and also, to the left's point, did have a very terrible past, did have the—apparently his father wasn't all that present when he was a kid and his mother dated a crazy, violent person.

00:09:51.720 A crazy, violent person murdered his mother and he found out about it and it supposedly set him off on this trauma.

00:09:57.360 And, of course, that's deeply traumatic, but none of the accusations here against the evil white people, according to Tiffany Caban, none of that—none of that is true.

00:10:06.820 He was given housing.

00:10:08.240 He was given health care.

00:10:09.680 He turned it down.

00:10:11.700 There was no extrajudicial white supremacist violence against black people.

00:10:16.660 It was just a Marine of virtue in a vicious age was protecting the people that Jordan Neely was threatening to kill.

00:10:25.660 That's all it was.

00:10:27.360 But what about the first claim?

00:10:29.820 Jordan Neely deserved better.

00:10:31.960 Even assuming she hadn't been totally wrong on the facts, Jordan Neely deserved better.

00:10:37.040 That isn't true.

00:10:39.060 Actually, he deserved much worse than he got.

00:10:42.680 Actually, all of us deserve worse than we get.

00:10:45.500 It's that line from Shakespeare.

00:10:48.420 I could accuse myself of such things that were better.

00:10:52.060 My mother had never borne me.

00:10:53.120 In the course of justice, none of us should see salvation.

00:10:54.920 This is another example.

00:10:57.300 Just zoom out a little bit from this particular case, Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely.

00:11:01.360 Zoom out a little bit from New York City.

00:11:03.220 Zoom out a little bit even from the way we talk about crime and punishment in America today.

00:11:07.200 This is another example of religion dictating our view of politics without many of us even knowing about it.

00:11:15.840 In this case, what this woman is advancing is a particular view of original sin. 1.00

00:11:22.660 She doesn't know that.

00:11:23.480 She probably doesn't think deeply about original sin or religion or much of anything at all.

00:11:28.500 But that is what she's talking about here.

00:11:31.660 She is talking about the notion of what we deserve.

00:11:37.080 The modern leftist view is that we all deserve everything.

00:11:43.860 We're so good.

00:11:45.820 We deserve to be treated kindly all the time.

00:11:50.160 We deserve to live forever.

00:11:51.780 We deserve, we just deserve only sunshine and rainbows.

00:11:56.400 But we don't get only sunshine and rainbows.

00:11:59.000 We get sick.

00:12:00.440 We're hurt.

00:12:01.680 We are treated to injustice.

00:12:03.920 And we die.

00:12:05.320 And so how do you explain that?

00:12:07.960 The left explains that by saying there is systemic oppression.

00:12:13.240 And so what is the systemic oppression?

00:12:16.040 Well, he's a black guy and the black people are always oppressed.

00:12:19.480 And there has to be a white person oppressing us.

00:12:21.860 Someone has to be oppressing us.

00:12:22.980 In this case, not a black person.

00:12:24.000 So it's a white person.

00:12:24.880 And so that's why.

00:12:27.000 That's why things went wrong in this guy's life.

00:12:30.080 It's because of white people. 0.85

00:12:32.360 Well, hold on.

00:12:32.880 The father who was not present for him, he's not a white person.

00:12:37.540 The guy who murdered his mother, I don't think he was a white person.

00:12:42.080 The drug addictions or the mental illness or the appetites for disordered living on the street, 0.89

00:12:50.600 those weren't white people.

00:12:53.340 There's got to be something else here.

00:12:55.400 What is it?

00:12:56.220 And the answer, the Christian answer, the traditional answer is it's original sin. 0.94

00:13:00.640 We have problems.

00:13:02.000 We are broken.

00:13:03.380 There's something in us.

00:13:05.340 Something's gone a little bit wrong in creation.

00:13:07.520 So then there are all these questions.

00:13:08.620 Okay, is it God's fault?

00:13:10.120 Did God do this to us?

00:13:11.560 And the Christian answer is no. 0.97

00:13:13.160 God created all things good.

00:13:15.100 And man, through the abuse of his free will, permitted sin and death to enter into the world.

00:13:20.280 And that good has real existence.

00:13:22.920 And evil is, it's not, we're not in a manichaeistic, dualistic world where there are two opposing forces, good and evil.

00:13:30.280 Some people hold that view.

00:13:31.260 But the Christian view is that there is good, which is real, which has existence, and that evil is the privation of the good. 0.84

00:13:37.240 But because we live in a fallen world, we cannot save ourselves.

00:13:40.300 So we are in need of a savior who, through his grace, through grace that we have not merited, we are offered salvation even though we don't deserve it.

00:13:51.440 This is the context of the debate in which you see a stupid comment like you get from this New York City councilman, Jordan Neely deserved better,

00:13:58.420 that we all know doesn't quite make sense, but most people today can't articulate why it doesn't make sense.

00:14:03.920 And I think a lot of people have at least a sense that maybe religion has something to do with politics, but most people can't explain exactly how.

00:14:11.300 So when we threw Christianity out of our civilization, we thought, okay, maybe we can keep all the nice stuff, but we don't need to go to church on Sunday. 1.00

00:14:17.700 Well, this is what we threw out too.

00:14:19.060 What we threw out is that our most basic questions of civilization no longer make sense to us.

00:14:25.620 We no longer provide answers to them.

00:14:27.400 There's so much more to say.

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00:15:37.760 The libs have lost it, not just on the Daniel Penny issue, not even just on petty street crime and punishment.

00:15:44.340 Listen, Senate Democrats are still, after the November elections, after Trump won in an Electoral College landslide and won the popular vote, and Republicans won unified government, Senate Democrats are still dragging their experts before Senate committees to push for mass amnesty for illegal aliens.

00:16:05.460 But Congress has a choice.

00:16:06.980 Instead of going down that path, we can instead crack down on exploitation, strengthen millions of families, and build American prosperity by providing undocumented immigrants a way to fix their papers.

00:16:18.960 The choice is clear.

00:16:20.760 The choice is clear.

00:16:22.260 We need mass amnesty, even though most Americans voted against that explicitly.

00:16:27.440 I love, too, another euphemism.

00:16:29.180 We open up with the subway rider, Jordan Neely.

00:16:31.140 Now we get to, we need to give Americans the opportunity, the undocumented Americans. 1.00

00:16:36.760 They're Americans, but they're undocumented, and we need to give them the opportunity to fix their papers. 1.00

00:16:43.640 Just again, just to clarify a little bit, the problem with the 11 million plus illegal aliens in our country is not that there are typos on their papers.

00:16:55.600 It's not that they don't possess a physical document, and if we only hand them a sheet of paper, everything will be better.

00:17:02.180 The problem is what their lack of documents or their forged documents represent, which is that they are in this country illegally. 0.79

00:17:12.300 This Democrat seems to be confusing sign for signified, symbol for symbolized.

00:17:17.620 The problem is not the document.

00:17:19.020 It's what the document represents, which is that they've committed a crime, and they have violated some of those basic laws of our country, and we don't want them to do that.

00:17:26.660 We need to punish them for doing that because we want to actually have a nation.

00:17:30.640 That's the problem.

00:17:32.220 But I think he knows that, and I think he's being obtuse, and I think the libs are using euphemisms, as they always do, to control our minds and hypnotize us.

00:17:39.820 Regardless, he comes out and he says, we need mass amnesty for 11 million plus illegal aliens.

00:17:44.840 And you listen to these Democrats, and you say, yo, bro, read the room.

00:17:51.780 Maybe have you – did you see what happened in November?

00:17:54.380 Like maybe cool it with the mass amnesty calls here.

00:17:58.280 You guys are really unpopular.

00:18:00.080 You managed to lose married women, 44 percent of women under the age of 45, 40 percent of women under the age of 30. 1.00

00:18:07.780 You lost 20 percent of black men.

00:18:09.500 You lost 46 percent of Hispanic voters.

00:18:11.860 You lost a lot in this election.

00:18:14.000 And immigration was in the top three issues for people.

00:18:17.880 And the majority of Americans, the vast majority of Americans, have signaled on public opinion surveys that they want to drastically reduce all migration for years now.

00:18:28.740 So like maybe cool it with your plan to flagrantly violate the law and legalize 11 million plus people.

00:18:36.580 What are you guys thinking?

00:18:37.880 Seems crazy, right?

00:18:38.900 Until you realize that the Democrats understand the issue of mass amnesty is not a way to give the people what they want.

00:18:49.380 And it's not even a way to persuade people that this is in fact what they want.

00:18:54.140 It's a way to get around the people.

00:18:56.300 That's what mass amnesty is about.

00:18:59.520 Mass amnesty is about Democrats saying, yikes, we cannot consistently win elections with Americans.

00:19:07.280 The American people don't really like us that much.

00:19:10.820 So if we're not going to persuade Americans, if our plan is not appealing, we're just going to make new Americans.

00:19:19.260 We're going to import people by the millions into this country who are statistically much more likely to vote for us.

00:19:25.860 Now, you might say, Trump won 46% of Hispanics.

00:19:29.860 Maybe Democrats are not correct in their calculation that illegals are more likely to vote for Democrats.

00:19:34.720 Or that the children of illegals through birthright citizenship are more likely to vote for Democrats.

00:19:39.860 Again, they're much more likely than the native-born population.

00:19:42.900 So it's probably still a good bet for Dems.

00:19:45.680 But that's what this is about.

00:19:47.860 It's not that the Dems are just stupid.

00:19:50.120 It's not that the Dems are just not reading the room or something.

00:19:54.420 They are.

00:19:55.320 They know that mass migration is deeply unpopular.

00:19:58.420 They just think it's a way around the people with whom it is unpopular.

00:20:03.140 They think if they can ram that through, they'll get a permanent electoral majority.

00:20:06.820 And they very well might.

00:20:09.020 Now, the Democrats are doubling down on everything.

00:20:12.900 They've learned nothing from the election.

00:20:15.160 So let's move away from crime and punishment on the street.

00:20:18.980 Let's move away from migration. 0.99

00:20:20.100 What about the sexual revolution front, which is also at the top of people's minds?

00:20:24.440 Pink News is an outlet that has maligned me on a number of occasions.

00:20:28.620 Pink News is one of the leading LGBT LMNOP news outlets in the country.

00:20:34.100 And you're going to be shocked by this.

00:20:37.460 Here's a headline from the BBC.

00:20:39.820 Pink News bosses accused of sexual misconduct.

00:20:46.300 Could you believe that?

00:20:48.900 The guys, the two fellas who run the most prominent LGBT sexual revolution, aberrant and deviant news outlet in the world, 1.00

00:21:00.560 they've been accused of sexual misconduct.

00:21:03.200 Wow.

00:21:03.560 It's always the ones you most expect, isn't it?

00:21:07.400 I won't read this whole article, though it's worth reading.

00:21:09.540 Here's just a little bit.

00:21:11.740 The couple who run Pink News, the world's largest LGBT news website, have been accused by staff, this is by staff, of multiple incidents of sexual misconduct.

00:21:19.080 In fact, several former staff members told the BBC they saw Anthony James, a director at the UK-based company and husband of its founder.

00:21:28.160 Again, give the BBC, you know, a little leeway here.

00:21:31.560 It is not possible for a man to be the husband of another man, of course. 0.77

00:21:35.260 But, I don't know, we're all confused in our language now.

00:21:37.820 They saw this man, the husband of the founder of this outlet, kissing and touching a junior colleague who they say appeared too drunk to consent.

00:21:49.540 And more than 30 current and former staff members said a culture of heavy drinking led to instances where founder Benjamin Cohen and his husband, quote-unquote,

00:21:59.540 behaved inappropriately toward younger male employees.

00:22:02.460 Away from the cameras and red carpets, multiple staff members have told the BBC they had experienced bullying and sexual misconduct,

00:22:10.320 which made some of them feel unsafe to be alone around Mr. Cohen and Dr. James.

00:22:15.400 Allegations of misogyny, so it's not just the men.

00:22:18.300 Apparently, in one of these instances, this guy said, look, my husband, quote-unquote, isn't at home anymore, so let's go back.

00:22:23.960 He's always getting with other men.

00:22:25.260 So, again, to the point of the people who said it's ridiculous to try to redefine marriage, I guess,

00:22:31.360 even if two fellas could get married to each other, they don't seem to take their vows all that seriously.

00:22:36.420 Of course not, because men and women are different, and it's an absurdity to pretend that there's such a thing as same-sex marriage. 0.97

00:22:42.060 Regardless, it's not just the fellas.

00:22:43.880 Allegations of misogyny have also emerged, and several people told us that some young female staff members have been asked to act as the couple's surrogates.

00:22:53.320 So these two fellas, when they're not busy trying to prey on the young men in the office,

00:22:59.180 they decide they want to go to the baby store and purchase a child because they've indulged their fantasies and deviant desires to such a degree that they don't pursue women.

00:23:11.620 They can't have a child with a woman the way it actually works, so they're going to go buy some woman's egg and then rent some woman's womb and maybe pressure some of their staff members to act as their surrogates so that they can have a baby and deprive them of the natural mother and expose them to this abject degeneracy. 1.00

00:23:27.440 It is always the ones you most expect.

00:23:30.040 And having been maligned by this particular news outlet on a number of occasions, I can't say that I'm surprised.

00:23:39.780 I guess I take that as an honor now that these guys don't like me.

00:23:43.340 I guess you know a man by his enemies.

00:23:45.860 There's so much more to say.

00:23:46.800 First, though, go to strongholdrescue.org.

00:23:49.120 As Americans, we are blessed to have people like Navy SEALs and Army Rangers and a lot of other people to represent and defend us during the worst of times.

00:23:56.760 However, in most countries, when war and violence break out, there is often no one to help the people caught in the middle.

00:24:03.800 That is where an organization called Stronghold Rescue and Relief steps in.

00:24:07.480 Founded by a former Navy SEAL, Stronghold sends small teams of U.S. veterans into active war zones to conduct rescue missions and deliver life-saving care in the most dangerous places.

00:24:17.540 At this very moment, stronghold teams are deployed on the front lines of the war in Burma, assisting tribes facing genocide and ethnic cleansing.

00:24:25.560 Stronghold is able to serve others because every month, thousands of supporters each pitch in a little bit to keep Stronghold running.

00:24:32.700 If you would like to become a supporter too, you can visit strongholdrescue.org right now.

00:24:37.520 When you become a monthly supporter, you will receive the same kind of T-shirt that Stronghold teams wear during their real-world operations.

00:24:43.560 And during the month of December only, a private donor has pledged to double the donation of every new supporter up to $25,000 total.

00:24:50.980 So, for less than the cost of a Netflix subscription or a meal at a restaurant, you can help create jobs for America's veterans, fund critical missions to serve the innocent.

00:25:00.120 It's totally tax-deductible.

00:25:01.940 Strongholdrescue.org.

00:25:04.920 Folks, there is still time, but you've got to act quick.

00:25:08.980 You've got to get the yes or no game.

00:25:12.700 The yes or no game is the hottest game over at the Daily Wire.

00:25:17.460 It's a show.

00:25:18.120 You can watch it on my YouTube channel, and you can watch it on Daily Wire Plus.

00:25:21.780 But also, you can get the game and figure out who knows whom among your friends and family best.

00:25:27.320 Mr. Davies, are you there?

00:25:28.660 Oh, I'm here.

00:25:29.360 You want to play?

00:25:30.380 I would love to.

00:25:31.020 I'm so locked in right now.

00:25:32.360 All right.

00:25:32.600 Here's my—Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

00:25:36.840 What's my answer?

00:25:37.680 I think you would say no, because it's an Advent movie.

00:25:46.040 Oh, man.

00:25:48.220 Wow.

00:25:51.040 Yikes.

00:25:51.700 Oh, bro.

00:25:52.780 You—I was going to answer yes.

00:25:56.100 It is a Christmas movie, even though the makers of Die Hard say it's not a Christmas movie.

00:25:59.960 It is.

00:26:00.580 It takes place around Christmastime.

00:26:02.220 You have given the only answer that will get me to change my answer.

00:26:06.600 You're right.

00:26:06.940 It's an—it is technically an Advent movie.

00:26:10.800 Boom.

00:26:11.340 I've never seen that happen before.

00:26:12.720 Get your game, dailywire.com slash shop.

00:26:18.020 Now, speaking of weird sex stuff, I mentioned on this show, I think it was last week, this gal who is in pornography, 1.00

00:26:26.620 and she's endeavoring to bed 1,000 men in one day. 1.00

00:26:31.600 This is a family show, so I'm going to speak a little bit in euphemisms and blur some things out.

00:26:35.020 Anyway, this gal is training for the project, and she has already bedded 100 men in one day. 1.00

00:26:44.540 And there's a clip of her come out reflecting on that experience.

00:26:49.220 Here's what she had to say.

00:26:49.980 It's not for the weak girls, if I'm honest.

00:26:53.840 It was hard.

00:26:57.720 I don't know if I'd recommend it.

00:26:59.780 Why not?

00:27:00.300 I think if you're a different type of girl, it's very like—it's kind of like being a—in a sense of like, it's just a different feeling.

00:27:13.280 I don't know how to explain it, like—it's not like just having sex with someone.

00:27:18.880 Yeah, yeah.

00:27:20.240 Just one in, one out.

00:27:21.320 Like, it feels intense.

00:27:25.180 Like, more intense than you thought it might.

00:27:28.320 Definitely.

00:27:31.060 Sorry.

00:27:31.460 It's okay.

00:27:31.700 It's okay.

00:27:32.920 Just take it.

00:27:33.780 Yeah, one minute.

00:27:34.400 Yeah, yeah, it's okay.

00:27:35.020 Yeah, yeah, it's okay.

00:27:36.240 So, then she goes off and cries about this experience because she says, you know, as if it's just dawning on her.

00:27:51.660 She says, when I slept with 100 men in one day for money, it's kind of like being a prostitute.

00:28:02.520 It's more than kind of like that.

00:28:04.420 It literally is that.

00:28:06.240 You are selling your body for money.

00:28:09.000 You are selling sex acts for money.

00:28:10.700 That's about as basic a definition of prostitution as there can be. 0.98

00:28:14.280 Now, in America today, in the decadent West, we've tried to draw a distinction between pornography and prostitution. 0.82

00:28:20.100 But they are the same thing.

00:28:22.660 They're distinct in some ways because, one, there's a camera in the room.

00:28:25.460 But the acts that the human beings are going through are the same act.

00:28:28.840 So, she says, yeah, it was really, you know, it's very intense.

00:28:33.520 All of these men.

00:28:34.400 It's dawning on her that she is not merely a body.

00:28:38.440 If she were merely insensible matter, if we were merely insensible matter, then physical actions, then the quality of actions would be determined strictly by the physicality of them.

00:28:51.700 Let me try to bring that down to earth.

00:28:54.160 If we were merely insensible matter, then sleeping with someone you love, maybe your husband or wife, would be exactly the same as being raped.

00:29:05.660 Because it would, the action would be strictly based on the physical action.

00:29:12.360 You know, all things being equal, the physical action would dictate everything.

00:29:16.220 But we all know that sleeping with someone you love, your husband or your wife, is very much not the same thing as being raped.

00:29:24.220 Why is that?

00:29:25.100 Because there is a non-physical aspect to sex.

00:29:28.980 There's a non-physical aspect to everything in our lives.

00:29:31.780 Because we're not merely matter, we are also souls.

00:29:36.020 If it just came down to a physical action, then sexual assault would really not be all that different from any other assault.

00:29:43.340 A rape would not be all that different from, you know, I don't know, slapping someone across the face or giving someone a shove.

00:29:48.460 Of course, one action is far graver than the other, but it can't come down to physicality.

00:29:55.120 It also has to come down to soul.

00:29:57.600 Ultimately, really, it does have to come down to soul.

00:30:00.140 So you really feel for this woman.

00:30:02.020 I feel for this woman at least.

00:30:03.640 I saw even some relatively heartless people on the internet express sympathy for this woman.

00:30:10.500 She should not be permitted to do this.

00:30:13.940 That's my take.

00:30:15.060 That's, I think, the conservative take.

00:30:17.680 But there are people with diametrically seemingly opposed views who say the opposite.

00:30:22.960 You have, on the one hand, the feminists who say, this woman absolutely should have the choice to do this. 1.00

00:30:29.440 Her body, her choice.

00:30:31.160 Sex work is empowering.

00:30:33.460 And no man or anyone else should be telling her what to do.

00:30:37.400 And yeah, it's intense, but she's a girl boss and she's going to handle it.

00:30:40.780 And it's actually good for her to be used by 100 men in one day and in turn to use those men. 1.00

00:30:46.000 Yeah, her choice.

00:30:47.680 You might not agree with that choice, but it's her choice to make.

00:30:50.880 You go, girl.

00:30:51.500 Girl power. 0.99

00:30:52.060 That's the feminist take. 1.00

00:30:53.200 On the flip side of that coin, there's the misogynist take.

00:30:56.340 The sincerely misogynist take, which is, this woman, she made her bed. 1.00

00:31:02.460 Now she can lie in it.

00:31:03.660 These are her choices.

00:31:05.200 She made those choices.

00:31:06.980 I'm not going to feel bad for her for the choices that she made.

00:31:10.540 That was her choice.

00:31:12.200 So why are you asking me to feel bad because she made that choice?

00:31:16.980 Two sides of the same coin.

00:31:18.280 Notice it all comes down to choice, which is super lib, that is very liberal, that derives

00:31:26.540 from a liberal anthropology and a liberal system of values according to which autonomy is the

00:31:33.320 highest good, according to which procedural norms are exalted above all else, substantive

00:31:39.480 goods are denied, according to which the right supposedly to choose something is much better

00:31:48.040 than anything you might actually choose in practice.

00:31:52.480 All choices are basically on the same moral level so long as we have choice, but I'm a

00:31:58.120 conservative.

00:31:58.960 I'm not a liberal, okay?

00:32:01.580 I'm a Christian.

00:32:02.800 I'm not a pagan.

00:32:04.500 So I don't think that choice is the highest of all goods.

00:32:07.960 I don't think choice is much of a good at all.

00:32:10.640 I don't think that what this woman is doing is really an expression of her freedom.

00:32:16.680 The feminists say this is her freedom. 1.00

00:32:18.280 This is her liberation.

00:32:19.780 The misogynists say she had her freedom.

00:32:21.780 She was free to choose.

00:32:22.980 Was she really free to choose?

00:32:24.220 This kind of draws us back even to the conversation about Jordan Neely.

00:32:29.340 No one put a gun to her head and said sleep with 100 men, but I'd be curious to know her 1.00

00:32:35.000 relationship with her father.

00:32:37.460 I even saw someone on the internet say this is her choice, this typical fatherless behavior.

00:32:41.440 If you're acknowledging that this is the kind of behavior that is typical of women who 1.00

00:32:45.780 have a bad relationship with their father or who don't have a father who's present, then

00:32:49.960 you are implicitly acknowledging that her choice was circumscribed.

00:32:54.760 It was inclined in a certain direction before she ever made any conscious decision.

00:33:02.020 You're acknowledging that our choices are shaped by something.

00:33:05.740 You're acknowledging that we don't have all exactly the same kind of freedom.

00:33:11.720 You're acknowledging that freedom is not perfect neutrality between alternatives.

00:33:16.920 You're acknowledging that freedom is not merely the ability to do what we wish.

00:33:20.760 You're acknowledging that true freedom is an inclination to do right and the right to do what

00:33:30.860 we ought to do.

00:33:31.700 That's what you're acknowledging.

00:33:32.680 You're acknowledging that the feminists are wrong and the misogynists are wrong and the 1.00

00:33:37.720 liberals broadly are wrong.

00:33:39.820 And you're acknowledging that maybe we should restrict some of our choices.

00:33:42.820 And then I think you have to come to my conclusion, which is the way to deal with this is to restrict

00:33:48.500 what this woman can do with her own body. 1.00

00:33:52.460 Because we restrict what we do with what we all do with our bodies.

00:33:55.760 I can't go shoot up heroin on the street.

00:33:57.900 Well, in San Francisco, I could, but here I can't.

00:34:00.080 That's against the law.

00:34:00.980 So that's a restriction on my body, but that's a good restriction on my body.

00:34:06.520 I can't drive my car a hundred miles an hour to work.

00:34:08.760 That's a risk.

00:34:09.140 I can't, I can't push that gas pedal down all the way with my foot.

00:34:11.760 That's a restriction on my body.

00:34:13.360 I can't cross the street when the light is red.

00:34:15.640 That's a restriction on my body.

00:34:17.300 Laws impose restrictions on our bodies.

00:34:19.280 But a law is an ordinance of reason for the common good by him who has care of the community and promulgated.

00:34:25.740 That's just what law is.

00:34:27.140 It puts restrictions on certain of our behaviors, not to oppress us.

00:34:31.660 That's the anarchist view.

00:34:32.760 That's the liberal view.

00:34:33.820 Sometimes that's a libertarian view.

00:34:35.140 The law does that, in fact, to make us more free, to give us an exalted freedom, to allow us to flourish.

00:34:43.040 It's not all that complicated.

00:34:44.420 It's complicated in an age that has no moral reasoning left.

00:34:47.980 It's complicated in an age after virtue, but it's not really complicated in normal circumstances.

00:34:55.260 Tell this woman, no, she can't do that. 0.99

00:34:58.140 She'll thank you for it later.

00:35:00.760 Speaking of women suffering from psychic and mental darkness, Taylor Lorenz, a prominent left-wing journalist,

00:35:07.960 I was just on Piers Morgan's show.

00:35:10.040 She was discussing the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson,

00:35:13.240 and she explained that his murder made her feel joy.

00:35:17.980 I do believe in the sanctity of life, and I think that's why I felt, along with so many other Americans,

00:35:25.020 joy, unfortunately, you know, because it feels like...

00:35:28.680 Joy?

00:35:28.960 Serious?

00:35:29.140 I mean...

00:35:30.020 Joy in a man's execution?

00:35:31.760 Maybe not joy, but certainly not empathy.

00:35:35.960 Because, again...

00:35:36.460 We're watching the footage.

00:35:37.620 How can this make you joyful?

00:35:39.800 This guy's a husband, he's a father, and he's being young down in the middle of Manhattan.

00:35:44.980 Why is that making you joyful?

00:35:46.220 Of Americans that be murdered. 0.85

00:35:47.880 So are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans, who died because greedy

00:35:55.600 health insurance executives like this one push policies of denying care to the most vulnerable

00:36:00.940 people.

00:36:01.480 And the many millions of Americans that have watched people that I care about suffer and

00:36:07.220 in some cases die because of lack of health care.

00:36:09.540 So should they all be killed, then?

00:36:10.940 Should they all be killed, these health care executives?

00:36:13.160 Would that make you even more joyful?

00:36:15.820 No, that would not.

00:36:17.000 But why not?

00:36:18.340 Why are you laughing?

00:36:19.320 I think...

00:36:20.420 Because...

00:36:20.920 Here is.

00:36:22.220 Because...

00:36:22.560 Imagine you're this guy's kids, the murdered health care CEO's kids, and you hear this

00:36:28.660 woman, this liberal journalist who presents herself as a good person, as a paragon of virtue on

00:36:32.920 the right side of history, saying that she felt joy at the murder of your father.

00:36:39.840 Because why?

00:36:40.540 Because he works in the health insurance industry.

00:36:43.700 Now, this woman purchases health insurance, I'm certain. 1.00

00:36:47.560 Well, I think she just lost her job, so maybe she doesn't have health insurance right now. 0.99

00:36:50.360 But in general, she pays for health insurance, I'm certain. 0.98

00:36:53.720 So she's participating in the health insurance industry.

00:36:57.900 She's funding it.

00:36:59.160 She's part of it.

00:37:00.040 But she says no, because this guy held a particular corporate office in a particular health insurance

00:37:05.660 company.

00:37:06.480 It is good.

00:37:07.460 It is a joyous occasion that he was murdered.

00:37:11.140 I had a journalist from a very prominent outlet, more left-leaning outlet, text me yesterday.

00:37:17.860 And he asked, why is it that people are saying that the celebration of this guy's murder is a

00:37:22.080 left-wing thing? 0.87

00:37:23.900 Everyone is frustrated with health insurance companies.

00:37:26.740 So why are they saying it's a left-wing thing?

00:37:28.340 And I told him, I said, I think it's coding left in particular because of this woman, because of 0.63

00:37:31.960 Taylor Lorenz.

00:37:32.740 She's the most prominent figure.

00:37:34.060 She's super lib. 1.00

00:37:34.900 And she's out there celebrating his murder.

00:37:37.820 But I think it's also because no matter how frustrated a conservative might be with health

00:37:44.060 insurance, no matter how much a conservative might want to change health insurance,

00:37:47.220 that the conservative view of the world does not permit us to celebrate people's murder.

00:37:53.140 Because the conservative view of the world, even still, broadly recognizes a transcendent

00:37:57.820 moral order.

00:37:58.600 The conservative view of the world, even still, is largely Christian, in which case it's quite 0.99

00:38:03.340 sinful to celebrate the murder of someone.

00:38:06.700 The conservative view of the world still exalts law and order.

00:38:09.900 We still want to be tough on crime.

00:38:13.280 We still want to side with victims more often than perpetrators.

00:38:16.600 The left-wing view of the world is about, well, emptying out prisons.

00:38:20.000 Prominent left-wing politicians said they wanted to abolish prisons.

00:38:23.560 They always want to go soft on crime, it seems, these days.

00:38:26.580 They malign the police and anyone who represents law and order.

00:38:30.460 They mock religion. 0.97

00:38:31.960 They mock the notion of God's existence.

00:38:33.660 And they mock notions of the common good.

00:38:35.940 Really, ultimately, what it comes down to is the self.

00:38:38.400 And they come up with all sorts of ideologies that try to preserve society while still acknowledging

00:38:45.500 that the self is all that really matters.

00:38:47.220 But it never ultimately works.

00:38:50.360 So you get down to a consequentialist morality on the one hand.

00:38:53.860 You get down to utilitarianism or Marxism or, you know, Stalin.

00:39:00.660 You can't make an omelet without cracking some eggs.

00:39:02.820 You know, that can really justify any immoral actions so long as you can at least convince

00:39:06.900 yourself there's a good end in sight.

00:39:09.120 Or it comes down to Nietzsche, which is the will to power.

00:39:14.720 You know, it comes down to Nietzsche, the superman who can overcome morality in the very

00:39:19.080 act of committing hideous sins like in Crime and Punishment, an axe murderer, you know,

00:39:22.960 killing an old woman, in order to, you know, prove that you're really above these bourgeois 1.00

00:39:30.100 illusions of morality.

00:39:31.280 I think that's why.

00:39:33.000 And then, furthermore, there's one last aspect, which is the left habitually engages in and

00:39:40.340 encourages, as a matter of principle, mortal sin, which darkens the intellect and inclines

00:39:45.740 people to this kind of nasty behavior.

00:39:47.880 I'm not saying the right doesn't sin.

00:39:48.980 The right commits plenty of sins.

00:39:50.240 But the right does not, in principle, encourage sin.

00:39:53.220 And so the right has a little bit of a clearer view on this.

00:39:55.580 And even if they don't like their health care companies, they're not going to dance at

00:39:59.340 the murder of its leaders.

00:40:02.680 Now, right now, Daily Wire Plus gift memberships are 40% off.

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00:40:33.180 Now, give the gift of Daily Wire Plus.

00:40:36.000 My favorite, I actually didn't pick a favorite comment yesterday.

00:40:39.080 I told the producers, I said, you pick your favorite comment for once, and I'm going to

00:40:43.040 read it.

00:40:43.320 I'm going to see how it is.

00:40:44.740 So they picked, rytilo88.

00:40:47.940 Michael did not specify how long he was going to explain something.

00:40:51.320 Now we may never know.

00:40:52.540 Hold on.

00:40:52.860 What was the title yesterday?

00:40:55.320 It was the trial results explained, and I didn't specify how long it took you to explain

00:41:02.280 the trial.

00:41:02.860 It took me about 90 seconds.

00:41:04.420 How long did it take?

00:41:05.820 I would say about three minutes.

00:41:07.220 About three minutes.

00:41:08.140 Wow.

00:41:08.460 That was a huge oversight, Mr. Davies.

00:41:11.260 Because we don't want to be inaccurate.

00:41:13.400 We don't want to be ambiguous here.

00:41:14.660 You got to give people exactly how long it takes me to explain something.

00:41:17.380 So next time, I would say, yeah, maybe three minutes, probably three and a half minutes

00:41:23.160 tops.

00:41:25.240 Speaking of social media sensations, the New York Times has a depressing headline.

00:41:29.800 The New York Times writes, big piece here, how being an influencer became a new American

00:41:37.220 dream.

00:41:37.880 Two preteen girls promote fashion and beauty products to thousands of online vans from 0.97

00:41:43.360 their rural Alabama home.

00:41:45.140 This is the dream.

00:41:46.140 And I really want to speak on this topic because by some accounts, I think I am an influencer.

00:41:53.340 Am I an influencer?

00:41:54.080 I know I'm not a preteen girl hawking, you know, cosmetics or something, but do I, Mr.

00:41:59.280 Davies, do I count as an influencer?

00:42:02.020 I think so, Michael.

00:42:03.120 I think you do.

00:42:03.740 You influence people to buy cigars and yes or no games.

00:42:06.680 And there's a lot of things that make you influential.

00:42:08.980 And candles.

00:42:09.460 Don't forget candles.

00:42:10.260 Thecandleclub.com.

00:42:11.140 Hold on.

00:42:11.880 I forgot to light my candle.

00:42:13.380 Thecandleclub.com.

00:42:15.120 That way you can get the old wise man candle.

00:42:18.060 Okay.

00:42:18.260 Anyway, I digress.

00:42:18.960 As an influencer myself, though an influencer of a certain kind, this is a depressing but

00:42:27.320 totally expected headline from the New York Times.

00:42:30.720 I'll just read one paragraph from this article.

00:42:33.980 In a time of immense wealth disparity, influencer culture has created a more fantastical kind

00:42:38.020 of American dream.

00:42:39.280 Perhaps that's why nearly one third of preteens say becoming an influencer is a career goal.

00:42:44.120 One third of preteens saying they want to be an influencer.

00:42:48.340 Seeing the field's potential for a steady income, not to mention the prestige, the prestige

00:42:53.180 of an ever-growing follower count.

00:42:55.800 That's the prestige they're aiming for.

00:42:57.780 Not some great professional achievement, not a doctorate degree, not a, I don't know,

00:43:04.520 an ambassadorship or something.

00:43:06.100 No, no, no.

00:43:07.060 Follower count.

00:43:08.040 That's what confers prestige.

00:43:09.720 Some parents are encouraging it.

00:43:12.160 Oh, yes, honey.

00:43:13.300 That's right.

00:43:13.860 You should aspire to someday to be an influencer.

00:43:15.560 I saw it to go behind the scenes of this new creator economy with curiosity and a focus

00:43:20.140 on the girl's experiences aiming to allow viewers to come to their own conclusions.

00:43:23.400 Okay.

00:43:24.720 Now, I like to think I am not merely an influencer.

00:43:28.140 I at least tell myself on occasion I will write a book on a subject or at least publish

00:43:33.620 a book on a subject.

00:43:34.400 Sometimes the books have words, sometimes they don't.

00:43:35.860 I like to think on occasion I engage in real substantive issues to try to illuminate them

00:43:43.540 or otherwise edify the audience.

00:43:45.300 I'm not saying it's all the time.

00:43:46.840 Sometimes I'm slinging cigars.

00:43:48.320 But sometimes I like to think that's what's going on here, which is the only way I could

00:43:54.240 really justify it.

00:43:55.160 If one were merely going on camera for the purpose of slinging cigars and getting the

00:44:03.100 follower count up a little bit to sling more products.

00:44:07.660 By the way, it's not even about slinging a particular product.

00:44:09.860 It's the notion that it doesn't matter what product you're even slinging.

00:44:12.840 The notion that you're just going to become famous in order to sell anything at all,

00:44:18.760 in order to make money, in order to become more famous, in order to sell anything at all.

00:44:23.460 So that's what seems a little empty and shallow to me.

00:44:28.660 It's certainly no knock on commerce in itself.

00:44:30.860 It's the notion that you're just a vessel for no purpose other than becoming a shinier

00:44:36.940 vessel or so, you know, to what?

00:44:39.600 To just keep churning your follower count.

00:44:43.760 Why is this the new American dream?

00:44:46.940 St. Thomas Aquinas tells us in the Summa, in Prima Secundi, question two.

00:44:50.840 So, he asks, what is the end of man?

00:44:54.800 What is it that we are seeking?

00:44:57.540 The classical answer is happiness.

00:44:59.460 So he says, okay, where is happiness going to be found?

00:45:01.500 And he asks, is happiness going to be found in wealth, honor, fame or glory, power, good

00:45:08.320 of the body, pleasure, good of the soul even?

00:45:12.560 And then finally he asks, is it in any created good?

00:45:15.240 So the fact that he's going through all of these, you could probably infer the answers

00:45:18.220 that he comes to.

00:45:19.060 The answer is no.

00:45:20.920 Happiness is not in wealth.

00:45:22.980 I've had no money.

00:45:25.000 I've had a fair bit of money.

00:45:27.840 It's nice to have money.

00:45:29.500 It's generally a nice thing and you can pay your bills and it gives you peace of mind.

00:45:33.000 But I know people who are far richer than I, who are far less happy than I am.

00:45:37.220 And so happiness cannot lie merely in wealth.

00:45:42.580 And St. Thomas says there are two kinds of wealth.

00:45:44.520 There are natural goods, food and clothing and things like that.

00:45:49.140 And then there is artificial wealth, which is like money.

00:45:52.980 And neither of these really make you happy.

00:45:56.100 Because the natural goods are all in service of something else.

00:45:59.960 I eat so that I have energy, so that I can go do something else.

00:46:05.100 I wear clothing so, well, so that I, you know, I don't impress too many people when I walk down

00:46:09.580 the street.

00:46:09.960 But also I wear clothing so that I'm warm, so that I maintain my body temperature, so

00:46:15.100 that I can go into certain buildings, so that I can do something.

00:46:17.920 It's in service of some other end, so it can't be the end in itself.

00:46:21.040 Money certainly can't be, because money is just a way to get those natural goods,

00:46:25.240 which are just a way to get other goods.

00:46:26.420 How about honor or fame or glory for that matter?

00:46:31.380 Well, what is that for?

00:46:33.100 We want the honors or the fame or the glory, not as an end in themselves, but as a representation

00:46:41.040 of some other good.

00:46:42.880 We are honored for some other good.

00:46:45.060 Or the fame and the glory in pursuit of some other good.

00:46:49.960 It's not just that people walk up and say, hey, I know you.

00:46:53.040 You know, it's in pursuit of some other thing.

00:46:54.600 Even the influencers would say that.

00:46:55.680 It's in pursuit of being able to sell more makeup or whatever.

00:47:00.480 I won't belabor the point, but power, good of the body, pleasure, even good of the soul.

00:47:05.220 What is the good of the soul for?

00:47:06.920 It's in service of some other thing.

00:47:10.540 Any created of good.

00:47:11.600 It's all going to fail you.

00:47:12.900 You know, we desire these things, usually with good intentions.

00:47:16.580 We want fame often because we want to be loved.

00:47:18.960 We want money because we want peace.

00:47:21.600 We want security.

00:47:22.380 But they're just means to those ends, which are higher goods.

00:47:26.480 All created goods are going to fail us.

00:47:28.640 The only thing that will make us happy, ultimately, is God himself, who is good.

00:47:34.540 That's it.

00:47:35.340 And this is not just, you know, simple piety.

00:47:38.700 This is also a conclusion that one must have to arrive at through the use of our reason.

00:47:47.700 You're not going to use your reason properly and come to the conclusion that money is going to make you happy in the end.

00:47:52.040 That just isn't true.

00:47:52.960 So it has to be God.

00:47:55.940 But in a culture that either outright denies God or otherwise says that God just, it doesn't really matter.

00:48:02.780 We can't really know anything about God.

00:48:04.260 It's all just a matter of preference or subjective opinion.

00:48:07.060 In a culture, I'm thinking of St. John Henry Newman here, who points out that universities, right there in the name, they claim to promote universal knowledge.

00:48:19.500 And yet, they often don't teach about God.

00:48:23.260 Are you saying that God, that religion is not a subject of knowledge?

00:48:26.340 That's the implication.

00:48:28.080 Or you're saying it's not, or the university is not the university.

00:48:31.120 But really what they're saying is we can't really know anything about God.

00:48:33.520 So it's not really a matter of fact.

00:48:35.020 It's not really a matter of reason.

00:48:36.580 It's really just a matter of subjective feeling.

00:48:38.400 And in part, that's because of the last 500 years of deformations in our religious thinking.

00:48:44.380 But regardless, this is what happens in a culture that says God doesn't exist or God doesn't matter.

00:48:52.720 Inevitably, you're going to still desire all those intermediary goods, but there's not going to be any point to it.

00:49:00.080 So these people aren't even saying, I want to become a pundit.

00:49:03.020 They're not even saying, I want to become a commentator.

00:49:05.200 They're not even saying, I want to become an author or a thinker or an intellectual or a talking head on the TV.

00:49:11.960 They're saying, I just want to influence.

00:49:15.080 But there's no end to their influencing.

00:49:17.600 It's totally senseless as our culture increasingly becomes.

00:49:24.760 Today's Woke Wednesday.

00:49:25.900 The rest of the show continues now.

00:49:27.100 You do not want to miss it.

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The Michael Knowles Show - December 11, 2024

Ep. 1634 - Weird S＊＊ News Outlet Is Accused of Weird S＊＊ Stuff

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