# Heathens for the Holidays

An episode of [TheThinkingAtheist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/412308695), 23 Dec 2024, 54 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/711/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/63191440/podcast778_heathenholiday.mp3

This week, it's "cat news," godless frivolity, some televangelist nonsense, and plenty of your calls. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: The Thinking Atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol,
[0:09] Speaker 1: an idea.
[0:10] Speaker 2: The population of atheists this country is going through the.
[0:13] Speaker 1: Rule, rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If I
[0:19] Speaker 1: tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth, not.
[0:22] Speaker 3: Because I put my hand on a book and made
[0:24] Speaker 3: a wish.
[0:25] Speaker 1: And working together for a more rational world.
[0:29] Speaker 2: Take the risk of thinking. Feel so much more happiness. Truth,
[0:32] Speaker 2: Fusian wisdom will come to you that way.
[0:35] Speaker 1: Assume nothing, question everything, and start thinking. This is the
[0:43] Speaker 1: Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews.
[0:56] Speaker 2: I bought my cat a Christmas present, and it was
[1:00] Speaker 2: really a gift of necessity. My cat has developed a
[1:05] Speaker 2: pronounced limp front left paw and just limping all around
[1:12] Speaker 2: the house. Been going on for a few months. I
[1:15] Speaker 2: think I talked about this back in October, but the
[1:18] Speaker 2: VAT said the X rays revealed bone spurs. Your cat
[1:22] Speaker 2: is fourteen. It's normal for cats to develop arthritis. So
[1:27] Speaker 2: he's hobbling around and he breaks my heart hobbling from
[1:32] Speaker 2: place to place. And perhaps most tragically, he loves to
[1:36] Speaker 2: be on the master bed with me. When I'm sitting
[1:38] Speaker 2: up there, we're watching TV. Or I'm taking a nap
[1:41] Speaker 2: or whatever. He likes to come and lays either on
[1:44] Speaker 2: my chest or right here and kind of cradled under
[1:47] Speaker 2: my right arm, and he purs and he's such as
[1:51] Speaker 2: weakity boy. And then when he's done, he jumps down
[1:57] Speaker 2: off the bed and my heart breaks because you can
[1:59] Speaker 2: hear his legs plump hitting the floor, and I'm sure
[2:03] Speaker 2: that's got to hurt or it's doing more damage. And
[2:05] Speaker 2: so I thought, well, what if we did little cat
[2:09] Speaker 2: stairs or a ramp or something just for the bed
[2:14] Speaker 2: and it, you know, it might be kind of unsightly,
[2:17] Speaker 2: but it's functional and the cat needs it, especially if
[2:20] Speaker 2: he might be in pain. So I googled cat ramp
[2:26] Speaker 2: and there's a whole market for this stuff. I spent
[2:29] Speaker 2: hours on my phone scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Do
[2:33] Speaker 2: I want a ramp the kind of thing you would
[2:36] Speaker 2: drive a small motorcycle up in actual flat ramp? Or
[2:40] Speaker 2: do I want stairs? And then what material? You want?
[2:45] Speaker 2: A cloth of some kind or do you want a
[2:48] Speaker 2: carpet or a rubber? But the cat's got claws, it
[2:52] Speaker 2: shouldn't be a problem. I don't know. I'm just scrolled
[2:55] Speaker 2: and scrolled what color. Do we want to match it
[2:58] Speaker 2: to the rest of the bedroom? Is it now an accessory?
[3:01] Speaker 2: And we finally found cat stairs, so he has a
[3:06] Speaker 2: Christmas gift that is on the way. It hasn't arrived yet,
[3:10] Speaker 2: and then we got to figure out whether or not
[3:13] Speaker 2: he will use it. I think you will. Most of
[3:15] Speaker 2: the website says that if can't see something to climb on,
[3:18] Speaker 2: they will do so. But what about the dogs, Because
[3:21] Speaker 2: we've got the tiny dogs, and it's possible maybe they
[3:25] Speaker 2: would learn how to go up the stairs. They love
[3:28] Speaker 2: to be on the master bed. I think they feel
[3:30] Speaker 2: good and comfortable and safe up there. But they can't
[3:34] Speaker 2: sit on the master bed when we are gone because
[3:37] Speaker 2: we don't want them jumping all the way down to
[3:38] Speaker 2: the floor. If they had stairs, maybe they could just
[3:42] Speaker 2: help themselves. Hey, I feel like sitting on the master bed,
[3:46] Speaker 2: comforter or whatever. Let's go up the stairs and when
[3:50] Speaker 2: they're done down the stairs. How do you get a
[3:54] Speaker 2: dog to do that? You're gonna have to show them how.
[3:57] Speaker 2: I doubt they'll just pick it up my dogs anyway.
[4:01] Speaker 2: So I googled it and there are a ton of
[4:04] Speaker 2: websites teaching people how to train your dogs. To use stairs.
[4:10] Speaker 2: Most of the recommendations are you want to put a
[4:12] Speaker 2: bunch of pillows around the stairs because I don't know
[4:15] Speaker 2: your dog's drunk or something. You know what, Well, they
[4:21] Speaker 2: put pillows all around the stairs, and then you have
[4:23] Speaker 2: your dog at the bottom, and you put a treat
[4:25] Speaker 2: on the first wrong or step, and then you point
[4:29] Speaker 2: it out and say would you like a snack or
[4:31] Speaker 2: a treat or whatever your word is, And the dog
[4:34] Speaker 2: puts a paw up and maybe sneaks up and grabs one,
[4:38] Speaker 2: and you're like, go, buppy, what just wait? Boy? You
[4:41] Speaker 2: did so good. And then you put the treat on
[4:44] Speaker 2: the next step, and then the next and maybe sit
[4:47] Speaker 2: at the top and they go up and down. They
[4:49] Speaker 2: are learning to safely navigate their doggie stairs. Anyway, at
[4:55] Speaker 2: some point there will be a box on the front
[4:58] Speaker 2: porch and I'm sure assembly instructions and we are going
[5:02] Speaker 2: to have pet steps. Then I'll take photographs and put
[5:05] Speaker 2: them on social media, and I'm going to take video.
[5:08] Speaker 2: If I can get cat to use it up and down,
[5:11] Speaker 2: being able to just go easy, it's going to make
[5:13] Speaker 2: it's going to be a gift to my heart. So
[5:16] Speaker 2: I'm not aggrieved every time he comes up to get
[5:20] Speaker 2: some snuglies, you know, a practical gift for the holidays.
[5:25] Speaker 2: Out of curiosity, I did some checking on other gifts
[5:29] Speaker 2: for pets, and again there is a massive marketplace for
[5:34] Speaker 2: animals for the holidays, everything from big bags at treats
[5:38] Speaker 2: to customized callers, special toys. There are subscription services to
[5:45] Speaker 2: companies called like bark Box, and then every month you
[5:49] Speaker 2: get a box of just random stuff, special blankets and
[5:54] Speaker 2: cozy dog beds and clothing. Oh man, the clothing market
[5:58] Speaker 2: for dogs, and Linus and Gracie have them. They're so cute.
[6:02] Speaker 2: You button up these down coats when it gets really cold,
[6:06] Speaker 2: You're just button it on and they look like little
[6:08] Speaker 2: fuzzy people walking down the street. He's so fashionable. You're
[6:15] Speaker 2: such a fashionable you such a handsome boy. And they
[6:21] Speaker 2: totally know how to get dressed. They come over and
[6:24] Speaker 2: they notice stick their arms out and go in the leaves.
[6:26] Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm just babbling. I think I might
[6:29] Speaker 2: derive more pleasure out of giving gifts to my dogs
[6:32] Speaker 2: than I do to most people. Shopping for people is hard.
[6:36] Speaker 2: I think, what do you want for Christmas? I don't know.
[6:40] Speaker 2: People ask me. I don't care. I mean, I don't care.
[6:46] Speaker 2: You know, if I needed it, I probably already got it.
[6:50] Speaker 2: You know, Natalie, what do you want? What do you
[6:53] Speaker 2: want for Christmas? Honey? I am good, And apparently that's
[6:56] Speaker 2: the wrong answer. You know, I'm good. I don't need anything.
[7:02] Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to save your money. Maybe let's
[7:05] Speaker 2: go do something together. No, I want to put something
[7:07] Speaker 2: under the tree for you. I don't know what I need.
[7:11] Speaker 2: Maybe I should take a queue from the dogs, give
[7:14] Speaker 2: me a bag of treats, you know, and then let
[7:17] Speaker 2: me eat snacks and then tell me I've been a
[7:19] Speaker 2: good boy. It's jeep and it's delicious. I would do
[7:23] Speaker 2: that for Christmas. Let's see, we have calls on the switchboard.
[7:30] Speaker 2: There are no rules, there is no real topic. If
[7:33] Speaker 2: you want to talk about how the godless celebrate the holidays,
[7:36] Speaker 2: that sounds fun, we can do that. Some people skip
[7:39] Speaker 2: it all together. Some people go all pagan, which is awesome.
[7:44] Speaker 2: But we can talk about whatever. I'm going to speak
[7:46] Speaker 2: to Dean at three six zero. What do you want
[7:51] Speaker 2: to talk about?
[7:52] Speaker 4: So I'm a transman in the United States, and I
[7:57] Speaker 4: have some worries about what the future sure for myself
[8:01] Speaker 4: and my community is going to look like I know
[8:04] Speaker 4: what the position of the Republicans and Donald Trump is,
[8:07] Speaker 4: and I'm wondering how long it's going to take until
[8:11] Speaker 4: those positions become turned into law or worse, you know
[8:17] Speaker 4: that they might make new ones to flow us in
[8:20] Speaker 4: jail for just simply existing.
[8:22] Speaker 2: Those are my concerns, and I think it's even harder
[8:26] Speaker 2: that we can't tell the future. And I worry that
[8:31] Speaker 2: the damage done and even a short amount of time,
[8:35] Speaker 2: is going to take long decades to undo. If ever.
[8:41] Speaker 2: Absolutely a challenge that we have is how successful the
[8:47] Speaker 2: right wing disinformation campaigns have been. The trans community is
[8:51] Speaker 2: a stellar example. Right They needed a villain, so they
[8:55] Speaker 2: concocted a bunch of stories about how the predators are
[8:59] Speaker 2: waiting in the red rooms for your children, and your
[9:01] Speaker 2: kids go to school and come back a different gender,
[9:04] Speaker 2: and it's all part of woke culture. And they got
[9:06] Speaker 2: people to freaking panic over a threat that doesn't exist.
[9:11] Speaker 2: And sadly, the trans community has probably is probably the
[9:15] Speaker 2: most marginalized in a strong field, the most marginalized and
[9:18] Speaker 2: vilified demographic in this country. Right now, my heart goes
[9:22] Speaker 2: out to Udine.
[9:23] Speaker 4: Thank you, all right. Now, I'm in a very good place,
[9:26] Speaker 4: and transition happened to be part of it. And I
[9:29] Speaker 4: hate to think that the majority of the people in
[9:34] Speaker 4: the United States, or even just in the government in general,
[9:37] Speaker 4: would be so hateful as to take my happiness and
[9:41] Speaker 4: ruin it.
[9:42] Speaker 2: I find it ironic that the people who are talking
[9:45] Speaker 2: about how they don't want government to meddle in their
[9:48] Speaker 2: lives now are using government to meddle in people's lives.
[9:53] Speaker 2: It's just the ultimate hypocrisy. All I know is that
[9:58] Speaker 2: we're in it together. We'll see what happens, do our
[10:02] Speaker 2: best to react to it in a constructive way, and
[10:06] Speaker 2: try to humanize these issues when so many others are
[10:09] Speaker 2: trying to dehumanize. But big hug from me and my
[10:11] Speaker 2: family to you, Dean.
[10:13] Speaker 4: Okay, thank you, And that is adorable that you got
[10:16] Speaker 4: your cat and potentially your dogs to a rant for
[10:20] Speaker 4: your bed. And I'm sorry that you had such a
[10:23] Speaker 4: bad experience with the edibles. It's not everybody has a
[10:27] Speaker 4: good one.
[10:30] Speaker 2: Well, thanks, thank you so much. Thanks for your in
[10:34] Speaker 2: my time of need. Your encouragement brings me great comfort. Dean,
[10:38] Speaker 2: be good, have a good holiday.
[10:39] Speaker 5: Okay, I shall all right.
[10:41] Speaker 2: See you later. Of course, the context on that is
[10:44] Speaker 2: that I was having trouble sleeping friend gave me a
[10:47] Speaker 2: gummy and it resulted in one of the worst nights
[10:50] Speaker 2: of my life. And then I said this on a
[10:52] Speaker 2: previous show, that I, in desperation, took some Nike will
[10:56] Speaker 2: and I slept really hard. But I dreamed that night
[10:59] Speaker 2: I was playing tennis with Steven Spielberg. My dreams have
[11:02] Speaker 2: been bizarre lately. Last night, no kidding, Last night, I
[11:09] Speaker 2: had a dream that I was near the ocean in
[11:12] Speaker 2: this sort of rocky cove, and there were penguins all
[11:17] Speaker 2: around me, and it was time for the penguins to
[11:21] Speaker 2: step off of land, or waddle off of land and
[11:25] Speaker 2: jump into the water and swim off somewhere. And I
[11:27] Speaker 2: don't know where. They were just supposed to go. It
[11:30] Speaker 2: was like a seasonal thing. It's migration time for these penguins,
[11:34] Speaker 2: and I was supposed to join them. I don't know
[11:38] Speaker 2: if I was a guide or just following. Was I curious,
[11:42] Speaker 2: But in order for me, in order for me to
[11:46] Speaker 2: be able to go on the penguin quest, I had
[11:49] Speaker 2: to be painted. I had to be painted like a penguin,
[12:00] Speaker 2: black and white, I did the sort of penguin tuxedo paint.
[12:05] Speaker 2: I think I had swim trunks on and they had
[12:10] Speaker 2: to paint me, and so they I didn't actually make
[12:13] Speaker 2: it to the ocean before I woke up, but they
[12:15] Speaker 2: were taking these big like house paint brushes with black
[12:19] Speaker 2: and white, and they were painting me to resemble a penguin.
[12:23] Speaker 2: And then the idea was I was going to apparently
[12:26] Speaker 2: waddle in toward the shore, jump into the water, and
[12:29] Speaker 2: I was going to go off with all of my
[12:31] Speaker 2: little penguin buddies. You know, just bizarre. And I know
[12:35] Speaker 2: some people who believe that dreams have some sort of
[12:39] Speaker 2: deep seated meaning. And I think dreams can reflect in
[12:44] Speaker 2: some ways how you're feeling, what's going on in your mind.
[12:47] Speaker 2: They can echo experiences of the day. But I don't
[12:51] Speaker 2: think dreams mean quote unquote mean things. You know, you
[12:56] Speaker 2: take interpretations like you've been visited by the aura. You
[13:00] Speaker 2: ever met anybody and they see they interpret these wacky
[13:04] Speaker 2: dreams and say, m hmmm, what the universe is trying
[13:09] Speaker 2: to tell me is this. We used to have a
[13:12] Speaker 2: guy who did an evening broadcast on ninety six point
[13:17] Speaker 2: five FM. They called him the dream doctor, and so
[13:21] Speaker 2: they play a song or two, and then the guy
[13:23] Speaker 2: would come on. He would take a call and the
[13:26] Speaker 2: caller would talk about a dream they'd had. And then
[13:29] Speaker 2: this dream doctor, who I would love to see his qualifications,
[13:34] Speaker 2: like where'd you get your degree? What's on your diploma?
[13:37] Speaker 2: How does one become a dream doctor? But anyway, he
[13:40] Speaker 2: would tell the caller what deep meaning that dream had,
[13:46] Speaker 2: And I am sorry, I had a dream I was
[13:50] Speaker 2: swimming in an Olympic sized pool that was filled with
[13:53] Speaker 2: cottage cheese while I was wearing a two two? What
[13:57] Speaker 2: does that mean? Dream doctor? I just don't buy it.
[14:02] Speaker 2: I think the brain is a blender. It just spits
[14:06] Speaker 2: things out. It might be able to tell you something
[14:09] Speaker 2: about your mindset, but it's not giving you meaning. I
[14:12] Speaker 2: was flying over the Grand Canyon. By the way, I
[14:16] Speaker 2: was Richard Nixon. Can you tell me what that dream means?
[14:21] Speaker 6: Oh?
[14:22] Speaker 2: No, no, Now, I think the brain is just weird.
[14:27] Speaker 2: It's interesting, it's fascinating, it's, for lack of a better word,
[14:30] Speaker 2: miraculous and its complexity, but it does not tell us
[14:35] Speaker 2: who we are, or how to live or what to
[14:37] Speaker 2: expect in this world through dreams. And if it did.
[14:42] Speaker 2: Holy snikes, I was drinking coffee in my dream and
[14:47] Speaker 2: I looked down and swimming in the coffee was a
[14:50] Speaker 2: tiny little Gramlin and he only communicated through Morse code
[14:54] Speaker 2: by tapping on the ceramic. What does that mean? If
[14:58] Speaker 2: there is deeper meaning in that, I should probably be
[15:01] Speaker 2: seeking some kind of help. I'm just saying I've got
[15:06] Speaker 2: Rosemary on a web call. Are you there hello? I
[15:11] Speaker 2: can indeed what's on your mind? Rosemary?
[15:15] Speaker 7: Gezi that there will be write next year because of
[15:18] Speaker 7: the policies, you know, trup's policies.
[15:22] Speaker 2: Do I think there will be riots next year?
[15:26] Speaker 8: Uh?
[15:26] Speaker 5: Huh?
[15:27] Speaker 4: I don't know.
[15:27] Speaker 2: Everybody's asking me to predict the future. All I can
[15:30] Speaker 2: say is I'm nervous. I don't know what's going to happen.
[15:34] Speaker 2: I don't know what crazy shit's going to come out
[15:36] Speaker 2: of the White House. I don't know which demographic they're
[15:39] Speaker 2: going to come after next and what the response will be.
[15:42] Speaker 2: I don't know what the final cabinet is going to
[15:45] Speaker 2: look like. You know, oh, look there's so and so
[15:48] Speaker 2: and they're bad shit crazy, or they're a pseudoscience crank,
[15:52] Speaker 2: or they're loaded up with sexual abuse allegations. I don't
[15:55] Speaker 2: know what's going to happen, and so I fear that
[16:00] Speaker 2: there's going to be corruption, grift, there's going to be
[16:04] Speaker 2: the normalization of cruelty, and that may include violence. But
[16:08] Speaker 2: I couldn't say. All I know is that, you know,
[16:10] Speaker 2: my wife's got a T shirt that says love wins,
[16:13] Speaker 2: and I sure we'd like love to win. But I'm
[16:16] Speaker 2: kind of nervous.
[16:17] Speaker 7: I embarros you that all your politicians now are just
[16:22] Speaker 7: full of my sexual abuses and felons and right shit
[16:28] Speaker 7: stain on your underpence of politics.
[16:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, horrifying. Donald Trump, first of all, is stacking the
[16:35] Speaker 2: deck with billionaires, and secondly, I think he just wants
[16:40] Speaker 2: to burn it all down. He wants to weaponize it
[16:43] Speaker 2: against his enemies, and then he just wants to burn it.
[16:45] Speaker 2: He didn't give a shit. So whatever helps him have
[16:48] Speaker 2: and cloister and consolidate power, he's going to do. But
[16:52] Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen.
[16:55] Speaker 2: I'm going to buckle up. I'm going to try to
[16:57] Speaker 2: reset my brain. A lot of people have checked out.
[17:00] Speaker 2: I'm just so tired, and I understand it. But thanks
[17:02] Speaker 2: for checking in on us, Rosemary You're much appreciated.
[17:06] Speaker 7: Thank you, Bye.
[17:08] Speaker 2: Bye, I see you later. It's a lot, isn't it.
[17:12] Speaker 2: I don't think we're made to process all of this.
[17:15] Speaker 2: I get overwhelmed, and so I check out and do
[17:18] Speaker 2: other things, and then I feel guilty because I need
[17:20] Speaker 2: to be engaged in the world, and I log on
[17:22] Speaker 2: and I'm filled with despair and dread, and so I
[17:26] Speaker 2: check out and distract myself again, and it's a vicious cycle.
[17:31] Speaker 2: I saw a Psychology Today article that was published a
[17:34] Speaker 2: few years ago, Five Ways to deal with Despair that
[17:39] Speaker 2: Won't Go Away. It's kind of a poorly headlined article,
[17:44] Speaker 2: five ways to deal with Despair that Won't go Away
[17:47] Speaker 2: as a poor phrasing. Five ways to deal with unrelenting
[17:52] Speaker 2: despair perhaps would be a better way to phrase it.
[17:55] Speaker 2: But I was curious because I feel despair. Maybe you
[17:58] Speaker 2: do as well. This article was written by a psychologist
[18:03] Speaker 2: named Sean Grover. Sean said number one, take your despair
[18:09] Speaker 2: for a walk. Once a day. Try your best to
[18:13] Speaker 2: get out of the house for some fresh air. A
[18:15] Speaker 2: brisk walk raises your metabolism, boosts indorphins, and will give
[18:20] Speaker 2: you much needed headspace, shaking off tension and gaining some
[18:25] Speaker 2: vitamin D can also offer some relief. That's going to
[18:28] Speaker 2: be tough in the month of December and into January
[18:32] Speaker 2: in specific parts of the country. Oh it's minus nine degrees.
[18:36] Speaker 2: Let's get out for fresh airs. Maybe a bit utopian,
[18:41] Speaker 2: but usable when the warmer weather returns. Number two, Give
[18:46] Speaker 2: your sorrow words. When I can't find the words for sadness,
[18:51] Speaker 2: I always turn to poets and writers who are masters
[18:55] Speaker 2: at capturing elusive feelings. Finding the words for your despairs
[19:00] Speaker 2: comfort and solace, As Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth, give sorrow words.
[19:06] Speaker 2: The grief that does not speak knits up the or
[19:10] Speaker 2: wrought heart and bids it break. Number three, honor your despair.
[19:18] Speaker 2: Please don't deny it, don't push it away. When you
[19:21] Speaker 2: acknowledge your despair, you take away some of its power
[19:25] Speaker 2: over you. Oh yeah, I acknowledge you despair. I see
[19:30] Speaker 2: you despair. The article finishes that paragraph with, for example,
[19:35] Speaker 2: a friend who was struggling said to me, today is
[19:38] Speaker 2: a dark day. I think I need to be alone.
[19:41] Speaker 2: I understood what he meant and was glad he shared
[19:44] Speaker 2: his true feelings rather than perform feeling better. When he
[19:48] Speaker 2: honored his despair, I could too. Number four, seek out fellowship.
[19:55] Speaker 2: Now this is a loaded word, but we'll call it community,
[19:58] Speaker 2: all right. In the church we call it fellowship, But
[20:00] Speaker 2: all right, I'll go there. Community human connection. Isolation fuels despair.
[20:07] Speaker 2: Seek out the company of people who share your experience. Now,
[20:12] Speaker 2: for the record, in my case, that is going to
[20:14] Speaker 2: be you. It's going to be Natalie, and it's going
[20:18] Speaker 2: to be you. So, whether you like it or not,
[20:20] Speaker 2: you are my despair buddy. Okay. Number five, Avoid toxic positivity.
[20:28] Speaker 2: A patient in her weekly session shared with me that
[20:30] Speaker 2: a friend cheerfully told her don't worry, everything will work
[20:35] Speaker 2: itself out. These may seem like comforting words, they had
[20:39] Speaker 2: the opposite effect. I know he meant well, she said,
[20:43] Speaker 2: but I felt the strong urge to punch him in
[20:46] Speaker 2: the face. Her chronic illness was not going to work
[20:50] Speaker 2: itself out. Such phrases like everything happens for a reason
[20:55] Speaker 2: are insensitive to those who are truly suffering. Life's most
[20:59] Speaker 2: devast problems may be helped by a positive attitude, but
[21:03] Speaker 2: can't be solved by one. Toxic positivity from others feels
[21:09] Speaker 2: insulting when you're faced with insurmountable grief. I think that
[21:15] Speaker 2: lines up with people, and we've all felt this when
[21:18] Speaker 2: you're going through the blues, you've got maybe seasonal or
[21:21] Speaker 2: some other kind of depression, or you're going through something
[21:24] Speaker 2: kind of rough, and people say, you know, there's so
[21:28] Speaker 2: much good in your life. What do you have to
[21:31] Speaker 2: be sad about? Cheer up, little camper, Buck up, because
[21:35] Speaker 2: the sun is shining and it's a beautiful day, and
[21:39] Speaker 2: you have so much to be thankful for. And I
[21:42] Speaker 2: feel what this woman felt. I just want to punch
[21:45] Speaker 2: him in the face. Oh you're interested in tools and
[21:49] Speaker 2: tactics to help me feel better. Let me slap you.
[21:54] Speaker 2: And I normally don't resort to violence. It's just a fantasy,
[21:58] Speaker 2: but I know you felt it. Oh, it's such a
[22:02] Speaker 2: beautiful life. I know you've fantasized about it. I know it.
[22:12] Speaker 2: More calls and commentaries on the end of twenty twenty
[22:16] Speaker 2: four and the impending new year. We continue next. If
[22:29] Speaker 2: you want to give a Christmas gift to your humble host,
[22:33] Speaker 2: please consider becoming a patron. It's just a huge thing.
[22:37] Speaker 2: It helps me to do this full time. It matters.
[22:40] Speaker 2: You get the show two days early in commercial free,
[22:42] Speaker 2: if you get a special rss feed. Some people decide
[22:45] Speaker 2: they don't even need that, they just want to support
[22:48] Speaker 2: via Patreon, but for twenty twenty five, it would be
[22:51] Speaker 2: most welcome if you would sign up at patreon dot com.
[22:56] Speaker 2: Slash Seth Andrews Katie at age six ' three, Thanks
[23:03] Speaker 2: for waiting on me. Are you there? I am talk
[23:06] Speaker 2: to me. What do you want to chat about today?
[23:09] Speaker 3: So over Thanksgiving, when I went home to visit my
[23:14] Speaker 3: primarily conservative family members, I kept a list of some
[23:18] Speaker 3: of the crazy shit that I heard them say, and
[23:21] Speaker 3: I wondered if I could read the highlights off to
[23:24] Speaker 3: you just to hear your response to it, because I'm curious.
[23:28] Speaker 2: I am a quiver with anticipation. Katie, let me have it.
[23:34] Speaker 5: Okay.
[23:35] Speaker 3: So the first one, I've got my older sister who
[23:40] Speaker 3: is kind of a big anti vaxxor. She claimed that
[23:44] Speaker 3: Fauci profited greatly off of remdezaviar and he basically made
[23:51] Speaker 3: the hospital use it to help cure COVID because he
[23:54] Speaker 3: greatly profited off of it.
[23:56] Speaker 2: I heard the same conspiracy theory about doctor Peter Hotez,
[24:00] Speaker 2: who then I think went on Twitter and said something about, well,
[24:03] Speaker 2: here's what my income is. You know, you literally got
[24:07] Speaker 2: out in front of it and it didn't make any
[24:09] Speaker 2: difference because the anti vaxers weren't listening anyway. That's crazy.
[24:13] Speaker 3: Yeah, And she also overall claimed that hospitals made so
[24:16] Speaker 3: much money during COVID, which I don't know exactly what
[24:20] Speaker 3: her suggestion is there, you know, like that she think
[24:23] Speaker 3: hospitals made it worse or created it in the first
[24:27] Speaker 3: place so that people would have to pay money to
[24:30] Speaker 3: be there.
[24:30] Speaker 4: I don't know.
[24:31] Speaker 2: This speaks to one of the major challenges that we
[24:34] Speaker 2: have because more than one thing can be true at
[24:37] Speaker 2: the same time. So baked into a lot of anti
[24:41] Speaker 2: vax conspiracy theories is the reality that for profit hospitals
[24:47] Speaker 2: were often overcharging and there are mistakes made and there
[24:50] Speaker 2: can be corruption. It's like talking about big pharma. Yes,
[24:55] Speaker 2: the pharmaceutical industry is made up of human beings, many
[25:00] Speaker 2: of whom are scientists and who are wanting to be
[25:03] Speaker 2: a part of our solutions. At the same time, these
[25:06] Speaker 2: are massive for profit organizations with huge bank accounts and
[25:11] Speaker 2: influence and lobbyists, etc. So it's easy when someone says
[25:16] Speaker 2: big pharma is manufacturing the COVID crisis to make money
[25:21] Speaker 2: because we know that big pharma is problematic and it
[25:25] Speaker 2: speaks to something in our gut, and we're like, yeah,
[25:27] Speaker 2: that feels intuitive, but it doesn't negate the fact that
[25:31] Speaker 2: we had morget trucks just a few years ago with
[25:34] Speaker 2: bodies because we had no place to put the dead,
[25:38] Speaker 2: those who had perished from COVID. And it's very difficult,
[25:42] Speaker 2: I think, to speak to those people.
[25:44] Speaker 3: I totally agree. Another fun one, she told me that
[25:48] Speaker 3: she has seen about five videos proving Trump's claim that
[25:52] Speaker 3: immigrants are eating pets in Ohio. She told me that
[25:55] Speaker 3: she has seen multiple videos beyond just the one that
[25:58] Speaker 3: was debunked showing Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats in Ohio.
[26:03] Speaker 2: Well, if it's on YouTube, it's got to be true, right, Katie.
[26:07] Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, you know.
[26:08] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[26:09] Speaker 3: I don't know if I was brave enough to ask
[26:11] Speaker 3: her to send me these videos out of curiosity, but
[26:14] Speaker 3: you know, another one was, and I had forgotten his
[26:18] Speaker 3: name for a moment. I started talking about the crazy
[26:22] Speaker 3: televangelist who went on about getting into a tube full
[26:26] Speaker 3: of demons referring to airplanes and that was why he
[26:29] Speaker 3: needed a private jet. And I found him and I
[26:32] Speaker 3: was like, oh, Kenneth Copeland, that's his name, and my
[26:34] Speaker 3: sister said, oh, I love Kenneth Copeland.
[26:37] Speaker 4: That was fun.
[26:37] Speaker 2: No, it was him and another evangelist named Jesse Do Plantis.
[26:42] Speaker 2: Now jesse do plant Is is wacky because he says he
[26:44] Speaker 2: went to heaven and he kind of God showed him around,
[26:48] Speaker 2: gave the grand tour, and then showed him Hell so
[26:51] Speaker 2: that jesse do Plantis could come back and warn us
[26:54] Speaker 2: all about how terrible Hell is. And then, of course
[26:57] Speaker 2: jesse do Plantis sold that story at the end of
[27:00] Speaker 2: an offering plate on the order of decades. Kenneth Copeland
[27:04] Speaker 2: is the guy who literally blew COVID away. So he
[27:09] Speaker 2: did a service and he spoke to the virus and
[27:14] Speaker 2: he said COVID nineteen and then he went and he
[27:18] Speaker 2: exhaled the breath of God to kill COVID. He says, I,
[27:23] Speaker 2: you had defeated COVID. You are defeated. And then two
[27:27] Speaker 2: million people died in the United States. So God apparently
[27:30] Speaker 2: was busy finding car keys and making rainbows anything else, Katie,
[27:35] Speaker 2: before I.
[27:35] Speaker 3: Move on one more thing, she said that new research
[27:40] Speaker 3: shows that spanking children is actually good for them.
[27:44] Speaker 2: All the corporal punishment arguments a hot when even in
[27:47] Speaker 2: the atheist community, should you spank your children? And I
[27:52] Speaker 2: used to be one of those people who thought, ah,
[27:55] Speaker 2: you know, spank them on the butt, show them the boundaries,
[27:58] Speaker 2: and make them, you know, feel consequences. They're not permanently injured.
[28:03] Speaker 2: And I look back on it now and I think
[28:05] Speaker 2: it was such primitive thinking. I am not a parent,
[28:08] Speaker 2: but I have read some interesting research about how corporal
[28:13] Speaker 2: punishment can actually cause real damage and we need to
[28:17] Speaker 2: evolve our thinking.
[28:19] Speaker 3: Yes, I've read similar things, and I think my issue
[28:23] Speaker 3: is more the lack of willingness to progress as we
[28:27] Speaker 3: learn more and writing these things off as just you know, soft,
[28:31] Speaker 3: bleeding heart liberal ways of thinking, when actually it's people
[28:36] Speaker 3: doing real research in the psychology field trying to figure
[28:39] Speaker 3: out how to do things better.
[28:41] Speaker 2: And it's hard when someone says, well, I was spanked
[28:44] Speaker 2: and I turned out fine, which is apparently scientific evidence
[28:50] Speaker 2: for the efficacy of spanking children. I don't buy that.
[28:55] Speaker 2: I think that's a pretty weak defense. Katie. I hope
[28:58] Speaker 2: the rest of the year, such as it is, is
[29:01] Speaker 2: good for you, and no matter what happens, good things
[29:05] Speaker 2: for you. In twenty twenty.
[29:06] Speaker 3: Five, okay you as well, sir, Thank you so much.
[29:09] Speaker 2: Be safe, see you later. Okay. I may have played
[29:13] Speaker 2: the clip, but I gotta play it again, the ken
[29:15] Speaker 2: Copeland prayer, you know where he killed COVID with his breath.
[29:19] Speaker 2: I gotta play this and then I'm gonna play you
[29:21] Speaker 2: one of the remixes because it's one of the greatest
[29:24] Speaker 2: things in the universe. So this is Kenneth Copeland breathing
[29:28] Speaker 2: COVID into extinction. This was in the spring of twenty twenty,
[29:35] Speaker 2: COVID nineteen o ninety. The wind of gone of God
[29:49] Speaker 2: on you.
[29:50] Speaker 1: On you.
[29:51] Speaker 8: You are destroying forever, a destroyed forever, and you will.
[29:57] Speaker 2: Never be back. You'll never be that. Yeah. Yeah, that
[30:03] Speaker 2: did the trick well rightfully. The man was just roasted.
[30:08] Speaker 2: The internet went to work. And I think this is
[30:12] Speaker 2: my favorite remix of the Kenneth Copeland Prayer. I liked
[30:16] Speaker 2: it so much I almost made it my ring tone,
[30:20] Speaker 2: and Natalie gave me a look which told me that
[30:22] Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't because of a driver crazy. Here's the remix.
[30:26] Speaker 8: Them sang Moses and the Children of Israel.
[30:30] Speaker 2: This song under the Lord.
[30:36] Speaker 4: Call it ninety.
[30:39] Speaker 9: Call it ninety.
[30:49] Speaker 4: From the date of to day of the Browns.
[30:52] Speaker 8: Man Texas and a triple park.
[30:57] Speaker 9: Is much fair.
[30:58] Speaker 8: It burn this thing.
[31:01] Speaker 2: This virus hates heat. You just burn this thing. Burn burn.
[31:08] Speaker 2: I called for a supernatural heat way straight out the hell.
[31:13] Speaker 2: Burn burn. People have made this man obscenely wealthy. His
[31:24] Speaker 2: net worth I think is seven hundred and fifty million
[31:28] Speaker 2: dollars tax free. He's got his own airstrip. And she
[31:34] Speaker 2: mentioned the the Kenneth Copeland jet clip where he and
[31:39] Speaker 2: Jesse do Plantus were excusing why they needed private aircrew.
[31:44] Speaker 2: You know what, I'm gonna play the clip. Let me
[31:47] Speaker 2: pull it up here real fast. This is these guys
[31:51] Speaker 2: from how many years ago was it is probably five years,
[31:55] Speaker 2: six years and they're defending the fact that they need
[31:59] Speaker 2: private jet that's worth I don't know, fifty million dollars.
[32:03] Speaker 10: Brother Coproenhaut was flying home from a meeting and I
[32:06] Speaker 10: had come out of a glorious meeting. I had just
[32:09] Speaker 10: finded me in Cufflo Dollar were preaching, had a glorious meeting.
[32:13] Speaker 10: So I was, for lack of a better way to
[32:15] Speaker 10: say it, I was spiritually high.
[32:16] Speaker 2: I said, people were.
[32:17] Speaker 10: Saved, touch and blessed God in the plane that God
[32:20] Speaker 10: so graciously gave us.
[32:21] Speaker 2: We're flying home.
[32:23] Speaker 10: As I was going home, the Lord real quickly he said,
[32:25] Speaker 10: Jesse it, do you.
[32:26] Speaker 2: Like your plane?
[32:28] Speaker 11: You know?
[32:28] Speaker 10: I thought that's an odd statement he gave.
[32:30] Speaker 2: I said, well certainly, Lord.
[32:31] Speaker 10: He said, do you really like it? And I thought,
[32:35] Speaker 10: well yes, Lord, he said then he said this, So
[32:38] Speaker 10: that's it.
[32:40] Speaker 2: I didn't know how to handle it.
[32:41] Speaker 12: It.
[32:41] Speaker 10: Man, what he said, You're gonna let your fate stagnate.
[32:44] Speaker 10: And when he said that that shocked me. I went,
[32:46] Speaker 10: whoa wait. I literally unbuckomed my seat belt my plane.
[32:49] Speaker 10: I stood up. My pilots looked and said do you
[32:52] Speaker 10: need some But I said no, no, I'm talking to God
[32:54] Speaker 10: right now. And he went back to flying. I said, Lord,
[32:58] Speaker 10: I don't think I was letting my face stagnate. He said,
[33:01] Speaker 10: so this is all I could ever do. I said,
[33:04] Speaker 10: you want You're trying to tell me something. He said,
[33:07] Speaker 10: go to the Book of Amos. So if you had
[33:10] Speaker 10: the Book of Amos, I want to read the scoop.
[33:12] Speaker 8: Yes, I say, you couldn't have done that on an airliner.
[33:15] Speaker 2: No, sir, no way. Stand up and say.
[33:17] Speaker 8: What'd you say, Laura?
[33:18] Speaker 5: No?
[33:19] Speaker 8: Okay, no, yeah, and the guy sitting older, sir, What
[33:22] Speaker 8: the hell does he think he doing?
[33:23] Speaker 2: He can't do you can't do that. No, No, this
[33:26] Speaker 2: is so important.
[33:27] Speaker 8: And those of you that are that are just now
[33:29] Speaker 8: coming into these things in the first place, Jesse and
[33:36] Speaker 8: I and others Keith Moore and Kreflo and Oliver. The
[33:42] Speaker 8: world is in such a shape.
[33:43] Speaker 2: We can't get there without this. So we've got to
[33:46] Speaker 2: have this.
[33:46] Speaker 8: We would have the mess that the airlines are in today.
[33:50] Speaker 8: I would have to stop. I'm being very conservative at
[33:54] Speaker 8: least seventy five to eighty, more like ninety percent of
[33:58] Speaker 8: what we're doing, because you can get there, come here.
[34:01] Speaker 2: It's impossible. Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways, doesn't he.
[34:06] Speaker 2: Ken Copeland haimat Meta at Friendly Atheist refers to him
[34:10] Speaker 2: as a scam vangelist, and that is the best term
[34:14] Speaker 2: for him. That dude is grifting all the way to
[34:17] Speaker 2: the bank. He is laughing, and in my opinion, he
[34:21] Speaker 2: deserves our contempt. People have no shame. Andy at eight
[34:28] Speaker 2: zero one, are you there, hi, Seth.
[34:32] Speaker 11: I just wanted to call in and wish you and
[34:34] Speaker 11: now all the listeners a merry Christmas.
[34:36] Speaker 2: I much appreciate that.
[34:38] Speaker 11: I also wanted to take the moment to remind everyone
[34:41] Speaker 11: that on Christmas Day, a great man was born many
[34:45] Speaker 11: years ago. Sir Isaac Newton was born December twenty fifth,
[34:49] Speaker 11: sixteen forty.
[34:50] Speaker 2: Two, and we honor his memory and all the great
[34:53] Speaker 2: sacrifices that he made to save humankind. Andy, a big
[34:57] Speaker 2: Christmas hello and hugs you and yours. I hope the
[35:01] Speaker 2: holidays are wonderful. Okay, thank you, all right, see you later.
[35:05] Speaker 2: You know, a lot of people find it interesting that
[35:07] Speaker 2: atheists say Mary Christmas. You know, there's another wedge issue
[35:10] Speaker 2: and a total manufactured controversy that atheists want to kill Christmas.
[35:15] Speaker 2: You're not allowed to say Christmas in public anymore, you know.
[35:19] Speaker 2: I think Trump ran on that thanks to me, you're
[35:22] Speaker 2: allowed to say Christmas again. What a load of horseshit.
[35:25] Speaker 2: That is hell. Half the things we do are rooted
[35:29] Speaker 2: in some kind of a mythology, are named for God's
[35:33] Speaker 2: days of the week, months of the year. How many
[35:36] Speaker 2: other holidays have non Christian roots? And of course it's
[35:40] Speaker 2: always fun to see Christians with Christmas trees and missiletoe,
[35:46] Speaker 2: the exchanging of gifts and Yule logs. And then we
[35:50] Speaker 2: can just point and say, oh Jesus, he's not exactly
[35:55] Speaker 2: the center of attention in your Christmas deck car And
[35:59] Speaker 2: then other people say they're gonna skip it all together.
[36:02] Speaker 2: You know the one thing about the holiday that just
[36:05] Speaker 2: gets me irritable. It's Christmas music that is either butchered
[36:09] Speaker 2: by pop stars or it's just too happy. I'm at
[36:14] Speaker 2: home depot and I gotta buy light bulbs or something,
[36:18] Speaker 2: and I walk in and it's the first thing I hear.
[36:21] Speaker 2: I'm just there. I'm not in a bad mood. I'm
[36:22] Speaker 2: not in a great mood. I'm just doing my chores.
[36:25] Speaker 2: I gotta get stuff done. And I hear this Sacraine
[36:29] Speaker 2: manufactured corporate cheer. The bells all over the recording sleigh
[36:36] Speaker 2: bells ring.
[36:38] Speaker 4: Ah.
[36:38] Speaker 2: You listening. You can hear the smile in their voice,
[36:41] Speaker 2: like it's almost a creepy smile. Y in the lane,
[36:44] Speaker 2: snow is listening a beautiful sight. We're happy tonight. Stuff it.
[36:53] Speaker 2: It has the reverse effect. It doesn't put me in
[36:56] Speaker 2: a cheery mood. It just makes me irritable. I'm in Oklahoma.
[37:01] Speaker 2: It's not a winter wonderland. It's just freaking cold. Secondly,
[37:05] Speaker 2: I just feel like I'm being force fed a holiday
[37:09] Speaker 2: by Spotify. Right, you ever feel that I like Christmas music?
[37:15] Speaker 2: Bring on the classics, some good instrumentals held. There's even
[37:20] Speaker 2: a few religious songs I enjoy. I love the melody
[37:24] Speaker 2: of Oh Holy Night. I'll go with it.
[37:26] Speaker 4: Right.
[37:26] Speaker 2: It doesn't mean I believe it, but okay, but it's
[37:28] Speaker 2: that super cheery stuff. Stop it. I've got four to
[37:38] Speaker 2: one zero. I do not see a name. Who's this? Oh?
[37:42] Speaker 3: This is madam who?
[37:44] Speaker 9: I said?
[37:44] Speaker 2: Hi there, welcome. What's on your mind today?
[37:49] Speaker 6: Oh?
[37:49] Speaker 9: I was just calling to see if you ever celebrate Festivus?
[37:55] Speaker 2: Festivus for the rest of us and the airing of grievances.
[38:00] Speaker 2: Do you want to explain Festivus for those who are
[38:02] Speaker 2: to wear Yeah?
[38:03] Speaker 5: Sure.
[38:04] Speaker 9: It is a holiday made up by the father of
[38:08] Speaker 9: a writer on Seinfeld. And what you do is you
[38:12] Speaker 9: sit around a pole and air your grievances, and then
[38:17] Speaker 9: you look for a minor miracle, and then you display
[38:21] Speaker 9: great feets of strength. And it's not over till the
[38:25] Speaker 9: head of household is pinned.
[38:27] Speaker 2: Wait, it's not over until the head of house What
[38:30] Speaker 2: until the.
[38:31] Speaker 9: Head of the household is pinned?
[38:34] Speaker 2: Pin?
[38:34] Speaker 9: I have a wrestling match.
[38:35] Speaker 2: I guess now, isn't it there instead of a tree,
[38:39] Speaker 2: a pole for Festivus? Is that right?
[38:41] Speaker 9: Yeah? Yeah, there's just just a poll. Yeah.
[38:44] Speaker 2: Do they decorate the pole or is it just a pole?
[38:48] Speaker 9: I don't, It's just a pole.
[38:49] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[38:49] Speaker 9: One time I had a Festivus party and I used
[38:53] Speaker 9: the stripper pole and we aired our grievances by just
[38:57] Speaker 9: sticky notes around the pole.
[39:00] Speaker 2: You just happen to have a stripper pole lying around
[39:05] Speaker 2: you just thought, well.
[39:06] Speaker 4: Let me go.
[39:06] Speaker 9: Actually yeah, it was my sister in law. Yeah, it
[39:11] Speaker 9: was crazy at the time.
[39:13] Speaker 2: Hey, I'm not judging.
[39:18] Speaker 9: It was an exercise thing.
[39:20] Speaker 2: Yeah, I have actually heard that. I have heard that
[39:24] Speaker 2: work in the pole is great exercise. It's like a
[39:28] Speaker 2: full body I don't everybody's right now rolling their eyes,
[39:32] Speaker 2: but I have heard that the pole is a great workout.
[39:37] Speaker 2: So I'm totally on your page.
[39:39] Speaker 9: Well yeah, no, no, I don't know. I couldn't really
[39:42] Speaker 9: do it, so, you know, I just headed up. She
[39:44] Speaker 9: just needed to have it somewhere. Yeah, it was in
[39:47] Speaker 9: my house.
[39:48] Speaker 2: Those who wish go and google Festivus and you will
[39:53] Speaker 2: see a Festivus pole and maybe a little form where
[39:56] Speaker 2: you can air at your grievances. During the holiday season.
[40:00] Speaker 9: Yeah, I finally wrote I've been trying for years to
[40:03] Speaker 9: write a Festa song, so I finally did it, and
[40:05] Speaker 9: I'm gonna mix it tonight and put it up online.
[40:08] Speaker 9: But I also wanted to mention that since Christmas, these
[40:13] Speaker 9: holidays are so stressful that recovering from religion is a
[40:18] Speaker 9: really good resource. I've become a helpline agent at recovering
[40:23] Speaker 9: from religion, and everybody needs to go there and you know,
[40:30] Speaker 9: just talk through stuff if you're having trouble. I wish
[40:33] Speaker 9: that resource were around when I was deconstructing.
[40:36] Speaker 2: I feel the same. I wish I'd had somebody to
[40:39] Speaker 2: call or had a chat line when I was going
[40:42] Speaker 2: through my exit. So that's good stuff, recovering from religion
[40:46] Speaker 2: dot org. Enjoy your Festivus for the rest of us,
[40:50] Speaker 2: my friend, and be safe.
[40:52] Speaker 9: Okay, all right, thank god.
[40:56] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm trying to stay in shape. We've started
[40:59] Speaker 2: doing yoga, play a little tennis. I guess I could
[41:01] Speaker 2: try the pole, but I couldn't get away with the leggings.
[41:06] Speaker 2: I don't think you put leggings on me, be like
[41:10] Speaker 2: somebody jammed a bunch of footballs into pantyhose. And you
[41:14] Speaker 2: don't want to see that. You just don't want to
[41:16] Speaker 2: see that, especially if you want an appetite, you know,
[41:19] Speaker 2: if you've got a big meal coming up over the holidays.
[41:22] Speaker 2: Eli at six one zero, Thanks for waiting. Are you there?
[41:27] Speaker 6: I'm here? Can you hear me?
[41:28] Speaker 2: I can? Indeed, let's talk what's on your mind?
[41:31] Speaker 6: I just wanted to say, well, first of all, I
[41:33] Speaker 6: told them to talk about different ways to celebrate Christmas
[41:37] Speaker 6: and just how I go about that. But so many
[41:40] Speaker 6: things I've heard from colors already, So when it comes
[41:43] Speaker 6: to a Christmas, I come from a very assorted family,
[41:47] Speaker 6: everything from Nazis to people that said my name is
[41:51] Speaker 6: too Jewish or black. And I've been a soft score
[41:55] Speaker 6: atheist for to or take twelve years and more of
[41:59] Speaker 6: a hard eightst for about four and I feel like
[42:03] Speaker 6: adapting the hard a atheist title kind of made me
[42:07] Speaker 6: like Christmas more in a way. I don't know if
[42:11] Speaker 6: that makes sense.
[42:13] Speaker 2: Well, I'll explain it. Why do you like Christmas more?
[42:16] Speaker 4: So?
[42:17] Speaker 6: When I was a soft a atheist, I was just
[42:20] Speaker 6: generally irritated by Christmas and the celebration and oh god,
[42:26] Speaker 6: the music is awful. Not a single Christmas song I
[42:29] Speaker 6: find joy in, But ever since I adapted the Herd
[42:33] Speaker 6: a atheist title, it almost let me ignore all of
[42:37] Speaker 6: that and enjoy it for the social aspects. Best of
[42:40] Speaker 6: us being a perfect example, I might have to get
[42:43] Speaker 6: my friends stripper pole out and looking use that.
[42:46] Speaker 2: But does everybody but me have a stripper pole around I?
[42:50] Speaker 2: Just where have I been? I'm so naive? So with a.
[42:55] Speaker 4: What are you doing?
[42:56] Speaker 2: Without all the religious baggage, just being able to make
[42:59] Speaker 2: it what it is on your terms, it's sort of
[43:02] Speaker 2: liberating your holiday, is that what I'm hearing?
[43:04] Speaker 4: Absolutely?
[43:05] Speaker 6: And supic Thanksgiving, which has a strictly historical context, I
[43:10] Speaker 6: can't even bring myself to celebrate that. But when it
[43:13] Speaker 6: comes to things like Christmas that's so deep rooted in
[43:16] Speaker 6: religious tradition that's kind of lost its meaning to a
[43:19] Speaker 6: lot of people, and that ended up being just a
[43:22] Speaker 6: social tradition of giving gifts and getting together with the family.
[43:26] Speaker 6: It's definitely been liberating, and I hope a lot of
[43:29] Speaker 6: people can actually move through and ignore the religious contexts
[43:35] Speaker 6: and use that to better celebrate time with family and friends.
[43:39] Speaker 2: Isn't it interesting that many of the people who celebrate
[43:43] Speaker 2: the christ driven Christmas holiday. Most of the stuff they
[43:47] Speaker 2: do is either pagan or just not religious, and that
[43:50] Speaker 2: seems to be the stuff they love the most. I
[43:52] Speaker 2: don't know if you've noticed that.
[43:53] Speaker 6: Eli, absolutely, and I think one of the biggest things
[43:57] Speaker 6: as well is that you see all these expensive gifts
[44:00] Speaker 6: being thrown around, and what a more Christian thing not
[44:05] Speaker 6: to be giving those to the poor, you know, doing
[44:08] Speaker 6: toy drives for poor children when working in the super
[44:12] Speaker 6: kitchen for the day. I feel like that's the more
[44:14] Speaker 6: Christian thing to do.
[44:16] Speaker 2: Good stuff. Great call, Eli, thanks for being a part
[44:19] Speaker 2: of the show.
[44:20] Speaker 6: Thank you see it later.
[44:23] Speaker 2: Now I've got that freaking Christmas song stuck in my head.
[44:27] Speaker 12: I did it, did it?
[44:28] Speaker 2: I can't get it out. They call it an earbug
[44:30] Speaker 2: or an earworm. How do I get it out? I
[44:32] Speaker 2: have heard that the only way to remove it is
[44:35] Speaker 2: to replace it with a different earworm. I need a
[44:39] Speaker 2: different song. I don't know. I'm gonna think about it
[44:43] Speaker 2: while I take a break. Be right back heading toward
[44:57] Speaker 2: the Christmas holiday and the end of twenty twenty four.
[45:01] Speaker 2: As we just mostly talked together, taking your calls, I've
[45:06] Speaker 2: got Matt. Matt, thanks for being a part of the show.
[45:09] Speaker 4: Are you there, mill se Hi. This is Matt. You
[45:14] Speaker 4: helped me with my dogs medical expenses a few years ago,
[45:18] Speaker 4: if you remember now.
[45:19] Speaker 2: I was glad to be a part of it.
[45:21] Speaker 9: Matt.
[45:21] Speaker 2: I hope you're doing well in your life.
[45:23] Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sorry I wasn't able to thank you call
[45:27] Speaker 4: you sooner, just to give you an update. My dog
[45:31] Speaker 4: passed away, but he recovered and had over two more
[45:36] Speaker 4: years in his life, which was which I'm very thankful
[45:40] Speaker 4: for and I appreciate you helping me with that. He
[45:44] Speaker 4: was over sixteen when he passed away, and I just
[45:47] Speaker 4: heard you talking about your cap and I just had
[45:53] Speaker 4: a bit of warm feeling in my heart. So I
[46:00] Speaker 4: just brought myself up to have the courage to call
[46:02] Speaker 4: you up.
[46:03] Speaker 2: No, it means the world, it really does. And those
[46:06] Speaker 2: two years are precious. You will have those for the
[46:09] Speaker 2: rest of your life. And I'm glad you baby, you
[46:12] Speaker 2: had a loving home for those sixteen years. That's lovely stuff.
[46:16] Speaker 2: Thanks for calling, Matt, and have a merry Christmas.
[46:19] Speaker 4: Okay, thank you, and I hope you have more loving
[46:22] Speaker 4: years with your cat as well and your.
[46:25] Speaker 2: Family appreciate it. All right, We'll see you later.
[46:27] Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
[46:28] Speaker 2: Mark, of all the technology in the world, can we
[46:31] Speaker 2: invent something to extend the life of pets? Can I
[46:35] Speaker 2: give Kat another decade or two? You know, of good health,
[46:40] Speaker 2: like an elixir of some kind of life extending feeline elixir.
[46:45] Speaker 2: Because I do love him and he loves me. He's
[46:48] Speaker 2: he's a good key. There is no feeling like when
[46:51] Speaker 2: I'm laying back and I'm kind of in bed and
[46:55] Speaker 2: just kind of chilling, and he jumps up and he
[46:58] Speaker 2: likes to lay on my chain and he's the loudest perr.
[47:03] Speaker 4: It's just.
[47:05] Speaker 2: And he'll even I think when he's sleeping, he's still purring,
[47:09] Speaker 2: and it just knocks me out. It's so peaceful. It's
[47:13] Speaker 2: like my moment of zen is little kitty therapy, you know,
[47:17] Speaker 2: and the idea of that not being there, and that's
[47:19] Speaker 2: not He sleeps next to my head, and even when
[47:22] Speaker 2: he turns into a little asshole, he's still my kitty boy.
[47:28] Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. Gina at six one five,
[47:32] Speaker 2: Hi are you there?
[47:34] Speaker 12: Hey?
[47:34] Speaker 5: Thanks for taking my call. You just cracked me up.
[47:38] Speaker 12: I met you a few years back when you were
[47:39] Speaker 12: in Nashville giving a talk to the atheist group here,
[47:43] Speaker 12: and I just want to say, this time of year
[47:48] Speaker 12: just really gets under my skin. And I don't know
[47:51] Speaker 12: if you are one like I am. I'll go into
[47:54] Speaker 12: these big box stores and I'll start getting almost like
[47:56] Speaker 12: a panic attack because I see all the stuff for
[48:00] Speaker 12: sale and I just think a landfill. That's all I
[48:04] Speaker 12: can think of, And so I have to get myself
[48:06] Speaker 12: out really quick. And the fact that at Halloween time
[48:10] Speaker 12: they have Christmas stuff up it drives me nuts. No, like,
[48:13] Speaker 12: we can't have just one season at a time.
[48:15] Speaker 2: Abomination. You walk into a store in September and there
[48:20] Speaker 2: are Christmas trees and Santa Clausas and shit, no, this
[48:23] Speaker 2: should be there should be criminal charges filed.
[48:27] Speaker 12: And also on my street, putting up Christmas before Thanksgivings
[48:31] Speaker 12: even over that drives me nuts too.
[48:33] Speaker 2: Criminal charges should be filed. I'm sorry, Gina, you hit
[48:37] Speaker 2: a button. You hit a button with me. You cannot
[48:40] Speaker 2: put Christmas stuff out when it's September, even August. It's
[48:45] Speaker 2: just an abomination. Go ahead, What else do you have for.
[48:48] Speaker 4: Me to you?
[48:49] Speaker 5: It's awful.
[48:50] Speaker 12: Well, my husband happened to have the TV on and
[48:53] Speaker 12: he put on the Bishop's Wife and I had seen
[48:57] Speaker 12: it a long time ago, but I decided I'd go
[48:59] Speaker 12: ahead and watch it with him, and I really enjoyed it.
[49:03] Speaker 12: And it's so religious, but it just had a good message,
[49:09] Speaker 12: and for me, because there is so much consumerism and
[49:13] Speaker 12: I'm always wanted to say, when is enough enough? I
[49:17] Speaker 12: just really liked a more simple message of just the
[49:21] Speaker 12: idea of being good to one another?
[49:23] Speaker 2: Can I sow fast? I don't know what the bishop's
[49:27] Speaker 2: wife is. I just pulled it up on Wikipedia. Is
[49:30] Speaker 2: this the nineteen forty seven Carrie Grant movie?
[49:34] Speaker 5: Oh yeah, it's awesome. All the old movies are to me.
[49:38] Speaker 2: Is it like it's a wonderful life kind of thing
[49:41] Speaker 2: or a miracle on thirty fourth Street?
[49:44] Speaker 9: Yeah?
[49:45] Speaker 12: Yeah, Well Carrie Grant sent down because the bishop is
[49:47] Speaker 12: having a kind of a crisis of this woman is
[49:51] Speaker 12: wanting to give his church a facelift. Basically, who's wanting
[49:55] Speaker 12: to give all this money to him in honor of.
[49:57] Speaker 5: Her husband that she never really loved. You need to
[50:00] Speaker 5: watch it.
[50:01] Speaker 12: And the angel comes down to kind of redirect the
[50:04] Speaker 12: bishop to what's really important, and he kind of flirts
[50:09] Speaker 12: with the wife and he and the bishop gets all
[50:12] Speaker 12: upset with that.
[50:13] Speaker 5: It's just a great both.
[50:14] Speaker 2: Wait wait a minute, so he doesn't watched it. Wait
[50:17] Speaker 2: a minute, the angel is flirting with the man's wife.
[50:21] Speaker 12: Yeah, because you know, as an angel, he just well,
[50:24] Speaker 12: you got to watch it. And of course you know
[50:27] Speaker 12: you can tell she's really getting feeling for him. But no,
[50:29] Speaker 12: it's wrong, and of course Carrie Grant's character as an angel.
[50:33] Speaker 5: Knows it's wrong. Nothing ever happens.
[50:35] Speaker 12: But it's just a really feel good movie about what
[50:39] Speaker 12: it really means to be in family and.
[50:44] Speaker 9: Just you know, it's just great.
[50:46] Speaker 5: You need to watch it.
[50:47] Speaker 2: Okay, the bishop's wife, I've made a note. I appreciate
[50:52] Speaker 2: the heads up on that. Thanks for calling. It's good
[50:55] Speaker 2: to hear your voice. Gina, have a wonderful holiday. We'll
[50:58] Speaker 2: see you later.
[50:59] Speaker 5: Thank you, you you.
[51:00] Speaker 2: I'd say bye. Like the angels putting the moves on
[51:05] Speaker 2: the guy's wife, I guess it's not impossible. Then you
[51:10] Speaker 2: have to ask the question, are angels fully functional? Mayfe
[51:14] Speaker 2: you know what I mean, But in the Old Testament
[51:18] Speaker 2: didn't have fallen angels. They came down to earth and
[51:21] Speaker 2: they had sex with earthly women to make the nephlum.
[51:24] Speaker 2: So if we go by biblical logic, I mean, Carrie Grant,
[51:29] Speaker 2: if he's from the biblical heaven, you know, he and
[51:31] Speaker 2: the wife would have kind of I'm just saying. I'm
[51:35] Speaker 2: just saying that would have been a miracle on thirty
[51:39] Speaker 2: fourth Street. Oh yeah, alrighty. We're gonna do Christmas kind
[51:47] Speaker 2: of on our own terms. We don't do a ton
[51:50] Speaker 2: of accouterments. We are very much the family we choose,
[51:55] Speaker 2: and I do include you in that because this community
[51:59] Speaker 2: for me is family. It is one of those wonderful,
[52:02] Speaker 2: precious gifts for me. I know it sounds corny when
[52:05] Speaker 2: I say it, but I really do mean it, you know.
[52:07] Speaker 2: I sometimes we'll find myself in the vicinity of people
[52:10] Speaker 2: who they love me, but they don't fully accept me
[52:15] Speaker 2: or respect me for who I am. And yet I
[52:19] Speaker 2: can come here and even when challenged, even when we disagree,
[52:22] Speaker 2: and when we are very different in who we are.
[52:25] Speaker 2: It's not about conformity. It's about who are you? Who
[52:30] Speaker 2: do you want to be? Be yourself on your terms
[52:33] Speaker 2: without apology. We've got your back and I've always felt
[52:35] Speaker 2: that here and I hope you feel it from me
[52:38] Speaker 2: as well. I think an authentic life is the gift
[52:41] Speaker 2: we can give to ourselves every single day of the year,
[52:46] Speaker 2: and whatever the new year holds, let's keep on in
[52:50] Speaker 2: the meantime. Merry Christmas and I'll see you next time.
[53:01] Speaker 4: St.

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