The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 278 - Alternative Fact-Checking

00:00:00.980 Stunning Kia Sorento.

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00:00:26.840 Kia. Movement that inspires.

00:00:30.000 It's a fact that fact-checkers are checking facts.

00:00:34.500 It's also a fact that these fact-checkers have no idea what a fact really is.

00:00:39.100 We will analyze the history, not merely of fact-checking, but of facts themselves.

00:00:44.380 Then, the APA deems masculinity harmful.

00:00:47.780 Starbucks needs to install needle disposals in their bathrooms. 1.00

00:00:51.360 And finally, the mailbag.

00:00:52.700 I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:01:00.000 The left has now decayed so much that it doesn't even understand what a fact is.

00:01:08.120 We will get to that in a second.

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00:02:21.600 Ring.com slash, what is it?

00:02:23.680 Knowles.

00:02:26.180 There may be nothing more irksome to me in our very shallow modern political dialogue.

00:02:32.980 Then the phrase, fact-checking.

00:02:35.960 Fact-checking is this phrase that has come about.

00:02:39.240 It's exploded in the last five or ten years.

00:02:42.580 It is used largely, if not exclusively, by the left. 0.98

00:02:46.480 And I can't tell if they're being obtuse or if they're ignorant. 0.96

00:02:49.560 I guess it's not. 0.86

00:02:50.620 When it comes to the left, that's not mutually exclusive.

00:02:53.260 But they actually don't know what a fact is.

00:02:55.880 You saw the fact-checking explode during President Trump's speech the other night from the Oval Office.

00:03:02.380 Let's just look at, I mean, there were everyone, every left-wing outlet did a fact-check.

00:03:06.100 Then you have to fact-check the fact-checkers and fact, fact, fact, fact, fact.

00:03:09.040 Let's just look at one of the fact-checkers, John King, on CNN.

00:03:13.200 And just to exemplify how wrong even the premise of fact-checking is.

00:03:19.400 Did he get it done?

00:03:20.820 He created a sense of crisis and urgency along the way.

00:03:23.820 He also created a lot of business for the fact-check machines.

00:03:26.080 The president says a wall will stop the drugs, the heroin, the fentanyl, the other opioids.

00:03:30.740 Most of the drugs, his own government says, come in through legal points of entry, where there's commerce, where there's crossing.

00:03:36.800 A wall will not block the legal points of entry.

00:03:39.900 The president said, again, the New Mexico free trade agreement will indirectly pay for the wall.

00:03:45.120 It's not how it works.

00:03:46.300 Money created trade deficits, trade surplus, doesn't go into the United States Treasury for free spending on other programs.

00:03:52.440 The president also said this is powerful when he talks about these heinous, unacceptable, reprehensible crimes,

00:03:58.060 murders, assaults committed by people illegally in this country.

00:04:01.660 No question, they're heinous and reprehensible.

00:04:03.480 But the statistics show you that the crime rate among immigrants is actually lower than the crime rate among non-immigrants. 0.99

00:04:09.700 So that's cherry-picking and seizing and trying to create an emotional response.

00:04:13.780 He also talked about the economic impact.

00:04:15.400 They're taking jobs from especially African-Americans and Latinos.

00:04:18.520 A lot of American corporations would tell you right now, they can't find workers.

00:04:21.680 They're desperate for workers, in part because of a strong economy this president should be claiming credit for.

00:04:26.540 Boom! Boom! You see those fact checks?

00:04:30.280 Now, I know John King was speaking in his news presenter voice, and he was on television, so it sounds like what he's saying should be true.

00:04:38.280 But it wasn't. It isn't true.

00:04:40.140 No fact that he mentioned in that diatribe contradicts any of the facts that President Trump mentioned in his speech.

00:04:47.240 Just to go through what John King said, he said that a wall wouldn't stop the drugs from coming into this country.

00:04:53.520 We have this awful opioid crisis. It's so bad now that in large part because of drug overdoses, you now have the average life expectancy of Americans decreasing for the first time in 50 years.

00:05:06.800 He says that a wall would not stop the flow of drugs into America, wouldn't help reduce the flow of drugs.

00:05:13.340 This is not true.

00:05:14.380 He cites the drug enforcement agencies of the federal government.

00:05:18.060 The drug enforcement agency has also said that subterranean tunnels are a major route of illegal drugs into the country.

00:05:24.720 President Trump's proposal for the wall includes digging that wall six feet down to cut off some of those tunnels.

00:05:30.840 To say nothing of the fact that if you have this giant border along the wall, it's going to be much easier to police where those tunnels are cropping up,

00:05:37.960 where people are showing up, than if people are just willy-nilly running across unpoliced border.

00:05:42.700 So that one just isn't true.

00:05:44.860 How about he says, boom, fact check, better trade agreements with Mexico are not going to help Americans pay for the wall

00:05:53.620 because the federal government doesn't get all of that money.

00:05:58.120 Well, yes and no.

00:05:59.600 And actually, when you've got a more robust economy, then you've got a greater number of tax receipts going to the government.

00:06:07.240 So tax receipts to the government increases dramatically because people are making more money.

00:06:10.500 They're paying more taxes on all of that money.

00:06:12.900 So in that sense, the government does get more taxes.

00:06:15.440 Also, how is Mexico going to pay for the wall?

00:06:18.320 Let's say that American taxpayers do have to pay for the wall.

00:06:21.200 Let's say that these new trade agreements do help the economy, but they don't really offset it with tax receipts to the government.

00:06:27.580 Well, Americans have greater wealth as a result of that robust economy and better trade deals.

00:06:33.340 So money is fungible, right?

00:06:34.860 Either the money is coming from the federal government or state government or it's coming out of your own pocket.

00:06:39.060 But either way, if you are getting more money, then in a certain sense, Mexico is paying for the wall or part of the wall or whatever.

00:06:46.720 So his fact there, also not true.

00:06:48.280 And then finally, this idea that illegal aliens don't commit crime, they commit crime at a much lower rate than native-born citizens, this isn't true. 0.97

00:06:57.900 This might be true in certain state crimes or local crimes.

00:07:01.120 But we know that illegal aliens are two and a half times as likely as non-illegal aliens, as legal residents and citizens, to commit federal crimes.

00:07:14.400 Now, you could say federal crimes don't make up even a large percentage of all crimes.

00:07:20.040 Okay, that's fine.

00:07:21.020 How about on the economy?

00:07:22.600 On the economy, we know that illegal immigration hurts low-skilled American workers.

00:07:29.000 President Trump says this in particular affects black Americans.

00:07:33.560 This in particular affects some illegal immigrants from Latin America.

00:07:37.460 That is true.

00:07:38.500 That is undeniable.

00:07:40.000 Illegal immigration floods the country largely with low-skilled immigrants. 1.00

00:07:45.380 Who does this hurt?

00:07:46.480 Low-skilled Americans. 0.97

00:07:47.520 For instance, you have, these are just estimates from various think tanks.

00:07:51.420 7.4 million illegal alien workers competing with the 43 million other low-skilled workers in America.

00:07:59.560 Call it about an even 50 million low-skilled workers in America.

00:08:03.260 Well, of those low-skilled workers, black workers account for 5.6 million.

00:08:08.460 And black workers have the highest unemployment rates of that whole $50 million pie.

00:08:14.100 Higher unemployment rates than illegal aliens in the same arena. 0.68

00:08:18.100 This simply makes sense.

00:08:19.300 It's the fact that black Americans are more likely than other demographics to be low-skilled workers

00:08:24.320 means that when you flood the labor market with other low-skilled workers,

00:08:28.020 they are going to be disproportionately affected.

00:08:30.640 You can't argue with that.

00:08:31.840 That's simple economics.

00:08:33.340 So there's the fact check.

00:08:34.480 There's the facts, the fact check, and then the fact check of the fact check.

00:08:37.120 What does a fact check mean?

00:08:38.660 Because I'm not just taking issue with John King.

00:08:41.200 I'm not just taking issue with fact checkers at CNN and the Washington Post

00:08:46.520 and all of these other left-wing outlets.

00:08:48.140 I'm taking issue.

00:08:49.900 The problem, essentially, is with the idea of fact checking itself.

00:08:55.300 On yesterday's show, we defended alternative facts

00:08:58.480 because the left has misconstrued alternative facts to mean untruths or the opposite of true things.

00:09:06.160 In reality, what Kellyanne Conway very clearly said when she was talking about alternative facts

00:09:10.760 is that the left presents one narrative and a small set of facts,

00:09:15.480 and then alternative facts, which are also true, will give greater context

00:09:20.780 and put the whole event into a different light,

00:09:23.820 and it will likely contradict the left-wing narrative.

00:09:26.720 Where did this idea of fact checking in the public media come about?

00:09:31.940 Factcheck.org was founded around 2003.

00:09:36.900 Snopes, a famous fact checker, it was actually founded a little earlier in 1994,

00:09:42.860 but it was originally just to debunk urban legends.

00:09:45.800 It wasn't primarily political at all.

00:09:47.660 It only really got political around 2003, actually around the same time as factcheck.org.

00:09:53.180 The Washington Post created its fact checker, its public fact checker, in 2007.

00:09:59.240 So what's going on?

00:10:00.140 This is all happening around the same time.

00:10:02.680 It's not as though public fact checking has been around as long as journalism has been around.

00:10:07.760 It's a relatively new phenomenon.

00:10:10.500 Now, fact checking as an editorial job has been around forever.

00:10:15.040 When a reporter turns in a story, it's usually an editor's job or some editor's job to fact check it.

00:10:21.680 You say, oh no, you got this number wrong, you got this number wrong.

00:10:24.680 When you write a book, I don't know about writing books, but I know about publishing books.

00:10:28.040 When you write a book, you hand it in to the publisher,

00:10:30.460 and then they'll have fact checkers go through and make sure that everything is right.

00:10:33.740 I'm not talking about that.

00:10:34.860 I'm talking about this public fact checking.

00:10:37.460 John King going on CNN.

00:10:39.240 The Washington Post publishing a fact checking column.

00:10:42.900 It all began around this time, the mid-2000s.

00:10:46.380 It's gotten much wider in recent years.

00:10:51.680 The fundamental point here is that fact checkers do not check facts,

00:10:57.060 but they give leftist opinion, and they call it fact checking.

00:11:02.860 Most fact checking that we see from John King on CNN to the Washington Post or whatever

00:11:07.860 is actually an op-ed column, usually from the leftist point of view,

00:11:13.400 that is trying to pretend that it's not presenting a political or partisan point of view,

00:11:17.580 so it calls itself objective and neutral and fact checking.

00:11:23.560 Where does this come from?

00:11:25.580 It's actually not just CNN's fault.

00:11:27.520 It's not just even the left's fault.

00:11:29.520 It's a problem of modernity.

00:11:31.640 It's a problem of our modern culture.

00:11:34.020 Our conception of a fact, what a fact is, has become absurd.

00:11:39.460 So you hear this dichotomy all the time.

00:11:42.400 Look, you're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts,

00:11:47.840 which is a meaningless statement.

00:11:49.640 It doesn't mean anything because an opinion is the facts as somebody sees them.

00:11:57.060 So when I give my opinion, I am stating the facts from my point of view, from my perception.

00:12:04.160 An opinion is not the same as a preference.

00:12:06.340 For instance, salty leftist tears are my favorite drink.

00:12:10.880 I really, really like salty leftist tears.

00:12:13.880 I really like salty leftist tears is my preference.

00:12:17.340 Some people might not like salty leftist tears.

00:12:19.920 They must be insane if they don't because they're so tasty and yummy, but that's my preference.

00:12:24.860 Now, if I were to say leftist tears are very, very salty and delicious,

00:12:29.380 that's a statement of fact, and it's my opinion because that's what an opinion is.

00:12:36.340 So what does the word fact mean?

00:12:38.660 The word fact, F-A-C-T, means something done.

00:12:44.500 I guess that would be one way to describe the etymology of it.

00:12:47.100 It comes from the Latin, facere, and the past tense of that would be,

00:12:52.900 in Latin it would be factum, in Italian it would be fatto,

00:12:56.860 in Spanish it's hecho, in French it's fe.

00:13:00.520 You see, before or after the fact, a fact is discreet, it's concrete, it's something done.

00:13:08.040 The reason that we are so confused over what a fact is in our modern society

00:13:12.880 comes out of the Enlightenment.

00:13:14.840 It comes out of David Hume in particular,

00:13:17.600 who gave us something called the fact-value distinction.

00:13:21.860 The fact-value distinction is to say that you can't derive an ought from an is.

00:13:28.440 So I can't say, this is a tumbler of salty, delicious, leftist tears,

00:13:33.760 therefore I should drink it.

00:13:36.900 That's what David Hume would say.

00:13:38.120 He's obviously wrong.

00:13:39.160 If you see a tumbler of salty, delicious, leftist tears, you have to drink it.

00:13:42.660 How could you resist?

00:13:43.760 You wouldn't be human if you could resist it.

00:13:46.960 That's where that idea comes from, the fact-value distinction.

00:13:49.280 So what the left wants to say with all of their fact-checking is,

00:13:52.700 look, I'm not saying you should do this or you should do that

00:13:55.400 or this is what I like or don't like

00:13:56.840 or this is good or this is bad or this is my opinion.

00:13:59.500 All I'm saying is this is what it is.

00:14:03.240 And then conveniently for these left-wing fact-checkers,

00:14:06.160 when they just call it like it is, the world is what it is,

00:14:09.560 it always defends their narrative.

00:14:13.700 One person who in modern times has pushed back against this concept

00:14:18.220 is Alistair McIntyre.

00:14:19.900 He wrote a book that was going around the Daily Wire.

00:14:21.820 I think all of our shows we've talked about it before.

00:14:24.160 He pointed out that this idea of the fact-value distinction is fairly new.

00:14:30.540 And obviously there are counterexamples to it.

00:14:33.920 So for instance, if the idea is you can't derive something that you should do,

00:14:39.520 you can't derive an ought from an is,

00:14:41.420 what about the sentence, quote,

00:14:44.540 he is a sea captain,

00:14:46.840 he ought to do, therefore, whatever a sea captain ought to do.

00:14:51.520 And that's kind of a silly example, but it's a real example.

00:14:54.820 It shows that you can derive evaluative conclusions from factual premises.

00:15:00.860 If I say, another McIntyre example,

00:15:04.100 if I say this watch can't keep time,

00:15:06.780 this watch is really, really heavy,

00:15:08.280 I would never say that about my movement watch

00:15:10.100 because my movement watch is one of the greatest watches ever made.

00:15:12.700 But if I were to say that hypothetically,

00:15:14.740 then you could conclude it's not a good watch.

00:15:17.200 You can draw an evaluative conclusion from a factual premise.

00:15:22.460 Now to bring this into real politics,

00:15:24.940 the politics we're talking about today,

00:15:26.420 if I observe a few facts,

00:15:29.160 drugs are pouring over our southern border with Mexico.

00:15:33.220 60 to 80% of women and girls who cross that border illegally are raped.

00:15:37.060 Human beings are trafficked over that border.

00:15:40.120 Our political regime is being compromised.

00:15:43.840 Our democratic republic is being compromised

00:15:45.660 because illegal aliens are being counted for population

00:15:48.740 and representation in the House of Representatives.

00:15:51.620 A country, we have laws on the books that say

00:15:54.680 that you can't enter this country illegally.

00:15:56.520 I can draw from those factual observations

00:15:59.100 the evaluative conclusion

00:16:01.560 that perhaps we should build a wall along that border.

00:16:04.860 I can draw that conclusion.

00:16:07.020 I'm telling you the facts.

00:16:08.160 I'm stating the facts.

00:16:09.260 Now the democrats will tell you,

00:16:10.940 therefore we shouldn't build a wall.

00:16:12.880 They'll try to draw different evaluative conclusions.

00:16:15.440 But it's from this mistaken idea of a fact.

00:16:19.020 I'll just, to use the border example,

00:16:20.820 let's look at a clear one.

00:16:22.580 The border patrol chief under Barack Obama,

00:16:25.020 who actually was replaced by President Trump,

00:16:28.520 he was on Tucker Carlson

00:16:29.860 explaining the rationale for the border.

00:16:32.020 Joining us tonight is Mark Morgan.

00:16:33.960 He's the former head of the border patrol

00:16:35.500 under Barack Obama.

00:16:36.800 He was then replaced by the Trump administration.

00:16:39.440 And we're glad to talk to him again

00:16:40.500 for the second time this week.

00:16:41.540 Mr. Morgan, thanks a lot for coming back.

00:16:43.180 When you hear the term manufactured crisis

00:16:46.540 from politicians and their lackeys in the press,

00:16:49.500 what's your response?

00:16:50.540 My response is those people that are saying

00:16:52.480 that anybody that says that Tucker is misinformed

00:16:55.120 and they're misleading the American people.

00:16:57.820 So before I was even chief of the border patrol,

00:17:00.420 I served in the FBI for two decades.

00:17:02.260 One of my assignments is I led the El Paso office.

00:17:05.080 From my office, right on the border,

00:17:06.500 I could see Juarez.

00:17:07.860 Every single day, Tucker,

00:17:09.240 we worked with the DEA and all components of DHS.

00:17:12.480 And we worked human trafficking cases,

00:17:14.300 we worked drug cases, and we worked gang cases,

00:17:17.220 all impacting the southern border.

00:17:19.500 And then as chief, every single day, Tucker,

00:17:22.360 I was briefed every single day

00:17:24.200 about the men and women who are risking their lives

00:17:25.920 every day and they're apprehending murderers,

00:17:28.840 rapists, pedophiles, other violent offenders

00:17:30.800 and gang members, that's not manufactured.

00:17:33.720 That is real and that's a fact

00:17:35.900 and it's still happening today.

00:17:37.720 That is real and that is a fact.

00:17:39.900 He is talking about facts.

00:17:41.520 He's talking about how many people were apprehending,

00:17:44.260 what people are coming over that border,

00:17:45.660 what they're bringing over that border.

00:17:47.220 Those are facts.

00:17:49.840 A fact is a thing that's been done.

00:17:53.220 That's a fact.

00:17:54.000 Now, usually, when we're talking about fact-checking

00:17:57.940 and fact-checkers, we're not arguing over facts.

00:18:01.600 I guess sometimes we are.

00:18:03.420 Sometimes left-wingers just want to put their head in the sand

00:18:06.260 and close their ears and close their eyes and say,

00:18:08.280 la, la, la, la, la.

00:18:09.280 So they'll say, no, we don't have people

00:18:11.260 coming over the border illegally.

00:18:12.880 We're not compromising our electoral system.

00:18:15.140 There aren't drugs coming.

00:18:16.080 Maybe they say that.

00:18:16.980 But I think that's the fringe.

00:18:18.560 I think most left-wingers will tell you,

00:18:21.140 yes, people are crossing the border, but they should cross the border.

00:18:25.000 Yes, there are millions and millions of people crossing the border,

00:18:27.640 but that's a good thing.

00:18:29.880 Yes, we don't really have solid borders right now as a nation,

00:18:33.120 but we shouldn't have solid borders as a nation.

00:18:35.580 They're not arguing over what the facts are.

00:18:39.100 They're arguing over the meaning of facts,

00:18:42.520 which makes perfect sense.

00:18:43.960 Again, this is another one of these errors

00:18:46.020 that we are now grappling with in our modern politics

00:18:48.940 that comes out of the Enlightenment,

00:18:51.120 that comes out of the fact-value distinction.

00:18:54.980 Maybe it's possible.

00:18:56.180 It is entirely possible, I guess,

00:18:57.760 that the left just doesn't understand this.

00:19:00.380 The left, because it has such shallow thinking

00:19:02.780 when it comes to philosophy and politics and history,

00:19:06.480 maybe they don't quite get this,

00:19:07.880 but if they don't, then listen up, guys.

00:19:10.160 I hope you're watching.

00:19:12.900 We're arguing over the meaning of facts.

00:19:15.880 We're arguing over the meaning of things.

00:19:18.180 This is why conservatives should always talk about the culture.

00:19:23.440 We talked yesterday about the different reactions

00:19:26.320 to President Trump's Oval Office address,

00:19:28.540 and we said the people who are usually Trump critics,

00:19:32.320 maybe they were never Trump,

00:19:33.820 they're the fiscal-first conservatives, I would call them.

00:19:36.420 They just want to talk about dollars and cents.

00:19:38.840 They think the speech should have been about how

00:19:40.860 the border is not that expensive,

00:19:42.500 and it's not that big a deal,

00:19:43.580 and come on, guys, let's not worry about it.

00:19:45.520 And then the people who really liked the speech,

00:19:48.020 such as myself,

00:19:49.100 or maybe the people who wrote the speech or whoever,

00:19:51.480 they're the cultural conservatives.

00:19:53.880 They're the ones who say,

00:19:55.120 go for the gore, go for the graphics,

00:19:57.320 go for the moral arguments,

00:20:00.000 go for the emotion,

00:20:02.140 go for the faces of the victims of people 0.58

00:20:04.300 of these awful crimes.

00:20:06.740 The reason we have to make those stands

00:20:08.640 is because we're not arguing over the facts.

00:20:11.100 Nobody really is arguing over whether the wall

00:20:13.320 will cost X billion dollars

00:20:15.320 or X plus three billion dollars.

00:20:17.680 Nobody cares about that.

00:20:19.020 That's bean counting.

00:20:20.320 What we care about is not the facts,

00:20:22.560 but what the facts imply,

00:20:24.900 what they mean,

00:20:25.820 the meanings that they carry.

00:20:27.200 So, for instance,

00:20:29.780 if the sort of fiscal first conservatives

00:20:31.980 or the conciliatory conservatives

00:20:34.840 want to say,

00:20:35.820 look, let's just talk about what we,

00:20:37.200 forget about the things we're disagreeing on,

00:20:39.100 forget about these graphic,

00:20:40.560 gruesome, grotesque images.

00:20:43.440 Let's just talk about what we can agree on.

00:20:45.360 Five billion dollars isn't that much money.

00:20:47.920 When you talk about only what we can agree on,

00:20:50.540 you've lost the argument

00:20:51.680 because the left has a much narrower view

00:20:54.180 of politics than we do.

00:20:55.500 If we come in and say,

00:20:57.880 okay, we're going to accept

00:20:58.620 all of the left's premises

00:20:59.780 and we're going to argue with them

00:21:01.240 over the conclusions,

00:21:02.260 we've already lost.

00:21:03.580 We can't accept those premises.

00:21:05.840 That is a recipe for losing.

00:21:08.920 You know, facts have,

00:21:11.240 I guess there are physical facts.

00:21:12.620 We're talking about physical facts

00:21:13.540 like a thousand illegal aliens a day

00:21:16.180 at least crossing the border on average.

00:21:18.780 And you can talk about metaphysical facts,

00:21:22.240 the metaphysical facts of laws,

00:21:24.540 the metaphysical facts of the moral laws,

00:21:27.100 the metaphysical facts that govern our politics.

00:21:30.160 Those are facts as well.

00:21:31.780 And when you're talking about the meaning of them,

00:21:34.120 what that implies,

00:21:35.560 it might be less comfortable.

00:21:37.220 It might be less clean cut.

00:21:39.660 You know, you can't really do it in a soundbite.

00:21:41.700 You can't do it in a CNN Don King soundbite

00:21:45.040 or John King or whatever his name is.

00:21:46.960 Is Don King the boxing guy with the crazy hair?

00:21:49.060 Yeah, I would prefer if we did it with Don King, actually.

00:21:53.360 But CNN, if any of the executives are watching,

00:21:55.800 that's my recommendation for your hiring.

00:21:57.660 But you can't do it with that.

00:21:59.080 You can't do that with a little chart

00:22:00.580 or a Vox.com article that says,

00:22:02.840 boom, fact checked.

00:22:04.060 Because we're not talking about things that happened

00:22:06.620 or things that didn't happen most of the time.

00:22:08.800 What we're talking about is the meaning of those things.

00:22:11.160 And when you talk about the meaning of those things,

00:22:13.000 you need a more sophisticated moral dialogue.

00:22:15.220 You need to look past these shallow little premises

00:22:19.260 of our very highly modern and rationalist politics.

00:22:23.500 And you need to talk a little bit more deeply.

00:22:26.040 The border really brings this one up.

00:22:28.640 You know, when it comes to the border,

00:22:31.600 I think a lot of people think,

00:22:33.120 well, you know, nobody really wants all amnesty.

00:22:37.880 Nobody really wants open borders.

00:22:39.660 Nobody really wants these things.

00:22:41.280 Yes, I agree.

00:22:42.420 I agree.

00:22:42.800 Probably in reality, the vast majority of people

00:22:45.640 don't want open borders and people flooding our country.

00:22:48.400 Public opinion polls show that too.

00:22:50.740 But we've got to then be able to talk

00:22:53.820 in a more nuanced way, a more sophisticated way.

00:22:56.720 You can't just talk about numbers and dollars and cents

00:22:59.920 and say, boom, fact checked.

00:23:01.520 That isn't how an advanced society works.

00:23:05.040 That isn't how civilized society works.

00:23:07.340 An even clearer example of this is abortion.

00:23:10.480 You see the problem of the fact value distinction

00:23:12.780 in the abortion argument.

00:23:15.180 You'll say, hey, maybe we shouldn't kill 0.95

00:23:17.800 all those unborn babies.

00:23:19.740 And then the left will say, an unborn baby is a fetus.

00:23:23.000 And that's a fact.

00:23:23.920 That's just a scientific fact.

00:23:25.680 It's a fetus or it's an embryo or it's a blastula

00:23:28.740 or it's a zygote.

00:23:29.860 And they're using all these made up words

00:23:31.180 that refer to various things

00:23:34.940 and that people who have categorized human life

00:23:38.140 at various stages have arbitrarily chosen.

00:23:41.040 They will say those things,

00:23:42.960 but you're not actually getting

00:23:44.300 to the meaning of the fact.

00:23:45.560 The fact is the human person

00:23:47.140 from the moment of conception

00:23:49.180 through the phase that they call zygote,

00:23:51.420 through the phase that they call blastula or whatever,

00:23:53.980 through the glio, I don't know what they call, 1.00

00:23:56.120 to the phrase that they call embryo,

00:23:58.740 to fetus, to baby, to toddler,

00:24:01.420 to child, to adult.

00:24:04.420 The question is the human person.

00:24:06.400 And if you want to talk about that person,

00:24:08.120 you have to get past these petty little shallow understandings

00:24:11.680 of what a fact is.

00:24:13.360 And you have to realize that that human person,

00:24:15.560 whether you call it a zygote

00:24:16.600 or whether you call it a bratty teenager,

00:24:19.000 has a certain meaning.

00:24:21.140 It has a certain import that we have to deal with. 0.74

00:24:24.900 And you're not going to deal with that

00:24:26.040 with Don King or John King or any king on CNN.

00:24:30.600 It's an empty slogan.

00:24:31.780 I mean, I guess that's really what we have to remember here.

00:24:34.340 Fact-checking is an empty slogan.

00:24:37.780 And one example of this,

00:24:39.800 it just came out in the American Psychological Association.

00:24:43.700 The APA has decided that traditional masculinity,

00:24:48.100 as opposed to that newfangled masculinity,

00:24:50.280 I don't know what that is.

00:24:51.360 I think that's femininity. 1.00

00:24:52.900 I think there's the new masculinity is femininity,

00:24:55.760 but the traditional masculinity,

00:24:58.260 which is masculinity, that's harmful. 0.99

00:25:01.200 This is what they say.

00:25:01.980 They say, quote,

00:25:03.400 the main thrust of subsequent research

00:25:05.980 is that traditional masculinity,

00:25:08.200 marked by stoicism, competitiveness,

00:25:11.340 dominance, and aggression,

00:25:13.020 is, on the whole, harmful.

00:25:17.280 Masculinity ideology, 0.66

00:25:19.780 whatever that is,

00:25:20.800 is defined by the APA

00:25:22.500 as a particular constellation

00:25:24.380 of standards that have held sway

00:25:26.840 over large segments of the population,

00:25:29.120 including anti-femininity, 0.90

00:25:31.540 achievement,

00:25:32.540 eschewal of the appearance of weakness,

00:25:34.420 and adventure, risk, and violence.

00:25:36.580 Now, just as, again, a point of language,

00:25:38.920 we've got to be really clear about our language

00:25:40.600 because when we're not clear,

00:25:41.900 the left perverts language

00:25:43.000 and totally wins the culture

00:25:44.240 and totally wins politics.

00:25:46.160 If something is true

00:25:47.680 for virtually all of human history

00:25:50.120 across civilizations,

00:25:51.620 as the APA is saying

00:25:53.640 this definition of masculinity is,

00:25:55.980 then by definition,

00:25:56.800 it's not an ideology.

00:25:59.080 It's not a formalized,

00:26:00.560 rationalized,

00:26:01.580 abridgment of some tradition.

00:26:03.520 It's the tradition itself.

00:26:05.020 So they're using that word incorrectly

00:26:07.000 to make it seem like

00:26:07.940 this random, arbitrary thing

00:26:09.640 that popped up.

00:26:10.600 Masculinity is not

00:26:11.560 a random, arbitrary thing.

00:26:13.320 There are downsides to masculinity,

00:26:15.740 over-aggressiveness, whatever.

00:26:17.980 There are many upsides.

00:26:20.240 Masculinity is pretty beneficial, 0.98

00:26:22.080 I think,

00:26:22.680 to nations at war.

00:26:24.660 If someone declares war on your nation,

00:26:26.600 I think you would hope

00:26:27.640 that you've got masculine men 0.97

00:26:29.200 in that nation.

00:26:29.940 If you're being victimized

00:26:31.100 by a criminal,

00:26:31.840 perhaps you would hope

00:26:32.660 that a masculine man

00:26:34.120 will come up and protect you.

00:26:35.680 Perhaps you would hope

00:26:36.380 that you're masculine enough

00:26:37.800 yourself to defend yourself.

00:26:40.060 Also, people dealing

00:26:41.220 with the realities of life.

00:26:43.140 And this is the one

00:26:43.700 that we can all get.

00:26:44.320 We're not all going to find ourselves

00:26:45.440 in a back alley getting jumped,

00:26:47.100 but we all will deal

00:26:48.440 with the realities of life.

00:26:50.020 And the realities of life

00:26:51.960 require a little bit of grit,

00:26:54.840 a little bit of fortitude,

00:26:56.400 a little bit, you might say,

00:26:57.720 of masculinity.

00:26:59.160 And this is an example

00:27:00.640 of the road to hell

00:27:01.600 being paved with good intentions.

00:27:03.700 What is really harmful,

00:27:05.760 what's actually harmful,

00:27:07.360 is sending out,

00:27:08.360 as we're seeing now,

00:27:09.260 as a generational problem,

00:27:11.000 weak little buttercups

00:27:12.180 into the world

00:27:12.980 and then watching them crumble.

00:27:14.660 And we are watching them crumble.

00:27:16.300 I'm not being hyperbolic.

00:27:17.520 Rates of depression, anxiety,

00:27:20.560 stress among millennials

00:27:21.740 and younger are through the roof.

00:27:23.960 Teen suicide is up 70%.

00:27:25.800 Prescription depression drugs

00:27:27.440 are way up.

00:27:28.780 This is because you have

00:27:30.120 an entire generation,

00:27:32.240 now I guess two generations,

00:27:33.660 that has been told

00:27:34.420 that weakness is a virtue

00:27:35.740 and that strength is a vice.

00:27:37.900 And so when they go out

00:27:38.920 and they meet the realities of life,

00:27:40.300 which are very difficult,

00:27:41.740 even if we had the wonderful,

00:27:43.620 most well-behaved society,

00:27:45.400 people would get sick and die

00:27:46.900 unfair things would happen.

00:27:48.960 And by the way,

00:27:49.620 we don't have the perfect,

00:27:50.940 totally fair society,

00:27:52.120 so there are going to be

00:27:52.760 more hardships than that.

00:27:54.400 It's no benefit to anybody

00:27:56.420 to tell people to be weak.

00:27:58.560 And the APA,

00:27:59.820 in just talking about the facts,

00:28:01.840 in just talking about the science,

00:28:04.080 is forming conclusions

00:28:05.880 that are absurd.

00:28:07.760 They are writing left-wing op-eds,

00:28:11.180 which I'm not surprised.

00:28:12.440 I mean, they are conveying

00:28:13.860 a leftist political narrative

00:28:15.680 and pretending that it is science.

00:28:17.920 It is exactly the same thing

00:28:19.540 that John King is doing on CNN

00:28:21.460 or the Washington Post is doing

00:28:23.040 or all of those other

00:28:24.300 left-wing news outlets.

00:28:25.800 Unfortunately, this has affected

00:28:27.040 not just psychology,

00:28:28.380 but much of our academic establishment.

00:28:30.740 And it's not true.

00:28:31.700 We have to point out to them

00:28:32.940 that those facts aren't facts.

00:28:35.320 It's their interpretation of the facts.

00:28:37.460 It's their narrative

00:28:38.260 of the meaning of the facts.

00:28:39.860 And what we need to do

00:28:40.900 is present to them

00:28:41.700 something different.

00:28:42.340 You might say

00:28:43.200 we need to present to them

00:28:44.120 alternative facts

00:28:45.280 and we need to present to them

00:28:46.500 an alternative interpretation

00:28:48.060 of the facts.

00:28:49.140 We've got a lot more to get to,

00:28:50.360 but we don't have time,

00:28:51.040 so we're going to cut right

00:28:51.680 to the mailbag.

00:28:52.760 But first, but first,

00:28:54.920 go over to dailywire.com.

00:28:57.860 Why?

00:28:58.320 What do you get?

00:28:59.300 What don't you get at this point?

00:29:00.720 You get me.

00:29:01.580 You get the Andrew Klavan show.

00:29:02.960 You get the Ben Shapiro show.

00:29:04.320 You get the Matt Walsh show.

00:29:05.680 You get to ask questions

00:29:06.760 in the mailbag coming up.

00:29:07.700 You get to ask questions

00:29:08.320 in backstage.

00:29:09.260 You get to watch

00:29:10.620 another kingdom.

00:29:11.360 You get everything.

00:29:12.480 You get everything.

00:29:13.500 But most importantly,

00:29:14.580 you get this.

00:29:16.180 The Leftist Tears Tumblr.

00:29:17.620 And let me tell you something.

00:29:19.200 There's no alternative

00:29:20.100 to the Leftist Tears Tumblr.

00:29:22.000 This is a fact.

00:29:23.400 You can derive an ought

00:29:24.600 from this fact,

00:29:25.580 which is you ought to drink

00:29:26.720 those salty, delicious

00:29:27.620 Leftist Tears.

00:29:28.600 Otherwise, you're going to drown.

00:29:29.680 You don't want that to happen.

00:29:30.980 Go over there right now,

00:29:32.040 $9.99 a month,

00:29:33.280 $100 for an annual membership.

00:29:34.880 You get all of that

00:29:35.800 and so much more.

00:29:36.980 Go to dailywire.com.

00:29:38.260 We'll be right back

00:29:38.780 with the mailbag.

00:29:40.620 All right.

00:29:50.820 Let's cut right to the mailbag.

00:29:51.860 I had so many more stories

00:29:53.260 to talk about,

00:29:54.180 but look,

00:29:55.800 the clock says

00:29:56.380 what the clock says.

00:29:57.120 That's just a fact, okay?

00:29:58.620 We're just talking

00:29:59.260 about the facts.

00:30:00.100 First question from Aslan.

00:30:02.540 Michael,

00:30:03.420 why do you think

00:30:04.300 that the right

00:30:05.120 is superior

00:30:05.960 in the meme war?

00:30:07.280 Is it our ability

00:30:09.000 to take a joke

00:30:10.200 or is it the total failure

00:30:12.100 on the left

00:30:12.780 to say that being politically

00:30:14.520 incorrect is a death sentence?

00:30:16.700 I, for one,

00:30:17.500 enjoy the memes all around.

00:30:19.000 Thank you, Aslan.

00:30:20.800 The reason why

00:30:21.980 the right is so much better

00:30:23.740 at memes

00:30:24.500 and the internet,

00:30:25.660 the reason that

00:30:26.540 the left can't meme

00:30:27.780 comes down to

00:30:28.840 clarity of vision

00:30:29.860 and fortitude.

00:30:30.720 It actually comes down

00:30:31.400 to what we were just saying.

00:30:33.620 The reason memes,

00:30:34.640 what a meme is,

00:30:36.000 an internet meme,

00:30:37.240 is an image

00:30:38.260 that just strikes you

00:30:40.620 as usually funny

00:30:42.100 and funny because it's true.

00:30:43.560 It cuts to the heart

00:30:44.260 of some point

00:30:44.880 in maybe no words

00:30:46.600 or maybe a couple of words

00:30:47.820 or images

00:30:48.820 or juxtapositions of images

00:30:50.460 and then it goes viral

00:30:51.740 because so many people

00:30:52.640 think it's true and funny.

00:30:54.460 The reason that

00:30:55.140 the right broadly

00:30:55.720 is better at comedy right now

00:30:56.820 is because of clarity

00:30:57.640 and vision

00:30:58.120 and fortitude.

00:30:59.580 I say clarity of vision

00:31:00.600 because the left can't meme

00:31:02.160 because no one finds it

00:31:03.820 to be true.

00:31:04.620 No one finds their images

00:31:05.860 to be true.

00:31:06.960 When you go see

00:31:07.580 a comedy show,

00:31:09.180 you say it's funny

00:31:10.500 because it's true

00:31:11.560 but if what they're saying

00:31:13.240 isn't true,

00:31:13.840 if they're using the language

00:31:14.760 of political correctness,

00:31:16.280 if they're using euphemisms

00:31:17.820 and soft words

00:31:18.700 and lies,

00:31:19.720 it's just not going

00:31:20.720 to be true.

00:31:21.540 The language of PC,

00:31:22.760 the language of the left,

00:31:23.840 is designed to obscure

00:31:25.180 the truth

00:31:25.760 and so they can't do that.

00:31:27.400 The other reason

00:31:28.240 why they can't meme

00:31:29.280 is because they don't have

00:31:30.280 fortitude,

00:31:31.100 they don't have strength

00:31:32.060 so they're so concerned

00:31:33.660 about offending everybody,

00:31:35.220 this is ostensibly

00:31:36.140 the premise

00:31:36.700 of political correctness,

00:31:38.500 that they can't take

00:31:39.280 a joke themselves

00:31:39.940 and they're unwilling

00:31:40.940 to make a joke

00:31:41.680 about anyone else.

00:31:43.120 I am willing

00:31:43.760 to make just about

00:31:44.860 any joke

00:31:45.400 about anybody

00:31:46.200 and I'm willing

00:31:47.100 to take just about

00:31:48.320 any joke

00:31:48.820 and it doesn't really

00:31:49.920 bother me.

00:31:50.480 Why doesn't it bother me?

00:31:51.820 I don't feel threatened

00:31:52.700 by them,

00:31:53.440 I don't think

00:31:53.960 I'm going to crumble,

00:31:54.840 I don't put all of my

00:31:55.840 stock in how other

00:31:57.500 people perceive me,

00:31:58.580 I don't think

00:31:59.640 that my virtue

00:32:00.620 is measured

00:32:01.340 by what left-wing

00:32:02.520 people on social media

00:32:03.740 think about me,

00:32:04.800 I think my virtue

00:32:05.660 is measured by

00:32:06.640 namely virtue,

00:32:08.720 so those would be

00:32:09.720 some of the reasons

00:32:10.360 why right-wingers

00:32:12.920 have the grit

00:32:13.860 and the thick skin

00:32:14.620 and the fortitude

00:32:15.320 to take a joke

00:32:16.320 and if you can take a joke

00:32:17.220 you can tell a joke.

00:32:18.360 The left can't do that

00:32:19.440 either and so

00:32:20.680 because they're blind

00:32:21.560 and because they're weak

00:32:22.500 they can't meme.

00:32:24.460 From Andrew,

00:32:26.020 Dear Mr. Knowles,

00:32:27.240 funniest guy

00:32:27.860 on the Daily Wire,

00:32:28.960 I'm funny how?

00:32:29.840 Funny like I'm a clown?

00:32:30.820 Like I am you? 0.68

00:32:31.320 I'll go on.

00:32:32.040 I hear a lot of people

00:32:33.120 talk about how

00:32:33.780 the Protestant Reformation

00:32:34.940 and Protestant ideas

00:32:36.700 led to the formation

00:32:38.200 of the greatest country

00:32:39.320 in the history of the world,

00:32:40.560 the United States of America.

00:32:42.120 As a Catholic,

00:32:42.920 I feel a little disenfranchised.

00:32:45.080 Should I be?

00:32:46.340 Thoughts?

00:32:47.200 No pants.

00:32:48.220 I think that's his name

00:32:49.000 that he signed it with,

00:32:49.700 no pants.

00:32:50.100 I see your point.

00:32:53.680 I had four ancestors

00:32:54.880 on the Mayflower.

00:32:57.080 Those Mayflower pilgrims 0.96

00:32:58.780 were religious zealots.

00:33:00.500 They were highly Protestant.

00:33:02.340 They are probably

00:33:03.160 rolling over in their graves

00:33:04.640 knowing that their descendant

00:33:06.000 is a popish papist

00:33:08.100 such as I am.

00:33:09.960 It is largely Protestant America 0.68

00:33:12.800 in much of its thinking

00:33:14.520 and much of its history.

00:33:16.560 I think it was

00:33:17.440 Arthur Schlesinger

00:33:18.480 said that anti-Catholicism

00:33:20.180 is the deepest bias

00:33:21.200 in American history.

00:33:22.800 However,

00:33:23.920 however,

00:33:24.680 who discovered America?

00:33:26.620 Oh,

00:33:26.900 would it happen to be

00:33:27.760 that devoted

00:33:28.980 Catholic extremist

00:33:31.500 Christopher Columbus

00:33:32.720 who at a time

00:33:33.840 of widespread illiteracy

00:33:35.700 made sure to read

00:33:36.700 the Bible constantly,

00:33:37.960 who prayed

00:33:38.440 the Catholic Book of Hours

00:33:39.720 constantly on his passage

00:33:41.260 to America?

00:33:42.080 Would it be that guy?

00:33:43.020 Of course it was.

00:33:43.680 Founded by a Catholic 0.77

00:33:45.080 and not just that,

00:33:46.320 the country is named

00:33:47.260 after a Catholic.

00:33:48.780 Amerigo Vespucci

00:33:49.700 from whom we get America

00:33:51.260 and not just named

00:33:53.000 after that Catholic cartographer,

00:33:56.120 but not just the country,

00:33:57.540 but the whole continent

00:33:58.240 is named after him.

00:33:59.260 Not just the whole continent,

00:34:00.320 but the other continent

00:34:01.120 in this hemisphere too. 0.98

00:34:02.180 The whole damn new world 1.00

00:34:03.320 is named after a Catholic 1.00

00:34:04.400 and it was discovered

00:34:05.120 by a Catholic.

00:34:06.060 That's pretty good.

00:34:06.680 You can hang your hat on that

00:34:07.660 and have a little pride

00:34:08.720 even though the Protestants 0.96

00:34:09.880 came in much later

00:34:10.800 and seemed to take over

00:34:12.900 much of the political

00:34:13.700 development of the country.

00:34:15.120 From Tyler.

00:34:16.160 Hi, Michael.

00:34:18.140 I have struggled in the past

00:34:19.800 with drug addiction,

00:34:21.280 depression,

00:34:22.020 and continue to struggle.

00:34:23.840 I have my good weeks

00:34:24.700 and my bad weeks.

00:34:25.860 I wanted to better myself

00:34:27.320 and give myself strength

00:34:28.720 through these troubling times

00:34:29.940 with Christianity.

00:34:31.140 My family has always

00:34:32.340 been pretty religious,

00:34:33.540 but I've always felt myself

00:34:34.940 on the fence

00:34:35.580 with religion in general.

00:34:37.100 I have a very high respect

00:34:38.260 for the religious practice

00:34:39.860 and admire people

00:34:41.420 who truly believe.

00:34:42.540 I was wondering

00:34:43.620 if you had some advice

00:34:45.080 for a soul struggling

00:34:46.800 to find God

00:34:47.880 and a meaning for life.

00:34:49.400 Thanks.

00:34:50.720 Yes, I do.

00:34:52.540 First, God exists.

00:34:55.180 God loves you.

00:34:56.460 Your life has incalculable

00:34:58.260 meaning and worth.

00:35:00.220 Those three things are true.

00:35:02.160 That's a fact.

00:35:03.460 You can quibble with my facts,

00:35:05.220 but it is a fact.

00:35:07.320 So know that.

00:35:08.420 Even if you have trouble

00:35:09.360 understanding that

00:35:10.720 or accepting that,

00:35:11.680 that is true.

00:35:14.720 Speaking of truth,

00:35:15.880 C.S. Lewis put it very well,

00:35:17.340 and this is probably

00:35:18.040 the best advice

00:35:18.940 I can give you.

00:35:19.960 You say that you're not

00:35:20.780 that religious personally,

00:35:22.720 but you admire religious people.

00:35:24.340 You want to be religious. 0.98

00:35:25.760 Okay.

00:35:26.880 C.S. Lewis wrote,

00:35:28.040 If you look for truth,

00:35:29.320 you may find comfort in the end.

00:35:31.800 If you look for comfort,

00:35:33.340 you will not find

00:35:34.200 either truth or comfort.

00:35:35.580 Only soft soap

00:35:37.100 and wishful thinking to begin

00:35:38.580 and in the end despair.

00:35:41.560 If you are looking

00:35:42.800 to be comforted by religion

00:35:44.620 because you've had

00:35:45.560 a tough run of it

00:35:46.380 and you've struggled

00:35:47.880 with various ailments,

00:35:50.480 you will end up despairing.

00:35:52.780 It will not work.

00:35:54.360 If you look for the truth,

00:35:56.260 you'll get all of those things.

00:35:58.760 If you follow the truth

00:35:59.780 to its logical conclusions,

00:36:01.240 you will get those things.

00:36:03.260 And if you don't follow it,

00:36:04.340 maybe you won't,

00:36:04.960 but you won't be any worse off

00:36:06.220 than you would be

00:36:07.120 if you only looked for comfort.

00:36:08.720 Look for the truth

00:36:09.720 above all things.

00:36:13.020 That's the best advice

00:36:13.940 I can give you.

00:36:14.800 From Nicole,

00:36:15.680 I recently had a Democratic mayor

00:36:17.660 in Massachusetts

00:36:18.580 call me sexist 0.98

00:36:19.980 because I told him

00:36:21.200 I would not want to be friends

00:36:22.760 when I was in a relationship.

00:36:24.740 This being because

00:36:26.080 we went on a couple dates

00:36:27.400 and talked at all hours

00:36:28.740 of the night.

00:36:29.600 This would obviously

00:36:30.640 be disrespectful

00:36:31.420 to a relationship.

00:36:32.780 He said I was treating him

00:36:33.820 differently

00:36:34.220 because he was a male

00:36:35.320 and it was the definition

00:36:36.880 of sexism.

00:36:38.440 What do you think?

00:36:40.200 I think that this person

00:36:42.920 is upset

00:36:43.900 that you are not giving him

00:36:45.260 the definition of sex.

00:36:46.820 I don't think it has anything

00:36:48.100 to do with the definition

00:36:49.500 of sexism.

00:36:51.200 When I first,

00:36:52.000 when I read the first part

00:36:53.040 of your question,

00:36:54.100 can you be friends

00:36:55.240 with a woman

00:36:56.160 if you're married

00:36:58.380 to a woman

00:36:59.100 or can you be,

00:37:00.100 you know,

00:37:00.340 can you be friends

00:37:00.900 with members

00:37:01.240 of the opposite sex? 0.82

00:37:02.620 Yeah, of course you can

00:37:03.840 unless they're trying

00:37:05.800 to date you.

00:37:06.520 If you've gone on dates

00:37:07.500 with this person,

00:37:08.380 you're calling this person

00:37:09.500 at three o'clock

00:37:10.640 in the morning,

00:37:11.220 probably not a great idea.

00:37:13.100 Sounds like this guy,

00:37:14.340 he's a Democrat politician,

00:37:15.640 right?

00:37:15.960 Sounds like he's trying

00:37:16.800 to get in your pants

00:37:17.600 so I wouldn't take

00:37:18.900 a line like that.

00:37:19.640 You'd think he'd be able

00:37:20.300 to muster a better line

00:37:21.540 than you're sexist. 0.82

00:37:23.120 I guess he's a Democrat.

00:37:23.980 That's the only thing

00:37:24.420 they can say. 0.99

00:37:25.060 You're racist, 0.99

00:37:25.720 you're sexist, 1.00

00:37:26.480 you're bigoted, 0.99

00:37:27.120 don't buy it, honey.

00:37:28.060 He's trying to pull

00:37:28.720 a fast one.

00:37:29.620 From Catherine,

00:37:30.900 Hey Michael,

00:37:31.780 big fan.

00:37:32.640 I recently graduated

00:37:33.760 from college

00:37:34.460 and am having trouble

00:37:35.480 finding a full-time job.

00:37:37.200 Once I turned 26,

00:37:38.720 I lost my parents' insurance

00:37:40.240 and since then,

00:37:42.100 they and my friends

00:37:43.160 have been encouraging me

00:37:44.060 to sign up for Medicare.

00:37:45.980 Because I don't believe

00:37:47.000 in Medicare,

00:37:47.840 that seems a little

00:37:48.460 hypocritical to me,

00:37:49.600 but one of my friends 0.82

00:37:50.980 argued that I would

00:37:51.980 only be using it

00:37:52.960 as a safety net

00:37:53.640 until I find a full-time job

00:37:54.880 and that this is

00:37:55.880 its true purpose.

00:37:56.760 Thoughts?

00:37:57.180 Thanks for the response.

00:37:58.100 Cat.

00:37:59.500 Okay, a lot of things here.

00:38:00.900 One, you're 26.

00:38:02.660 You graduated college.

00:38:04.740 We have the most robust

00:38:06.240 employment market

00:38:07.960 in recent history

00:38:09.360 right now.

00:38:10.220 You should be able

00:38:11.120 to get a full-time job.

00:38:12.580 There are right now

00:38:13.220 more jobs hiring

00:38:14.280 than people

00:38:15.200 who can fill those jobs.

00:38:16.760 You went to college.

00:38:17.900 Presumably,

00:38:18.400 you paid some money

00:38:19.020 to go to college.

00:38:20.000 You should be able

00:38:20.900 to get a job.

00:38:22.320 If you can't get a job,

00:38:23.500 maybe it's because

00:38:23.900 you don't live in a place

00:38:24.820 where you can get a job.

00:38:25.880 In that case,

00:38:26.720 it might be worth moving

00:38:27.640 to go get a job.

00:38:28.640 It might be worth commuting

00:38:29.880 a little further

00:38:30.500 to go get a job.

00:38:31.560 It might be the case 0.97

00:38:32.400 that you don't have

00:38:32.840 a full-time job

00:38:33.760 because while you could

00:38:35.380 get a job

00:38:36.040 that you don't want,

00:38:37.660 you can't quite get a job yet

00:38:39.080 in the career

00:38:39.800 that you want

00:38:40.480 to get a job in.

00:38:42.060 If that is the case,

00:38:43.580 take the job.

00:38:44.700 Be a barista.

00:38:45.560 Be a waiter.

00:38:46.280 I live in L.A.

00:38:47.220 A lot of my friends

00:38:47.940 are actors.

00:38:48.740 Everybody's a waiter.

00:38:49.980 Take a job

00:38:50.740 that you can get now.

00:38:52.320 Having a job

00:38:53.260 is better

00:38:53.880 than not having a job.

00:38:55.240 Having a job

00:38:56.600 that you don't want

00:38:57.500 is better than

00:38:58.360 not having a job

00:38:59.360 that you do want.

00:39:00.620 Do that.

00:39:01.520 Okay, that's my advice

00:39:02.540 for getting a job

00:39:03.140 because you should

00:39:04.380 be able to get a job.

00:39:05.400 In this market,

00:39:06.560 with a college education,

00:39:07.940 age 26,

00:39:08.820 you should be able

00:39:09.700 to do it.

00:39:10.480 And if you can't,

00:39:11.500 then there's something wrong

00:39:12.540 either geographically

00:39:13.920 or philosophically

00:39:15.000 and you should tweak that.

00:39:16.300 That said,

00:39:18.100 I don't think

00:39:18.760 you're talking about

00:39:19.160 Medicare,

00:39:19.680 which is the

00:39:20.120 entitlement program

00:39:20.880 for old people,

00:39:22.440 for senior citizens.

00:39:23.280 I think you're talking

00:39:24.300 about Medicaid,

00:39:25.880 which is for people

00:39:26.820 who are down on their luck

00:39:28.080 or out of work

00:39:29.320 or aren't making

00:39:30.480 very much money.

00:39:31.840 There's nothing wrong

00:39:32.640 with being opposed

00:39:33.360 to the expansion

00:39:34.060 of the welfare state

00:39:35.000 and then using those programs

00:39:36.500 when you need to use them.

00:39:37.680 There's nothing wrong

00:39:38.600 about that whatsoever.

00:39:39.920 It's not that you don't believe

00:39:41.120 in the welfare programs.

00:39:43.440 You certainly believe in them.

00:39:44.540 When you have a job,

00:39:45.220 you'll pay into them.

00:39:46.120 I believe in them.

00:39:46.860 They exist.

00:39:47.400 They're the biggest driver

00:39:48.060 of our debt and deficit.

00:39:49.420 There is nothing wrong

00:39:50.220 with that,

00:39:50.700 especially in the short term.

00:39:51.720 If you're just down

00:39:52.660 on your luck

00:39:53.200 and you haven't been able

00:39:54.180 to pick yourself

00:39:55.240 back up yet,

00:39:56.080 there is nothing wrong

00:39:57.180 about using those programs.

00:39:59.340 Also, 0.55

00:40:00.260 it's ridiculous 0.98

00:40:01.340 for the left 0.92

00:40:02.560 to ask us

00:40:03.280 to unilaterally disarm.

00:40:04.920 We have to pay

00:40:05.440 for all these programs.

00:40:06.720 We have to support

00:40:07.820 the expansion

00:40:08.660 of this entitlement state,

00:40:10.280 but then because we think

00:40:11.480 that it would be better

00:40:12.140 to shrink that entitlement state,

00:40:13.700 we're not allowed

00:40:14.180 to use those programs. 0.83

00:40:15.480 That's a ridiculous

00:40:16.460 unilateral disarmament

00:40:18.680 that we should never do.

00:40:20.500 Don't feel bad about that.

00:40:21.680 Don't feel bad about

00:40:22.600 taking a hand up

00:40:23.420 when you need one,

00:40:24.660 but also,

00:40:25.940 make sure that you can

00:40:28.000 get up.

00:40:28.940 I mean,

00:40:29.140 make sure that you

00:40:29.740 don't allow that

00:40:30.560 to trap you

00:40:31.600 into a complacency

00:40:33.020 that will really

00:40:33.720 not serve your life.

00:40:35.500 And take advantage

00:40:36.640 of a very strong

00:40:37.540 employment market

00:40:38.180 right now

00:40:38.600 to go get a job.

00:40:39.560 It might not be

00:40:39.940 the job you want,

00:40:40.720 but it'll help you

00:40:41.300 get the job that you want.

00:40:42.420 From Evan,

00:40:42.940 to the four-star

00:40:44.140 general of Christmas,

00:40:45.340 Michael Knowles,

00:40:46.400 what document

00:40:47.320 should public officials

00:40:48.280 swear on

00:40:49.220 when they take

00:40:50.660 the oath of office?

00:40:51.960 I understand

00:40:52.760 why taking the oath

00:40:53.720 on your religious text

00:40:56.080 is good,

00:40:57.200 but shouldn't

00:40:58.020 the most important

00:40:58.740 document to Americans

00:40:59.900 be the Constitution

00:41:01.100 and that be the standard

00:41:02.740 bearer for such an oath?

00:41:04.260 Evan,

00:41:05.200 no,

00:41:05.820 they should take

00:41:06.380 the oath of office

00:41:07.100 on a Bible,

00:41:08.140 or I suppose

00:41:08.860 if they're not

00:41:09.420 Christian or Jewish,

00:41:10.500 on whatever other

00:41:11.240 religious text

00:41:11.820 they want to take it on.

00:41:13.560 The most important

00:41:14.860 document to me

00:41:16.740 is not the Constitution.

00:41:18.840 I love the Constitution.

00:41:20.440 Big defender

00:41:21.240 of the Constitution.

00:41:22.500 It's right up there.

00:41:23.580 Maybe it's number two.

00:41:24.600 I don't know.

00:41:25.300 But it's not

00:41:26.380 the most important

00:41:27.080 because this physical world,

00:41:29.240 this life that we're in

00:41:30.880 right now,

00:41:31.460 is not the most important

00:41:32.460 thing to me.

00:41:33.340 There are greater things

00:41:34.460 than just the here and now.

00:41:36.180 There is eternal life.

00:41:37.180 There are moral questions.

00:41:38.500 There is a moral law.

00:41:39.780 There is my creator

00:41:40.720 who created me,

00:41:41.660 a contingent being.

00:41:42.940 That is why

00:41:43.740 you have to take the oath

00:41:45.060 on the Bible

00:41:46.060 or whatever religious text

00:41:47.440 you want to take it on.

00:41:48.680 The reason why we did that

00:41:49.940 in the first place,

00:41:51.000 with the exception,

00:41:51.760 I think,

00:41:52.000 of the Adamses,

00:41:53.380 John and John Quincy Adams,

00:41:55.200 the presidents have all done it,

00:41:56.400 have all taken the oath

00:41:57.120 on the Bible,

00:41:58.020 and it's because

00:41:59.000 if you take the oath

00:41:59.880 on the Constitution

00:42:00.740 and then you violate

00:42:02.800 the Constitution,

00:42:04.340 what happens to you?

00:42:05.840 Not too much.

00:42:07.040 If you take the oath

00:42:07.980 on the Bible

00:42:08.560 and you believe

00:42:09.600 in that religion,

00:42:10.740 you're a Christian,

00:42:11.740 you believe in an eternal judge,

00:42:13.700 you believe in judgment

00:42:14.640 and sin and grace

00:42:16.080 and the moral law,

00:42:17.400 and you violate that,

00:42:18.920 there are consequences

00:42:20.120 for you.

00:42:20.960 Even if you're

00:42:21.760 the most important politician

00:42:23.240 in the world,

00:42:23.800 even if you're the president

00:42:24.560 of the United States,

00:42:25.520 there will be consequences

00:42:26.780 because there is

00:42:27.800 a more powerful judge

00:42:28.980 in heaven

00:42:29.540 to whom you will

00:42:30.800 have to answer.

00:42:31.740 That's why you take

00:42:32.820 the oath

00:42:33.300 on a religious text.

00:42:35.360 Now,

00:42:35.520 taking the oath

00:42:36.020 on a religious text

00:42:36.920 if you don't actually

00:42:38.260 believe all that

00:42:39.140 is meaningless.

00:42:40.240 You might as well

00:42:40.680 take it on the menu

00:42:41.720 at McDonald's,

00:42:42.820 but that's also a reason

00:42:45.120 why our politics suffers

00:42:46.580 when we have a weak culture

00:42:48.100 that derives from a country

00:42:50.780 that has lost

00:42:51.560 its religious understanding

00:42:53.520 and mooring and direction.

00:42:55.580 From Kevin.

00:42:56.700 Hi, Michael.

00:42:57.780 Should men always offer 1.00

00:42:58.700 to pay for dates?

00:42:59.600 I was raised

00:43:00.320 in a traditional

00:43:00.940 conservative family

00:43:01.900 and I grew up thinking

00:43:03.020 that gentlemen offer

00:43:04.120 to pay for their dates meals.

00:43:05.380 I just graduated

00:43:06.600 from college last year

00:43:07.680 and I was shocked

00:43:08.480 by my experience

00:43:09.300 with guys

00:43:09.860 who were otherwise polite

00:43:11.160 feeling comfortable

00:43:12.080 to go Dutch.

00:43:13.600 Additionally,

00:43:14.460 many girls that I know 0.90

00:43:15.720 don't expect men 0.99

00:43:17.100 to offer to pay.

00:43:18.280 What do you think?

00:43:18.940 Love the show.

00:43:20.140 Men should pay for dates. 1.00

00:43:21.740 Yes.

00:43:22.840 Especially after college.

00:43:23.920 I guess in college

00:43:24.460 everyone's poor

00:43:25.180 and it's a little tougher.

00:43:26.120 Especially after college

00:43:27.020 men should pay for dates. 1.00

00:43:29.980 They should at least pay

00:43:31.660 for the first date

00:43:32.840 and what they should always do

00:43:34.400 is offer to pay.

00:43:36.260 So you point out,

00:43:36.920 I actually,

00:43:37.460 I think a couple words

00:43:38.240 were cut out there,

00:43:40.240 that men suggest going Dutch.

00:43:42.380 Men should never suggest

00:43:43.640 going Dutch.

00:43:44.340 Never do it.

00:43:45.060 That's a very bad idea.

00:43:46.020 I don't care if she comes

00:43:46.840 from the Vanderbilt family

00:43:48.540 and you, you know,

00:43:50.060 are living on the street

00:43:50.900 or something.

00:43:51.580 Never suggest going Dutch 0.82

00:43:53.020 with a woman on a date.

00:43:54.540 Now, because of the fact

00:43:56.000 of our modern world,

00:43:57.380 modern dating,

00:43:58.280 where you can,

00:43:58.840 modern swipe culture,

00:43:59.880 where you could be going

00:44:00.360 on a zillion dates a week

00:44:01.440 and there's not a lot

00:44:03.100 of commitment

00:44:03.520 and our economy is such

00:44:06.520 that most women are working 0.97

00:44:07.740 and all of that.

00:44:10.440 I'm not opposed to,

00:44:11.800 to maybe in your 20s

00:44:13.680 splitting a check

00:44:14.840 or agreeing to split a check,

00:44:16.120 but you should never suggest it.

00:44:17.440 The man should always

00:44:18.320 offer to pay.

00:44:19.540 These are just

00:44:20.520 the chivalrous, polite

00:44:23.080 mores that make society better,

00:44:26.780 that make it nicer,

00:44:27.760 that make a date

00:44:28.480 not just some clinical transaction

00:44:30.100 where you're going to split a bill

00:44:31.360 and sign a contract

00:44:32.260 and, you know,

00:44:33.420 go back home

00:44:34.180 and do whatever,

00:44:34.940 but you've got to make it

00:44:35.740 all clinical.

00:44:36.800 This is, this is about

00:44:38.420 romantic engagement.

00:44:40.580 This is about seduction.

00:44:42.160 This is about saying,

00:44:43.900 I am giving something to you.

00:44:45.160 I've invited you here.

00:44:46.500 I want to do something for you.

00:44:48.560 I'm demonstrating

00:44:49.520 that I'm pleased

00:44:50.640 that you're here

00:44:51.280 and that I'm enjoying this.

00:44:52.840 And that's why you should,

00:44:53.900 the man should always

00:44:54.520 offer to pay.

00:44:55.440 If the woman insists on it, 1.00

00:44:56.780 that's a very nice thing too

00:44:57.920 because she's, she's saying,

00:44:59.120 I so appreciate being here.

00:45:01.020 I don't want you to think

00:45:01.700 I'm taking advantage of you,

00:45:03.120 that you pay for every date.

00:45:04.240 Let me pay for one

00:45:05.080 out of ten dates or whatever.

00:45:06.880 There's a nice dance there.

00:45:08.000 There's a nice transaction,

00:45:09.520 a moral transaction,

00:45:10.680 a romantic transaction

00:45:12.120 that's going on

00:45:12.760 and not just a clinical transaction

00:45:14.800 which you see so much

00:45:15.580 in modern dating.

00:45:16.520 I'm taking one more.

00:45:17.520 I don't even care.

00:45:18.480 From Alexander,

00:45:19.900 would it be idolatry

00:45:20.900 to pray for America

00:45:21.860 similar to how Old Testament Jews

00:45:23.860 prayed for Israel? 0.57

00:45:25.020 America isn't directly

00:45:26.260 a promised land.

00:45:28.060 You sure about that?

00:45:29.200 So would praying

00:45:29.880 for the success

00:45:30.620 and prosperity of our country

00:45:32.000 be asking the wrong thing of God?

00:45:34.400 No, it's a perfectly wonderful thing

00:45:35.820 to ask God to pray for our country

00:45:37.140 and we should do it all the time.

00:45:38.700 God bless America.

00:45:40.440 Now, if you were praying

00:45:41.380 to your country,

00:45:42.400 that would be idolatry.

00:45:43.940 If you were worshiping your country,

00:45:45.640 that would be idolatry.

00:45:46.820 And some people do that.

00:45:48.040 We make idols

00:45:48.760 out of all sorts of things.

00:45:50.080 All of us do it.

00:45:51.720 But that we should resist.

00:45:53.260 But if you're praying to God

00:45:54.600 to bless your country,

00:45:55.840 your country is your home.

00:45:57.580 It's an extension

00:45:58.400 in many ways of yourself.

00:46:00.560 You are you.

00:46:01.560 You're your person.

00:46:02.700 And you have your family.

00:46:03.900 You could ask God

00:46:04.440 to pray for your family.

00:46:05.520 I don't think that's idolatry

00:46:06.520 of the family.

00:46:07.400 You could ask God

00:46:08.040 to pray for your friends

00:46:09.260 and your community.

00:46:10.180 That's not idolatry

00:46:11.280 of the community.

00:46:12.500 And taken to the broadest level

00:46:15.240 in the world order right now,

00:46:16.680 that's asking God

00:46:17.760 to pray for your nation,

00:46:18.960 which is your big community.

00:46:21.380 That's a wonderful thing.

00:46:22.360 We should ask God

00:46:22.980 to do it all the time.

00:46:23.880 And it will also,

00:46:24.940 far from being idolatry,

00:46:26.440 it will actually counter idolatry

00:46:28.220 by making it clear

00:46:29.500 that our nation,

00:46:30.400 wonderful as it is,

00:46:31.600 is beneath God.

00:46:33.320 It is below God.

00:46:34.360 And it is in so many ways

00:46:35.880 a fact of the providence of God.

00:46:38.860 All right, that's our show.

00:46:40.260 I had more to get to,

00:46:41.420 but too bad.

00:46:42.400 I hope you have a good weekend.

00:46:43.740 I'm going to now head

00:46:44.620 to the studio

00:46:45.100 and record the audio book

00:46:46.380 of Another Kingdom,

00:46:47.280 which is coming out.

00:46:48.160 So if you haven't

00:46:48.760 binged the podcast,

00:46:49.880 let's go do it.

00:46:50.380 Then you'll be ready

00:46:50.820 for the audio book.

00:46:52.020 In the meantime,

00:46:52.680 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:46:53.300 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:46:54.220 I'll see you on Monday.

00:46:59.900 The Michael Knowles Show

00:47:01.060 is produced by Robert Sterling.

00:47:02.900 Executive producer,

00:47:03.900 Jeremy Boring.

00:47:04.800 Senior producer,

00:47:05.640 Jonathan Hay.

00:47:06.380 Our supervising producer

00:47:07.460 is Mathis Glover.

00:47:08.460 And our technical producer

00:47:09.680 is Austin Stevens.

00:47:11.080 Edited by Danny D'Amico.

00:47:12.660 Audio is mixed by Dylan Case.

00:47:14.680 Production assistant,

00:47:15.760 Nick Sheehan.

00:47:16.780 Hair and makeup

00:47:17.360 is by Jesua Olvera.

00:47:18.860 The Michael Knowles Show

00:47:19.680 is a Daily Wire production.

00:47:21.240 Copyright Daily Wire 2019.

00:47:23.540 Hey guys,

00:47:23.960 over on the Matt Wall Show today,

00:47:25.340 we're going to talk about Starbucks.

00:47:27.560 Do you remember when Starbucks

00:47:29.080 opened their doors

00:47:30.460 and announced that everybody,

00:47:32.440 even non-customers,

00:47:33.460 could use their bathroom?

00:47:35.160 It turns out that the new policy

00:47:37.900 has not worked out very well

00:47:39.560 for Starbucks, unsurprisingly.

00:47:41.580 We'll discuss that.

00:47:42.400 Also, the president of Planned Parenthood

00:47:45.020 has made a stunning

00:47:46.280 and honest admission

00:47:48.000 about something.

00:47:49.060 And we've got to discuss that

00:47:50.000 today as well

00:47:50.580 on the Matt Wall Show.

00:47:52.140 Come on over

00:47:52.620 and join the conversation.

00:47:53.800 and I'll see you guys next time

00:47:58.680 in the comments

00:47:59.580 in the chat.

00:48:01.440 I love it for you.

00:48:02.200 I love it for you.

00:48:02.760 I mean,

00:48:03.120 I truly do give char produk

00:48:03.580 and add my團

00:48:04.280 to this,

00:48:05.000 and ask you

00:48:05.720 to the feel

00:48:06.980 to be honest.

00:48:11.060 I love it for you.

00:48:11.500 For you

00:48:12.120 my heart in the back

00:48:13.760 and you know,

00:48:14.460 I've got water

00:48:15.020 and for you

00:48:15.440 I love it for you.

00:48:15.580 I love it for you.

00:48:17.560 I play it for you,

00:48:18.400 I love it for you.

00:48:19.320 O potp voting

00:48:19.420 and you know,

00:48:20.360 I'm still on the front

00:48:21.800 and you know,

00:48:22.080 What's this kit ici?

The Michael Knowles Show - January 10, 2019

Ep. 278 - Alternative Fact-Checking

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