# We Are Being Controlled

An episode of [TheThinkingAtheist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/412308695), 17 Mar 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/711/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70626984/podcast864_beingcontrolled.mp3

We're living our lives by their rules. How did we get here? Plus your calls. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Understand 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 because.
[0:22] Speaker 2: I put my hand on a book and made a.
[0:24] Speaker 1: Wish and working together for a more rational world.
[0:29] Speaker 2: Take the risk of thinking. Feel so much more happiness.
[0:32] Speaker 2: Truth Usian 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 was thinking recently about all the things that you
[0:58] Speaker 2: and I do that make almost no sense, that we've
[1:01] Speaker 2: simply accepted, we've simply gotten used to. I'm preparing several
[1:06] Speaker 2: speech ideas for the future. I've always got something percolating, right,
[1:10] Speaker 2: and I've got one about bad atheist arguments. A lot
[1:14] Speaker 2: of the meme verse in the atheist culture. It's the
[1:17] Speaker 2: secular movement. I see a lot of stuff that shared
[1:19] Speaker 2: out there that I just cannot stand because it's just wrong.
[1:24] Speaker 2: I mean it's not just toxic and off putting and
[1:26] Speaker 2: superior and snobby and stupid, but it just factually makes
[1:30] Speaker 2: no sense. Religion is a mental illness. It is a
[1:34] Speaker 2: claim that I often see or you know, the reason
[1:38] Speaker 2: that things are more peaceful on Sunday mornings is because
[1:41] Speaker 2: the evil people are at church. I actually saw a
[1:45] Speaker 2: meme that said that are you shitting me? You know,
[1:47] Speaker 2: it's just so wrongheaded. So I go point by point
[1:50] Speaker 2: through bad positions and statements that atheists have made, but
[1:54] Speaker 2: that doesn't feel ass topical. I just did another one
[1:58] Speaker 2: that I'm going to be touring with about how Jesus
[2:00] Speaker 2: looks different in different cultures throughout our history, and those
[2:05] Speaker 2: Jesus has often looked like those who believed in him.
[2:09] Speaker 2: I'm also thinking about doing one on parental advice, things
[2:13] Speaker 2: that we were always taught and told that you know,
[2:16] Speaker 2: we accept it as really good advice, when the truth
[2:19] Speaker 2: is it's just not life wisdom that on the surface
[2:23] Speaker 2: makes sense until you stop and think about it. So
[2:27] Speaker 2: I'm thinking about doing an entire presentation of live speech
[2:30] Speaker 2: as I head out and speak in different cities, but
[2:33] Speaker 2: just a few examples of some of the things that
[2:35] Speaker 2: have been driving me crazy. Advice that's actually bad advice,
[2:39] Speaker 2: like don't go to bed angry on the surface. I understand,
[2:46] Speaker 2: try to resolve the conflict before you call it a day.
[2:49] Speaker 2: You know, don't put it off if there's an opportunity,
[2:52] Speaker 2: let's see if some kind of resolution can be had.
[2:56] Speaker 2: On the surface, it sounds really good and I get that,
[2:59] Speaker 2: but overall, if you dig past the surface layer, it's
[3:03] Speaker 2: shit advice. If you have been wronged, or if there
[3:07] Speaker 2: is an injustice or if there is something that is
[3:09] Speaker 2: outrageous that is happening, you have no obligation to not
[3:13] Speaker 2: go to bed outraged about it. Go to bed angry.
[3:18] Speaker 2: Anger is the natural response to the outrageous Why would
[3:21] Speaker 2: you not be angry? And then also puts the burden
[3:25] Speaker 2: on you to try to resolve a conflict that may
[3:27] Speaker 2: not be irresolvable. Let's say you're in the middle of
[3:30] Speaker 2: an argument with a life partner or a child or
[3:33] Speaker 2: someone who's being totally unreasonable, even toxic, and somehow you're
[3:37] Speaker 2: supposed to resolve it just so you don't go to
[3:40] Speaker 2: bed angry. That may not be possible, it may not
[3:43] Speaker 2: even be healthy. Never go to bed angry. It's bad advice.
[3:50] Speaker 2: At the very least, it's extremely reductive advice. And yet
[3:53] Speaker 2: we've always heard this counselors and pastors and parents are
[3:57] Speaker 2: telling people, you know, let me give you this wisdom,
[3:59] Speaker 2: try not to go to bed angry. All natural means
[4:04] Speaker 2: it's better for you. You are well ahead of me
[4:06] Speaker 2: on this one, right. I was reading an article by
[4:09] Speaker 2: immunologist doctor Andrea Love about our war on chemicals. I
[4:15] Speaker 2: won't eat it if it's chemical. I won't drink it
[4:17] Speaker 2: if it's chemical. And I'm thinking, good luck with that,
[4:20] Speaker 2: because everything is chemical, natural good, chemical bad or natural
[4:24] Speaker 2: good artificial bad is kind of how it has been phrasing.
[4:28] Speaker 2: You and I, of course, are going through a laundry
[4:30] Speaker 2: list of so many of the things that are all
[4:32] Speaker 2: natural that will freaking kill you. And we can all
[4:37] Speaker 2: think of examples of how science and scientific modifications have
[4:40] Speaker 2: actually made safer the natural world. You get into it
[4:45] Speaker 2: a relationship and they say, well, opposites attract. Maybe sometimes
[4:51] Speaker 2: they do. Sometimes they cause people to clash because they
[4:54] Speaker 2: have absolutely no common ground. Sometimes people with more in
[4:59] Speaker 2: common are more or compatible. To say opposites attract, Hey,
[5:03] Speaker 2: maybe it works with magnets. But this is not sound
[5:06] Speaker 2: relationship advice. It's not something that you should use for
[5:09] Speaker 2: a rule book for establishing intimacy with another human being.
[5:14] Speaker 2: That which does not kill you makes you stronger. What
[5:18] Speaker 2: a bunch of crap? That is, The idea that trauma,
[5:24] Speaker 2: pain and suffering and harm and all this stuff develops resilience. Well,
[5:28] Speaker 2: sometimes sometimes you go out there and you literally do
[5:32] Speaker 2: have to develop tougher skin than coping mechanisms. You have
[5:36] Speaker 2: to be able to adapt to a harder environment to survive.
[5:39] Speaker 2: We see this throughout nature in some contexts, okay, But
[5:44] Speaker 2: in other contexts we see that there is just simply
[5:47] Speaker 2: pain and suffering, and we are not stronger. We are weaker,
[5:50] Speaker 2: and we are beaten down, and we are absolutely defeated
[5:53] Speaker 2: and miserable and often live much shorter lives. That which
[5:56] Speaker 2: does not kill us may make us weaker. Another one
[6:02] Speaker 2: was if you're looking for a life partner, find somebody
[6:05] Speaker 2: who can't live without you. What a horrible piece of
[6:09] Speaker 2: advice that is. There's that song I can't live if
[6:14] Speaker 2: living is without you? Who sings that song? I can't
[6:18] Speaker 2: live if living is without you? Who sings that song?
[6:22] Speaker 2: What a terrible song? But because what is the song saying?
[6:27] Speaker 2: If we're not together, if you break up with me,
[6:31] Speaker 2: I'm either going to die of heartache or I'm gonna
[6:34] Speaker 2: freaking off myself. This is not healthy. That's not healthy,
[6:39] Speaker 2: and that's not something I think you would look for
[6:41] Speaker 2: in a partner. Well, I don't want to break up
[6:44] Speaker 2: with this person because they may off themselves. Is kind
[6:48] Speaker 2: of a bad model for a relationship. Find somebody you
[6:52] Speaker 2: can't live without, it's just horrible. Find somebody who can
[6:56] Speaker 2: live without you, but chooses to be with you. There's
[6:59] Speaker 2: a comedie named Chris Porter and he said, you know,
[7:02] Speaker 2: I was told I'm supposed to find somebody who can't
[7:05] Speaker 2: live without me, And he said, that's terrible advice. Living
[7:08] Speaker 2: with someone like that is like having a puppy that
[7:11] Speaker 2: can text you. Yeah, that's pretty accurate. Sticks and stones
[7:17] Speaker 2: may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
[7:21] Speaker 2: I don't know who came up with that one, but
[7:24] Speaker 2: they just need to be kneecapped right now because words. Language,
[7:29] Speaker 2: I'm telling you, language has the power to destroy people.
[7:34] Speaker 2: How many people? How many times have you in your
[7:37] Speaker 2: life been told something? Words, vowels, and consonants are raged
[7:41] Speaker 2: in a specific order. Something was said to you that
[7:44] Speaker 2: broke you, broke your heart, devastated you, maybe impacted how
[7:49] Speaker 2: you felt about yourself or the world around you. How
[7:52] Speaker 2: many people have struggled throughout their lives. I was watching
[7:56] Speaker 2: a documentary about the nineteen eighty US hockey team, and
[8:00] Speaker 2: for those who are not familiar with the story, just
[8:02] Speaker 2: a real quick setup. For twenty years previously to nineteen eighty,
[8:07] Speaker 2: the Soviet Union's hockey team was the dominant hockey team
[8:11] Speaker 2: in the world. They were professional hockey players, that's all
[8:16] Speaker 2: they did, and they dominated and crushed the competition. They
[8:20] Speaker 2: played American teams, including the NHL, and crushed the pros.
[8:24] Speaker 2: They just crushed everybody. And so Herb Brooks, the coach
[8:29] Speaker 2: of the nineteen eighty team, rounds up this sort of
[8:32] Speaker 2: scrappy bunch of college kids and he develops a plan
[8:36] Speaker 2: to actually try and defeat the Soviet Union, something that very,
[8:40] Speaker 2: very very few people thought was possible. And of course
[8:45] Speaker 2: many are familiar with the story. You've seen the documentaries.
[8:48] Speaker 2: There is a Disney film called Miracle starring Kurt Russell.
[8:52] Speaker 2: It's a great film that's actually pretty true to the
[8:55] Speaker 2: facts as well. I was impressed with you know, I mean,
[8:58] Speaker 2: they got really close. But there was a part of
[9:02] Speaker 2: that story that not a lot of people know. And
[9:04] Speaker 2: one of the reasons that coach Herb Brooks was so
[9:06] Speaker 2: obsessed with taking the team to the gold medalist because
[9:10] Speaker 2: years and years and years before he had been a player,
[9:14] Speaker 2: and he was on the US Olympic hockey team, and
[9:18] Speaker 2: the day before they went to the Olympics, he was
[9:21] Speaker 2: the last player who was cut. They have a few
[9:26] Speaker 2: extra players and then they have to whittle it down
[9:28] Speaker 2: to I think twenty players before they go to the Olympics.
[9:32] Speaker 2: So they start with twenty five, twenty four, twenty three,
[9:35] Speaker 2: and the night before they go to the Olympics, Herb
[9:38] Speaker 2: Brooks has called into the office and the coach says,
[9:40] Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I've got to let you go. You are
[9:43] Speaker 2: the last member of the team that will be released.
[9:46] Speaker 2: And he never got to go. And he is home
[9:49] Speaker 2: and he's watching the Olympics with his parents and he's
[9:53] Speaker 2: watching as the United States took the gold medal and
[9:57] Speaker 2: his father looked at her and he said, you know,
[10:01] Speaker 2: looks like they cut the right player. And it devastated
[10:07] Speaker 2: Herb Brooks. He carried that with him for decades now.
[10:11] Speaker 2: Some would argue that it motivated him to greatness, but
[10:14] Speaker 2: I don't think he needed that I don't think you
[10:17] Speaker 2: have to wreck somebody in their identity. I don't think
[10:20] Speaker 2: you have to punish, torture somebody because what they didn't
[10:24] Speaker 2: quite make the Olympic team. And I think to myself,
[10:28] Speaker 2: those were words. Sticks and stones may break my bones,
[10:32] Speaker 2: but words can devastate someone. He carried those words to
[10:37] Speaker 2: his grave. Just bad advice. Spare the rod, spoil the child,
[10:44] Speaker 2: horrible advice. I remember some people in my circle were
[10:49] Speaker 2: defending the spanking of children because well, you know, I
[10:51] Speaker 2: got spanked all the time, and I turned out fine.
[10:54] Speaker 2: The eye turned out fine. Defense is a terrible defense
[10:59] Speaker 2: for doing something. You know what. I rode in a
[11:02] Speaker 2: car without a seat belt next to glass that wasn't
[11:06] Speaker 2: a breakable glass, you know, remember the old car glass
[11:09] Speaker 2: that would they'd shard instead of shatter, So not only
[11:13] Speaker 2: would the impact kill you, but you would be stabbed
[11:15] Speaker 2: to death in the process if you were in a
[11:17] Speaker 2: car accident. Well, you know what, I lived through that era.
[11:20] Speaker 2: We rode in the back of a pickup truck, standing
[11:22] Speaker 2: up with a beer koozy in one hand, and we survived.
[11:26] Speaker 2: We were tougher back then, you know, just bad advice,
[11:31] Speaker 2: bad advice. Respect your elders. I understand on this surface
[11:37] Speaker 2: where that comes from. If you have a subordinate a
[11:41] Speaker 2: young child, that child is not yet equipped to live
[11:45] Speaker 2: in this world safely, to provide for its own needs
[11:48] Speaker 2: to a degree it needs to. If respect is not
[11:52] Speaker 2: the word, it needs to align with the guidelines that
[11:55] Speaker 2: are put in place. Right, if you just need to
[11:58] Speaker 2: clean your room, you need to go to bed, but
[12:00] Speaker 2: at this time you need to do your homework, finish
[12:03] Speaker 2: your chores and whatever. You will respect the authority that
[12:06] Speaker 2: I have over you. On the surface, it sounds really good,
[12:09] Speaker 2: but now we have an entire culture who are there like, well,
[12:12] Speaker 2: they're your elders. They're your mother, your father, your grandfather,
[12:16] Speaker 2: your pastor, your president. Respect your elders. Wait a minute,
[12:20] Speaker 2: so you're telling me that because someone is an elder
[12:23] Speaker 2: meaning older, especially if they're on the family tree, that
[12:27] Speaker 2: they automatically get respect by default. I thought respect was
[12:31] Speaker 2: to be earned. There's a shit ton of people in
[12:34] Speaker 2: my life who are older, but they're not wiser, they're
[12:37] Speaker 2: not necessarily good people. So if you walk into a room,
[12:41] Speaker 2: do I respect you simply because you are elder? Do
[12:45] Speaker 2: you earn respect? Have you deserved respect? I don't know.
[12:51] Speaker 2: There's a whole litany of them. Tell me what yours
[12:54] Speaker 2: are in the comments section, because I might grab a
[12:57] Speaker 2: few of those and incorporate them if I give the
[12:59] Speaker 2: speech later on this year or maybe in twenty twenty seven.
[13:02] Speaker 2: I'm always thinking ahead. These are the things that have
[13:05] Speaker 2: been bouncing around in my brain, and we would just
[13:07] Speaker 2: say this is stuff that we think about and do
[13:09] Speaker 2: all the time without even really thinking why we do it.
[13:13] Speaker 2: This is not exactly related, but I thought about it
[13:16] Speaker 2: two days ago. I'm over at the self checkout lane.
[13:20] Speaker 2: I've just accepted that I am now going to check
[13:22] Speaker 2: myself out at the grocery store, and I will pay
[13:26] Speaker 2: the same amount or more for what I am buying.
[13:30] Speaker 2: I'm being served less. I am actually I am now
[13:34] Speaker 2: the employee of the store, and I'm paying the same price.
[13:37] Speaker 2: No discount for me, no employee discount. I've accepted that.
[13:42] Speaker 2: I've accepted that, even though I have insurance in this country,
[13:46] Speaker 2: that a single major medical event might financially devastate me
[13:51] Speaker 2: and I could lose everything. How in the world did
[13:54] Speaker 2: I get to a point where I've accepted that, even
[13:57] Speaker 2: if I'm insured, I could be home and ruined forever.
[14:03] Speaker 2: Someone else says, well, are you in this planned are
[14:05] Speaker 2: you on that network? We choose your doctor. If you
[14:08] Speaker 2: don't use our doctor, you have to pay all of
[14:10] Speaker 2: it or most of it. And if you go over here,
[14:12] Speaker 2: you're still paying twenty percent of an eighty percent thing
[14:15] Speaker 2: after the deductible and the thing and the cope and
[14:18] Speaker 2: what you and the cost of the insurance is how
[14:21] Speaker 2: much while the CEOs of the insurance companies are making
[14:25] Speaker 2: tens and tens and tens of millions of dollars. And
[14:28] Speaker 2: I've just sighed and shrugged and said, ah shit, this
[14:31] Speaker 2: sucks and accepted it. I've come to the point where
[14:35] Speaker 2: I don't own the things that I own, and I accepted.
[14:39] Speaker 2: I rented a movie, actually, I bought a movie online,
[14:43] Speaker 2: one of those things where would you like to rent
[14:45] Speaker 2: this film to stream for two ninety nine or would
[14:48] Speaker 2: you like to buy it for four ninety nine because
[14:50] Speaker 2: it was an older movie? And I said, well, oh shit,
[14:53] Speaker 2: I'll buy it extra two bucks. Click, and I realized
[14:58] Speaker 2: I don't own the movie. I don't have a disc version,
[15:02] Speaker 2: I don't have it on drive. It's not on my
[15:04] Speaker 2: hard drive, it's not on a flash drive. It's not
[15:06] Speaker 2: in any physical form in my life. That streaming company
[15:10] Speaker 2: can just decide that, oh it's not yours and it disappears.
[15:14] Speaker 2: It's gone forever. I own it, but I don't own it.
[15:18] Speaker 2: And I have come to the point where I say, Okay,
[15:21] Speaker 2: now it is what it is. It is what it is,
[15:25] Speaker 2: Daylight Savings Time. I just accept it. What a stupid idea.
[15:31] Speaker 2: It may have had its uses a long time ago.
[15:34] Speaker 2: I just roll with it. Ah, I guess it's time
[15:36] Speaker 2: to spring forward or fall back. What a pain in
[15:39] Speaker 2: the ass Daylight Savings Time is. I've signed up to
[15:44] Speaker 2: how many do not call lists for my cell phone
[15:47] Speaker 2: because I'm sick and tired of getting spam. You know
[15:49] Speaker 2: what I get more of than ever spam? Not just
[15:53] Speaker 2: phone calls, but texts. I get texts and I can't
[15:57] Speaker 2: block them because they come from these weird one two
[15:59] Speaker 2: three plus US DASH eight eight seven whatever numbers I'm
[16:02] Speaker 2: sure from overseas that are untraceable. And even if you
[16:06] Speaker 2: do block it, there were five squillion other numbers that
[16:09] Speaker 2: they can use every day. How many do you get
[16:12] Speaker 2: a day? I'm thinking I get three, probably get one
[16:16] Speaker 2: or two calls, and two to three texts that are
[16:20] Speaker 2: just spammed, and no matter how many I block, I
[16:22] Speaker 2: still get them. And I've just accepted it. I've just
[16:25] Speaker 2: accepted it. Eh, it is what it is. I've just
[16:30] Speaker 2: accepted that I will buy a house and pay for
[16:32] Speaker 2: it three times. I will pay for it three times.
[16:36] Speaker 2: What's the going interest rate here in the United States
[16:39] Speaker 2: right now? I think it's like six or six and
[16:41] Speaker 2: a half percent. And people are like, yay, six percent,
[16:45] Speaker 2: So they go and oh, I've got great credit. Wonderful,
[16:49] Speaker 2: you still get six and a half percent. So you
[16:52] Speaker 2: sit down and you pay thousands of dollars in closing costs,
[16:56] Speaker 2: which I think is a scam, shit ton of paperwork. Okay, fine,
[17:00] Speaker 2: and I'm going to sign here and to sign here,
[17:01] Speaker 2: and I go through three or four weeks, five weeks
[17:03] Speaker 2: of submitting proof that I actually deserve to have a home,
[17:08] Speaker 2: and then once I sign, I'm on the hook for
[17:11] Speaker 2: I mean, most notes are thirty years. If I start
[17:15] Speaker 2: working at sixteen, Let's say I retire at sixty five,
[17:20] Speaker 2: and that ain't going to happen. Well, let's just look
[17:22] Speaker 2: at I mean, you were spending almost all of your
[17:26] Speaker 2: working life paying for a house, and you're paying for
[17:29] Speaker 2: it three times over. You got some principle, but look
[17:33] Speaker 2: at the interest, look at the insurance, look at the
[17:36] Speaker 2: property taxes, look at all the fees and incidentals. So
[17:40] Speaker 2: if you buy a two hundred thousand dollars house, you
[17:42] Speaker 2: are paying over six hundred grand for it, and we
[17:47] Speaker 2: just accept it. Social media companies own us, the streaming
[17:53] Speaker 2: companies own us, the robocollars own us, the insurance companies
[17:59] Speaker 2: own us, the banks own us, the government owns us,
[18:05] Speaker 2: and we've just come to accept it. You and I
[18:08] Speaker 2: sit back and think the United States is dropping tomahawks
[18:13] Speaker 2: on schools and killing upwards of almost two hundred school
[18:18] Speaker 2: girls in a single attack. I sort of missed the
[18:21] Speaker 2: times that we had a congress in a Supreme court.
[18:24] Speaker 2: Don't you We feel helpless. This is the hand that
[18:28] Speaker 2: we are dealt, this is what we're stuck with. I'm
[18:31] Speaker 2: going to be at the no Kings protest on the
[18:33] Speaker 2: twenty eighth. I'm calling my elected officials, not that they
[18:36] Speaker 2: give a shit, but fine, but I'm like I am
[18:40] Speaker 2: now being hand at a world that someone else designed
[18:45] Speaker 2: my life. They're rules and I become resentful about it,
[18:49] Speaker 2: But then I participate in that world. How do you
[18:52] Speaker 2: bust out of the cycle. It sounds good on the
[18:55] Speaker 2: surface to say I'm just not going to play. That's ridiculous.
[18:58] Speaker 2: We saw that with non vote in twenty twenty four,
[19:01] Speaker 2: and Jesus Christ, look where we are now, thank you
[19:04] Speaker 2: very much. How do you maneuver within the system? Can
[19:08] Speaker 2: you bend the system? Can you convert? Subvert the system?
[19:14] Speaker 2: Every day you and I participate in systems which make
[19:17] Speaker 2: very little sense for us, but make a whole lot
[19:20] Speaker 2: of sense for someone else. These are the things that
[19:23] Speaker 2: occupy my mind. What occupies your mind? I am insanely curious.
[19:31] Speaker 2: Short break your calls next. I just added Nashville with
[19:42] Speaker 2: Nanocon to the events calendar on the website. A lot
[19:45] Speaker 2: of stuff in Canada going on this year. But if
[19:47] Speaker 2: you are interested in one of the things happening this year,
[19:51] Speaker 2: I see Calgary, Nashville, Ottawa, Ontario, Sarnia, Milwaukee, Huntsville, Alabama,
[19:59] Speaker 2: and and I think more maybe coming. Go to the
[20:02] Speaker 2: Thinkingatheist dot com slash events. There are links to the
[20:06] Speaker 2: conference pages right there the Thinkingatheist dot com slash events.
[20:14] Speaker 2: Let's go to seven five seven and talk to Sarah. Hello, Hei,
[20:20] Speaker 2: Welcome to the show, Sarah, But what's on your mind?
[20:23] Speaker 2: What you want to talk about.
[20:25] Speaker 3: I've got this mom Swellen very dearly, and we're both
[20:28] Speaker 3: on the same side of politics, thankfully. But every time
[20:31] Speaker 3: I go into a FaceTime with her, all she wants
[20:33] Speaker 3: to do is bitch, bitch, bitch about Trump. And it's
[20:37] Speaker 3: like and she's talking about like the end of the
[20:40] Speaker 3: world kind of stuff and how bad it is. And
[20:43] Speaker 3: I've actually done it where I've sat a twenty minute
[20:46] Speaker 3: time of accurt and it's been very successful.
[20:48] Speaker 2: Actually, she's mad about Trump.
[20:52] Speaker 3: She's anti Trump, but she's taking every piece of news
[20:56] Speaker 3: like it's like, oh my god, things are she she
[21:00] Speaker 3: bluestems well out of proportion as she's following some of
[21:04] Speaker 3: the super biased stuff that means a little too far
[21:08] Speaker 3: towards like off the left side of the cliff.
[21:11] Speaker 2: Basically, well, if you've set a limit and she is
[21:15] Speaker 2: abiding by the limit, it sounds like she's played by
[21:18] Speaker 2: your rules. If it's too much, then you can lower
[21:21] Speaker 2: the limit. You know what, Let's do ten minutes, let's
[21:24] Speaker 2: do five minutes, and then let's talk about other things.
[21:26] Speaker 2: You think she would abide that?
[21:28] Speaker 3: Yeah, And I actually have to physically set a live
[21:32] Speaker 3: timer and when it beeps, I say, hey, let's talk
[21:35] Speaker 3: about the green kids. Let's talk about something else.
[21:39] Speaker 4: It sounds like.
[21:40] Speaker 2: You solve your own problem. You know, she's abiding with
[21:44] Speaker 2: those rules, and I think, understanding why you've set the boundary. Mom,
[21:48] Speaker 2: This isn't healthy. We're not wired to handle the avalanche
[21:52] Speaker 2: of bad news that's being thrown at us every day.
[21:55] Speaker 2: They want to overwhelm us. Don't forget to live your
[21:58] Speaker 2: life because I want to live my life life as well.
[22:00] Speaker 2: Let's find some balance. I think if she understands why,
[22:04] Speaker 2: and you've got the stop Watch, that's a win, right.
[22:08] Speaker 3: Yeah. And one other point too is you know, in
[22:12] Speaker 3: terms of physical media, I have completely switched back to
[22:16] Speaker 3: physical DVDs. Now I'm going on eBay and just buy
[22:19] Speaker 3: up old dbs.
[22:21] Speaker 2: The director Guiermo del Toro has been speaking about how
[22:25] Speaker 2: the death of physical media actually cheats those who love
[22:30] Speaker 2: film and has He's encouraged people, you know, get the
[22:33] Speaker 2: Blu ray, get a hard copy so that it is
[22:36] Speaker 2: in your possession, which does a couple of things. First
[22:39] Speaker 2: of all, there are a lot more features on the
[22:42] Speaker 2: disc versions that you purchase, but then it's you know,
[22:45] Speaker 2: not something where a third party can arbitrarily pull the
[22:48] Speaker 2: plug and it vanishes from your life. Ownership means ownership,
[22:53] Speaker 2: and I think he believes in order to really preserve film,
[22:56] Speaker 2: we have to preserve it on a personal level. And
[22:58] Speaker 2: I think I agree and appreciate that.
[23:01] Speaker 3: Piracy is back in full sway, and I kind of
[23:04] Speaker 3: support that because I can't afford all the streaming services.
[23:08] Speaker 3: I simply cannot. I have to pick one maybe, but
[23:12] Speaker 3: if I want to check out one show or something
[23:15] Speaker 3: or see if I even like the thing, I'm not
[23:17] Speaker 3: going to pay a monthly subscription for that anymore. I
[23:19] Speaker 3: can't do it.
[23:20] Speaker 2: I'll let the comment section argue about copyright and all
[23:24] Speaker 2: of that. I'm not gonna I can't endorse piracy.
[23:28] Speaker 3: Really liking something, then I will go out and.
[23:30] Speaker 2: Buy it, all right, Sarah, Well, I appreciate you calling
[23:33] Speaker 2: the show very much.
[23:34] Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you much.
[23:35] Speaker 2: See you later. Steve is dialing in from area code
[23:40] Speaker 2: eight three zero. Steve, thanks for waiting. Are you there?
[23:43] Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm here. Thanks for taking my call.
[23:45] Speaker 2: Appreciate you very much. Let's talk. What's on your mind?
[23:48] Speaker 4: Well?
[23:48] Speaker 5: I was just thinking about I live in Texas and
[23:51] Speaker 5: I live in a pretty red part of Texas, and
[23:54] Speaker 5: I was really excited about the success of James tell Rico,
[23:57] Speaker 5: and it looks like we're going to have a pretty
[23:59] Speaker 5: competitive set for John Cornyn's Senate spot. But I've been
[24:03] Speaker 5: a little turned off because kind of going through Facebook,
[24:06] Speaker 5: I see tall Rico's Facebook page and a lot of
[24:09] Speaker 5: his posts are like talking about how Christian he is
[24:13] Speaker 5: and how Christ is wonderful and I love God and
[24:16] Speaker 5: look at me, I'm a huge Christian. Shouldn't you vote
[24:19] Speaker 5: for me? And I have kind of conflicting thoughts about that.
[24:23] Speaker 5: I Mean, on one hand, I get it, you know,
[24:24] Speaker 5: you have to do what you have to do to
[24:26] Speaker 5: get elected.
[24:26] Speaker 4: But on the other.
[24:27] Speaker 5: Hand, I'm a little frustrated that we kind of live
[24:30] Speaker 5: in a society where like even the Democrats have to
[24:33] Speaker 5: proclaim how Christian and how much they love God and
[24:36] Speaker 5: how much they love Jesus in order to get elected.
[24:39] Speaker 5: I'm sure that in Oklahoma you probably see that too.
[24:42] Speaker 2: Republican Christianity is really the Oklahoma brand, which you would
[24:46] Speaker 2: expect Tennis State, which is ranked fiftieth in education. James Tallerico,
[24:52] Speaker 2: I am of two minds on I think for the
[24:54] Speaker 2: same reason that you and many others are Steve, I
[24:58] Speaker 2: appreciate his values. I don't think we're going to win
[25:01] Speaker 2: the war against Christian nationalism without inter faith efforts. We're
[25:06] Speaker 2: going to have to ally with people who have a
[25:08] Speaker 2: God belief, and there are a lot of people who
[25:11] Speaker 2: do who don't think Jesus needs a state church, and
[25:14] Speaker 2: they're on our side for secular government. James tallerco qualifies
[25:19] Speaker 2: one of the frustrating things is Tallarico and others are
[25:23] Speaker 2: sort of sanewashing the fact that Christianity is at its
[25:28] Speaker 2: core a dominionist faith. So this happy clappy notion, well,
[25:33] Speaker 2: Jesus would have never judged gay people, and Jesus would
[25:36] Speaker 2: have never wanted to regulate the womb, and Jesus loved
[25:40] Speaker 2: everybody unconditionally. Well that's a noble sentiment, but it's not biblical.
[25:46] Speaker 2: And we've seen cherry picking in every culture, in every religion.
[25:51] Speaker 2: But these progressive Christians are selling a Christianity that is
[25:55] Speaker 2: actually a custom fitted faith to their value system. But
[25:58] Speaker 2: it's not the biblical thing. Anybody who says that Jesus,
[26:02] Speaker 2: who is God, was pro gay people did not read
[26:07] Speaker 2: the Old or New Testament. And so when I see
[26:09] Speaker 2: these people who were out there talking about, well, this
[26:12] Speaker 2: is not true Christianity. Christian nationalism is not true Christianity.
[26:16] Speaker 2: I'm like, the whole freaking Bible is a dominionist book.
[26:19] Speaker 2: The first thing that God did when he created Adam
[26:22] Speaker 2: was to give Adam dominion over the earth. The entire
[26:26] Speaker 2: Old Testament is nothing but tribal wars for power and territory.
[26:30] Speaker 2: The chosen people, the idea of but chosen people is
[26:34] Speaker 2: a dominionist theology. Go ye into all the world and
[26:38] Speaker 2: preach the gospel right, make converts. That's dominionist theology. That
[26:43] Speaker 2: is Christianity. So I get frustrated as well. Know, I
[26:47] Speaker 2: appreciate his values, but I wish he wasn't flexing the
[26:52] Speaker 2: Christian angle as much as he was flexing his humanist angle.
[26:56] Speaker 2: And that's exactly what you're saying, right, is that your frustration, Steve.
[27:00] Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly. I mean I agree with all of that.
[27:02] Speaker 5: You know, I have some friends that are Christian and
[27:05] Speaker 5: very open about it and very liberal, very democrat there,
[27:09] Speaker 5: and they say the same thing and say, well, you know,
[27:11] Speaker 5: Jesus taught love love one another and Christianity is about
[27:14] Speaker 5: being accepting. And I'm thinking, like have you read your Bible.
[27:18] Speaker 5: First of all, Jesus doesn't even exist right now. Whether
[27:21] Speaker 5: he existed in the past, he doesn't exist now. And
[27:24] Speaker 5: his teachings are two thousand years old and could have
[27:26] Speaker 5: been manipulated in any which way. So I'm like, why
[27:30] Speaker 5: don't we set the Christian thing aside and just and
[27:33] Speaker 5: you know, be a little bit more humanist about it.
[27:35] Speaker 2: I'll support tall Ico. I think he's a good man
[27:38] Speaker 2: with a good heart. I think he's good despite his faith,
[27:41] Speaker 2: not because of it.
[27:42] Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, yeah, me too. And I'd like, I would
[27:46] Speaker 5: love to see, you know, candidates be able to win
[27:48] Speaker 5: big elections without having to dig into the Christianity thing.
[27:52] Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see how future generations who have
[27:55] Speaker 2: seen the chest pounding Bible bangers and their support of
[28:00] Speaker 2: President Pedophile, you know, how they will respond to all
[28:04] Speaker 2: of this. I know religiosity is on the decline overall
[28:08] Speaker 2: in this country, and I think some of that might
[28:11] Speaker 2: be fueled by the distaste that the thirty and unders
[28:15] Speaker 2: are having watching the older generation line up and stick
[28:18] Speaker 2: their heads right up the ass of Donald Trump, and
[28:21] Speaker 2: they're like, holy shit, I don't want any part of that.
[28:24] Speaker 2: And they're distancing themselves more from fundamental faiths. I think,
[28:28] Speaker 2: you know, maga culture may play into a further rejection
[28:32] Speaker 2: of at least organized religion. Steeve, I appreciate your call
[28:36] Speaker 2: and your inputs so much. Thanks for being a part
[28:38] Speaker 2: of the show.
[28:39] Speaker 5: May I add one more thing?
[28:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, quickly, I just.
[28:42] Speaker 5: Want to let you know, me and my son we'd
[28:44] Speaker 5: love to listen to the short Stories podcast as I'm
[28:46] Speaker 5: driving him to school, so I'm really hoping that there's
[28:49] Speaker 5: more of those.
[28:49] Speaker 4: On the way.
[28:50] Speaker 2: You're very kind. Thank you for that, Steve. Be safe
[28:52] Speaker 2: out there, all right.
[28:54] Speaker 4: Thank you.
[28:56] Speaker 2: He is referencing my second podcast, True Stories with Andrews,
[29:01] Speaker 2: which is formatted kind of formatted after the old Paul
[29:05] Speaker 2: Harvey rest of the story. They are about four or
[29:08] Speaker 2: five six minutes long. I haven't done very many recently
[29:13] Speaker 2: because quite frankly, I simply have not had the time.
[29:16] Speaker 2: I don't have a staff, I don't have a crew.
[29:18] Speaker 2: I think I'm up to four hundred and fifty True
[29:21] Speaker 2: Stories episodes which I have to go out and discover
[29:25] Speaker 2: and verify and then research and write and record and
[29:30] Speaker 2: upload and do the thumbnails and schedule and do all
[29:32] Speaker 2: of that at times. What three a week, and I
[29:36] Speaker 2: think it's been on for almost three years. But it's
[29:40] Speaker 2: just so hard to keep up with because I've got
[29:44] Speaker 2: this broadcast which I'm prepping everything for, and then i
[29:47] Speaker 2: just finished the big event with Forrest and Erica, which
[29:51] Speaker 2: I formatted and I produced. I'm getting ready to travel
[29:54] Speaker 2: to Calgary for Weekend reason writing the speech for that.
[29:57] Speaker 2: I'm actually working on another book idea. Oh blah blah.
[30:00] Speaker 2: So I'm overwhelmed. And you know, those shows will continue
[30:05] Speaker 2: to release, probably not as often. I don't think I
[30:08] Speaker 2: can get you three a week. I'm actually probably going
[30:11] Speaker 2: to have to take a few months off. But there
[30:14] Speaker 2: are four hundred and fifty archived shows, and I'm really
[30:18] Speaker 2: proud of them. They're not polarizing, right, They're not about
[30:21] Speaker 2: politics and religion, and they're just stories. It can be
[30:25] Speaker 2: weird news or science based stuff, a discovery, some crazy
[30:29] Speaker 2: thing that happened weird news, idiot criminals who did something
[30:34] Speaker 2: stupid that got them arrested, you know, just fun stuff,
[30:37] Speaker 2: live stuff, but things that actually happened in our recent
[30:41] Speaker 2: and in our very distant history. True stories with Seth Andrews.
[30:46] Speaker 2: Look it up, subscribe and check out four hundred plus episodes,
[30:50] Speaker 2: and I'll try to populate that whenever I can, as
[30:54] Speaker 2: often as I can. But I'm just one man. I'm
[30:58] Speaker 2: just one man. Okay, I've got a four to two
[31:03] Speaker 2: five area code. I'm sorry, I don't see a name.
[31:06] Speaker 2: What's your name? What do I call you?
[31:09] Speaker 6: They call me Augie. It's a nickname from the.
[31:11] Speaker 2: Military, Augie. Let's talk what's on your mind today?
[31:15] Speaker 6: Preposition one, God gave me type of negative blood. Preposition two.
[31:21] Speaker 6: I donate my blood, which equals works. Preposition three. I
[31:26] Speaker 6: have been labeled a fool. Conclusion I am God's working fool.
[31:34] Speaker 2: I don't understand the propositions.
[31:37] Speaker 6: Preposition not proposition preposition. I'm sorry, not make it any better.
[31:41] Speaker 2: Help me understand your point.
[31:43] Speaker 6: The blood type I have, anybody can take it, no
[31:46] Speaker 6: matter what your blood type is. You can take my
[31:47] Speaker 6: blood for life.
[31:49] Speaker 2: Okay.
[31:50] Speaker 6: Well that's okay. Then two. You know, then, of the
[31:54] Speaker 6: discussion between works and faith, is one required of both required? Well,
[31:59] Speaker 6: I've got the works, and it says I don't believe
[32:01] Speaker 6: I'm a fool, so I'm God's working fool.
[32:05] Speaker 2: What does being a fool have to do with faith
[32:07] Speaker 2: and works?
[32:09] Speaker 4: Right?
[32:09] Speaker 2: The Bible says faith but it works is dead. So
[32:13] Speaker 2: you are doing a good deed by providing life saving
[32:17] Speaker 2: blood that anyone can use. And what is being a
[32:21] Speaker 2: fool have to do with that?
[32:23] Speaker 6: Well, because I don't believe in God. So but I'm
[32:26] Speaker 6: still doing God's work even I don't believe in them.
[32:29] Speaker 6: Does that make sense?
[32:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, you're doing good for goodness sake? What does that
[32:33] Speaker 2: have to do with the fool?
[32:35] Speaker 4: Oh?
[32:35] Speaker 6: Well, people condemn me for being an atheist. This is
[32:38] Speaker 6: what I'm getting out. I guess I'm trying to put
[32:39] Speaker 6: a positive spin on not believing.
[32:42] Speaker 4: I guess.
[32:43] Speaker 6: I guess I got to work on that. Well.
[32:46] Speaker 2: No, I think we're just trying to understand each other.
[32:48] Speaker 2: You know, we're using language for clarity. So you are
[32:52] Speaker 2: providing life saving blood. Other people say that you are
[32:56] Speaker 2: foolish for not believing in God, but you're actually doing
[33:00] Speaker 2: good works that the Bible commands just for its own sake?
[33:04] Speaker 2: Is that close?
[33:06] Speaker 6: No, that's spot on, And I guess I could add
[33:08] Speaker 6: to that with my blood is blind. It doesn't care
[33:11] Speaker 6: where you're from or where your beliefs are. And so
[33:14] Speaker 6: isn't that kind of like loving always all the time?
[33:17] Speaker 6: I guess, like the Bible claims.
[33:19] Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess. So you know it's universal. It's a
[33:23] Speaker 2: universal gift.
[33:24] Speaker 6: Thank you very much. I appreciate it And just one
[33:27] Speaker 6: last thing I'll let you go is nine years ago
[33:29] Speaker 6: you were the first podcast I listened to as far
[33:31] Speaker 6: as the atheist subject goes, and since then listen to
[33:34] Speaker 6: you and all the others and committed the name. The
[33:37] Speaker 6: foundation I believe for non belis has really become solid.
[33:41] Speaker 6: It's setting more every day others than you guys. So
[33:43] Speaker 6: I want to say thank you for all that you've
[33:44] Speaker 6: done for me.
[33:45] Speaker 2: You're very kind. I appreciate you. Augie, be safe, you too,
[33:48] Speaker 2: Bye bye. I see them. It's funny you've been doing
[33:52] Speaker 2: this long enough and you think, am I becoming the fossil?
[33:56] Speaker 2: Or will I be the elder Statesman? Well, I ate
[34:00] Speaker 2: and be that guy I listened to him when I
[34:02] Speaker 2: was a kid, way back in the day. Or will
[34:06] Speaker 2: it be Oh he's been around for twenty years, still
[34:08] Speaker 2: doing it, Still enjoy the show. I hope it's the latter,
[34:12] Speaker 2: But I do hear that I listened to you when
[34:14] Speaker 2: I was a kid, and I'm just like, oh, that's nice.
[34:17] Speaker 2: And I walk to the corner and start sobbing, Oh
[34:20] Speaker 2: my god, I'm a fossil, I'm ancient, I'm a dinosaur.
[34:24] Speaker 2: And then other people I'm like, well, you know what
[34:26] Speaker 2: a privilege to be able to have been around as
[34:28] Speaker 2: long as I've been around. And I saw these young
[34:30] Speaker 2: faces and I'm excited about it. All the fresh blood,
[34:33] Speaker 2: this new energy that we see daily into the movement,
[34:36] Speaker 2: whether it's in the online the YouTube space, the TikTok space,
[34:40] Speaker 2: the podcast space. And there's a lot of people podcasting.
[34:43] Speaker 2: I just saw the statistics four and a half million
[34:47] Speaker 2: podcasts registered on the planet. I think only about half
[34:52] Speaker 2: a million are considered active, meaning only about half a
[34:55] Speaker 2: million podcasts are publishing an episode or have in the
[35:00] Speaker 2: last sixty to ninety days. But still that's a ton
[35:03] Speaker 2: of content out there. So to continue to be doing
[35:07] Speaker 2: what I'm doing, to be a part of the conversation
[35:09] Speaker 2: after all of these years, it really is an honor.
[35:11] Speaker 2: You know, it sounds like I'm giving an award speech,
[35:13] Speaker 2: but it really is to be able to do what
[35:15] Speaker 2: you love and to I think we all want to
[35:17] Speaker 2: be relevant, we all want to try to matter. I'd
[35:20] Speaker 2: like to consider myself a storyteller that still has something
[35:22] Speaker 2: to contribute. And I've had the honor bringing in some
[35:26] Speaker 2: really good guests, really smart people, interesting people to have
[35:30] Speaker 2: interesting conversations. So if you're still with me after nine years, Augie,
[35:35] Speaker 2: I'm honored and I thank you so very much for that.
[35:39] Speaker 2: Adrian is dialing in on a web call. Thanks for
[35:41] Speaker 2: your patience. Adrian, Are you there.
[35:44] Speaker 7: Hey, it's Adrian. I was thinking if you wanted to
[35:48] Speaker 7: talk about ownership.
[35:51] Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on ownership?
[35:53] Speaker 7: Do you think owning facts? It's something that you can
[35:57] Speaker 7: safely say.
[35:58] Speaker 8: That you own that being, and we can only speak
[36:02] Speaker 8: I think both of us as dog owners.
[36:05] Speaker 7: I own a dog as well, so you own Linus.
[36:08] Speaker 8: I mean you're responsible for him. But what gives us
[36:12] Speaker 8: the entitlement to say that we owned them?
[36:16] Speaker 7: Because they I think they are entities.
[36:18] Speaker 9: Of their own.
[36:19] Speaker 7: They didn't sign up to be our pets.
[36:21] Speaker 8: They just ended up, by a circumstances to be part
[36:26] Speaker 8: of our lives.
[36:26] Speaker 2: I think I use the word own only out of necessity.
[36:31] Speaker 2: Linus is my son. Linus is my son. He is
[36:35] Speaker 2: a member of my family, rescued from a hoarding situation
[36:39] Speaker 2: of great neglect and through the Humane Society. We found
[36:44] Speaker 2: him and we adopted him into our lives. So he's
[36:46] Speaker 2: really one of my kids. He does rely on me
[36:49] Speaker 2: for care. He relies on me to be fed and
[36:52] Speaker 2: to be kept safe and for love and all those things.
[36:55] Speaker 2: So own is it's an imperfect word. But because I
[37:00] Speaker 2: have stewardship over and because I am responsible for the
[37:04] Speaker 2: care of the animal by the letter of the law,
[37:07] Speaker 2: I am a dog owner. But I understand that the
[37:11] Speaker 2: language is clumsy. Does that make sense?
[37:14] Speaker 9: Yeah, it makes perfect sense.
[37:16] Speaker 2: I think anybody with a pet in their life, even
[37:19] Speaker 2: the word pet for me falls short. I don't think
[37:23] Speaker 2: of Linus and think, oh, he's my pet. He's just Linus.
[37:27] Speaker 2: He's a member of the family, right, And I think
[37:30] Speaker 2: we're looking at the limitations of language. But sometimes you
[37:33] Speaker 2: have to use the word own in terms of guardianship
[37:37] Speaker 2: and responsibility. I own the responsibility for Linus and Gracie
[37:42] Speaker 2: and Cat, and so in that way, for lack of
[37:45] Speaker 2: a better word, own is the term that I have
[37:48] Speaker 2: to use.
[37:48] Speaker 7: Okay, Yeah, I understood, Yeah, and.
[37:51] Speaker 2: I appreciate the call. I got to move on, Okay, yeah, sure.
[37:55] Speaker 2: Sebastian dialing in from Toronto. What's up.
[38:00] Speaker 10: Fortunately, I have a younger sibling that is seemingly going
[38:05] Speaker 10: down the Jewish conspiracy theory where the Jews are controlling
[38:11] Speaker 10: the world, they control all aspects of our lives, the banks,
[38:16] Speaker 10: all this nonsense. And I don't know how to tackle
[38:20] Speaker 10: this kind of bullshit.
[38:23] Speaker 2: In what circles is this information coming from. Have they
[38:26] Speaker 2: gone down some sort of online alt right rabbit hole
[38:29] Speaker 2: or deep state QAnon rabbit hole or right wing radio
[38:33] Speaker 2: rabbit hole or I mean.
[38:34] Speaker 10: I'm not exactly sure. So first there was brown people, right,
[38:39] Speaker 10: she blamed brown people for all of her problems. And
[38:41] Speaker 10: now since we're in Canada and then and immigration has
[38:44] Speaker 10: been lowered, there have been less brown people for her
[38:48] Speaker 10: to blame because there are less of them coming into
[38:49] Speaker 10: the country. So now instead of brown people, it's Jewish people.
[38:54] Speaker 10: And I'm not sure where she gets this information. I
[38:56] Speaker 10: was feeling it from her boyfriend because he seems to
[38:59] Speaker 10: share lot of these bigoted views. But I'm not exactly sure.
[39:04] Speaker 2: I don't know the answer to how do I get
[39:07] Speaker 2: someone who is racist and xenophomic and bigoted to not
[39:10] Speaker 2: be racist and xenophobic and bigoted. You know, I don't
[39:14] Speaker 2: think you can control that. I think if you engage
[39:16] Speaker 2: in conversations, I think those begin with questions, well where
[39:20] Speaker 2: did you get your information?
[39:22] Speaker 10: My biggest issue is it seems like not the I'm
[39:26] Speaker 10: going to kind of steal man the argument. But I
[39:29] Speaker 10: have a feeling she would just say she knows it's
[39:31] Speaker 10: a conspiracy, but she just believes that the Jews control
[39:35] Speaker 10: the world. She believes it regardless of any information that
[39:39] Speaker 10: may or may not exist. I feel like that'll be
[39:41] Speaker 10: my issue. How do I tackle just a belief?
[39:44] Speaker 2: This is the challenge we have when dealing with fundy
[39:47] Speaker 2: religions and other, you know, political issues that are not
[39:52] Speaker 2: rooted in reality. How do you get somebody who is
[39:55] Speaker 2: not based in reason to see reason right? Who was
[39:57] Speaker 2: it who said that trying to reason with the and
[40:00] Speaker 2: reasonable is like administering medicine to the dead, And I
[40:04] Speaker 2: understand that frustration. I'm paraphrasing who said that. Anyway, I
[40:09] Speaker 2: don't know that the burden is on you to make
[40:12] Speaker 2: her not racist. It sounds to me like she's kind
[40:16] Speaker 2: of eager.
[40:17] Speaker 10: But I just can't let my younger sister go down
[40:21] Speaker 10: this rabbit hole.
[40:22] Speaker 2: It's just I think she definitely needs to know that
[40:26] Speaker 2: you think it is wrong. I think she needs to
[40:28] Speaker 2: be challenged in a very direct way. But I wouldn't
[40:31] Speaker 2: challenge her with an expectation that she's going to have
[40:34] Speaker 2: an epiphany and throw off her bigoted attitudes and follow
[40:37] Speaker 2: you off into egalitarian vill It usually doesn't happen that way,
[40:42] Speaker 2: but it is important that she be challenged and know
[40:44] Speaker 2: that you find it offensive.
[40:46] Speaker 10: Okay, yeah, I appreciate that.
[40:49] Speaker 2: I'd like to be able to walk in and say,
[40:51] Speaker 2: how can you think this? This makes no sense, it's
[40:53] Speaker 2: not rooted in reason. Here's the evidence, and someone would
[40:56] Speaker 2: immediately say you're right. But it almost never happens that way.
[41:00] Speaker 2: You can plant seeds, but I think in this measure,
[41:03] Speaker 2: it's probably more about you establishing that you feel it's
[41:06] Speaker 2: wrong on moral grounds, and if she can't substantiate it,
[41:10] Speaker 2: that makes the problem even worse.
[41:12] Speaker 10: Okay, yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks three time.
[41:15] Speaker 2: I appreciate you, Sebastian hanging there. It was Thomas Paine
[41:20] Speaker 2: who wrote in the American Crisis, to argue with a
[41:24] Speaker 2: man who has renounced the use and authority of reason,
[41:27] Speaker 2: and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity and contempt is
[41:32] Speaker 2: like administering medicine to the dead. That was going to
[41:36] Speaker 2: drive me crazy. Thomas Pain short break, more calls next.
[41:47] Speaker 2: I've had about your people, send me suggestions for guests
[41:51] Speaker 2: on the show. I've had so many wonderful guests on
[41:55] Speaker 2: this broadcast, and I'm always on the hunt for more.
[41:58] Speaker 2: I've obviously got my selection lined up for twenty twenty six,
[42:02] Speaker 2: but if there's somebody that you would like to hear
[42:03] Speaker 2: on the show. Realistically, I'm a small fish. There's a
[42:08] Speaker 2: podcast everywhere and these big name A listeners are going
[42:11] Speaker 2: to get a thousand request a week. But I mean,
[42:13] Speaker 2: if there's somebody that you would like to see me
[42:16] Speaker 2: have a conversation with, let me know. You can leave
[42:19] Speaker 2: that in the commons section. I would be insanely curious.
[42:24] Speaker 2: Let's talk to Steve, dialing in from nine to seven zero. Steve,
[42:27] Speaker 2: thanks for your patience. Are you there?
[42:29] Speaker 4: Yeah, nice to talk to you.
[42:31] Speaker 2: Seth, Yeah you too. What's up?
[42:33] Speaker 4: I think a lot of this has been covered already,
[42:35] Speaker 4: but you had a broadcast the other day about why
[42:41] Speaker 4: mega people cannot be converted or why they still believe
[42:45] Speaker 4: the things they do when they're presented with obvious facts
[42:48] Speaker 4: that trump is doing what he's doing. And when I
[42:53] Speaker 4: started to really get frustrated about it and know people
[42:56] Speaker 4: that are still in this mega sphere of thinking, I
[43:01] Speaker 4: finally just came to the conclusion that it's a tribal thing.
[43:05] Speaker 4: It's a peer pressure thing. That people are more afraid
[43:08] Speaker 4: of being thrown out of their group losing their friends
[43:12] Speaker 4: than they are about facing reality. So they're they will
[43:17] Speaker 4: continue to support this insanity even though they know it's wrong,
[43:23] Speaker 4: but they don't care because everybody else in their group,
[43:26] Speaker 4: and everybody else is going along with it. It's like,
[43:29] Speaker 4: you know, ancient tribe of people having to sacrifice the
[43:32] Speaker 4: version to the volcano God. You know they're going to
[43:34] Speaker 4: go along with it, even though they know it's crazy,
[43:36] Speaker 4: but they got to do it because everybody else in
[43:38] Speaker 4: their group is doing it, and that's what we're stuck with.
[43:40] Speaker 4: So there's no point in trying to even talk to
[43:42] Speaker 4: these people, I think anymore. I think it's a lost cause,
[43:46] Speaker 4: So fuck them.
[43:50] Speaker 2: A lot of people have probably felt that in their heart.
[43:53] Speaker 2: I'm going to continue to have some conversations like the
[43:56] Speaker 2: one I had yesterday with a Trump voter, a very
[43:59] Speaker 2: direct conversation I didn't expect to really make a dent.
[44:02] Speaker 2: I think mostly for me these days, I just want
[44:05] Speaker 2: them to see pushback. I want them to know that no,
[44:08] Speaker 2: I think this is wrong. It is wrong on every level.
[44:12] Speaker 2: I stand against it. You need to know about it,
[44:14] Speaker 2: and I want you to know why. And for me,
[44:17] Speaker 2: you know that's had to be enough.
[44:19] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[44:20] Speaker 4: I just think it's kind of pointless anymore to have
[44:24] Speaker 4: even to do what you're doing, because these people are
[44:27] Speaker 4: I think they're just basically afraid that if they don't
[44:30] Speaker 4: go along with what they think the authority. It's the
[44:35] Speaker 4: same reason people are stuck in their religious beliefs, because
[44:39] Speaker 4: they're afraid not to believe it in religion, they think
[44:43] Speaker 4: they're going to go to hell. I don't know what
[44:45] Speaker 4: the point is in trying to even communicate with these
[44:49] Speaker 4: people anymore. They make me very angry, and I'm afraid
[44:52] Speaker 4: I'm going to blow my top and punch them in
[44:55] Speaker 4: the face.
[44:55] Speaker 2: Well, let's not do that. Look, I'm a guy who
[44:58] Speaker 2: was reasoned out of his faith. Now, granted, I had
[45:01] Speaker 2: to really take the reins in my own mind and heart,
[45:04] Speaker 2: but it was when I was presented with reason that
[45:07] Speaker 2: I began to explore whether or not what I was
[45:10] Speaker 2: believing made sense, and I still think those conversations need
[45:14] Speaker 2: to be had. If I can be rescued, other people
[45:17] Speaker 2: might be able to be rescued as well. But there
[45:21] Speaker 2: are some in my life that I have seen who
[45:23] Speaker 2: are such closed systems and maybe just awful people that
[45:27] Speaker 2: I don't give them time, energy, oxygen other than to
[45:30] Speaker 2: say I disagree. I think this is morally wrong. I
[45:34] Speaker 2: want you to know why I think it's morally wrong.
[45:37] Speaker 2: But I don't waste any of my time, energy or
[45:39] Speaker 2: oxygen trying to convince them, because life is short and
[45:42] Speaker 2: I think my energy is used better elsewhere. Steve, I
[45:46] Speaker 2: appreciate your call very much. Thanks for being a part
[45:48] Speaker 2: of the show.
[45:49] Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, sir, all right, get you later.
[45:52] Speaker 2: What was the show we did last time? If we
[45:55] Speaker 2: can't convince them, should we shame them? I still don't
[45:58] Speaker 2: know the answer to that question either. I've got two three?
[46:02] Speaker 2: One is it Jam?
[46:05] Speaker 9: Yes, that's Jam. Can you hear me?
[46:07] Speaker 2: I can? What's on your mind?
[46:09] Speaker 9: Well?
[46:09] Speaker 4: The two things?
[46:10] Speaker 9: One is a follow up to the guy with his sister.
[46:12] Speaker 9: If he's still listening to it, really present a different
[46:15] Speaker 9: conspiracy is what I say to do because what we're
[46:19] Speaker 9: being done is what the reason for this is. Powerful
[46:22] Speaker 9: people are using our race, our ethnic groups, our tribes,
[46:26] Speaker 9: our gender to divide us from each other to gain
[46:29] Speaker 9: power over us. That's a real conspiracy. They're really actually
[46:33] Speaker 9: people doing that, working on that to make that happen.
[46:36] Speaker 9: We see that in plain sight and presented to these girls.
[46:40] Speaker 9: Let her know, Look, you're being used. If you're being
[46:42] Speaker 9: divided from other regular people, then you're the tool. You know.
[46:46] Speaker 9: You're not on the right side of it, You're being manipulated.
[46:49] Speaker 9: That's the one. The other thought that I had and
[46:51] Speaker 9: then I'll let you you know, talk about it offline,
[46:56] Speaker 9: was this end of Time's stuff going on being told
[47:00] Speaker 9: to soldiers in this Iran War battle. I used to
[47:05] Speaker 9: think that most of politicians and things like this really
[47:08] Speaker 9: knew better that they just knew the return of Jesus
[47:11] Speaker 9: and all that stuff was just stuff that appealed to
[47:14] Speaker 9: the people, but that they didn't really believe it. And
[47:16] Speaker 9: now I'm trying to think, what the heck, how crazy
[47:19] Speaker 9: do you have to be to think that you're going
[47:22] Speaker 9: to force God to send Jesus back by doing all
[47:25] Speaker 9: the things that you think are supposed to happen. It's
[47:27] Speaker 9: crazy anyway, that's all. Thanks for the show. I'll pull
[47:32] Speaker 9: if you I'll wait for seconds see if you have
[47:34] Speaker 9: any other comment questions.
[47:36] Speaker 2: Let me chew on it for a second. Jan But
[47:38] Speaker 2: I appreciate you, you know, dropping that comment. It's something
[47:42] Speaker 2: to chew on. But thank you very much for being
[47:44] Speaker 2: a part of the show. No jam's already gone. I
[47:49] Speaker 2: think we should stop letting people who are cheering for
[47:52] Speaker 2: the end of the world. We should stop letting them
[47:55] Speaker 2: be in charge of global policy. Don't you think I
[47:58] Speaker 2: don't want someone who won it's the rapture to happen,
[48:01] Speaker 2: who wants the Book of Revelation to activate. I don't
[48:03] Speaker 2: want that person determining our relationship with Israel, with Mett
[48:08] Speaker 2: and Yahoo, I don't want to do I would rather
[48:11] Speaker 2: not have that. And the divide and conquer thing is
[48:14] Speaker 2: absolutely accurate. Was it who was the political cartoonists who
[48:19] Speaker 2: saw the king standing on the balcony and he says,
[48:21] Speaker 2: all we have to do is convince the pitchfork people
[48:25] Speaker 2: that the torch people want to take their pitchforks, and
[48:28] Speaker 2: then vice versa. Le let's convince the torch people that
[48:32] Speaker 2: the pitchfork people want to take their torches. In other words,
[48:34] Speaker 2: they want to come and take what you have. Let's
[48:36] Speaker 2: pit them against each other. Let's splinter and divide them,
[48:39] Speaker 2: and then we can do whatever the hell we want.
[48:41] Speaker 2: Divide and conquer. It is an effective strategy. Chris is
[48:45] Speaker 2: dialing in from four to seven eight. Chris, thanks for calling.
[48:48] Speaker 4: What's up, hey, Sef.
[48:50] Speaker 9: How's it going.
[48:50] Speaker 2: I'm good. Let's talk what's on your mind?
[48:53] Speaker 4: Okay?
[48:53] Speaker 11: So I work for the government. I work for CE.
[48:56] Speaker 11: I don't want to say particularly where, but something happened
[48:59] Speaker 11: at work the other day. I live in Georgia and
[49:01] Speaker 11: it's you know, heavily Republican pretty much everyone I'm surrounded by,
[49:05] Speaker 11: and so that happened at work the other day just
[49:08] Speaker 11: had me aggravated. And just so, there's two guys in
[49:11] Speaker 11: my shops. They were kind of arguing about, you know,
[49:13] Speaker 11: some political stuff, and this guy said something about how
[49:15] Speaker 11: we are pretty much all immigrants here, kind of implying
[49:18] Speaker 11: that our ancestors are immigrant, and the other guy he
[49:22] Speaker 11: got so like irrationally upset about it, and he was like,
[49:26] Speaker 11: my dad's daddy was my dad his dad, and his
[49:28] Speaker 11: daddy was born here. I'm not no fucking immigrant, Like,
[49:31] Speaker 11: he was very upset about it, and all he said was,
[49:34] Speaker 11: we're all immigrants, and it just it just made me
[49:37] Speaker 11: think of something I heard George call and say when
[49:39] Speaker 11: I was young. He said something about how pride should
[49:42] Speaker 11: be reserved for your own actions or something along the
[49:45] Speaker 11: lines of that, and I was just curious on your
[49:47] Speaker 11: thoughts on it.
[49:48] Speaker 2: Well, I think we are all immigrants. I love the
[49:51] Speaker 2: idea that people say that they were America born and
[49:54] Speaker 2: bred and somehow that makes them better, like an accident
[49:58] Speaker 2: of birth. Oh wonderful. Yeah, you have dount of your
[50:00] Speaker 2: mom's vagina at a specific geographical location, and therefore you
[50:05] Speaker 2: are now.
[50:07] Speaker 11: I never found that it never seen right to me.
[50:09] Speaker 11: Where you know, where you were born, Why does that
[50:12] Speaker 11: give you right to the land. It seems more of
[50:15] Speaker 11: a morality thing to me, not where your parents had set.
[50:19] Speaker 2: Loving your country I think can be wonderful. Like you know,
[50:23] Speaker 2: in some ways, I do love my country. I wanted
[50:26] Speaker 2: to see the best version of itself realized. I see
[50:30] Speaker 2: the potential, you know, I see that the American experiment,
[50:33] Speaker 2: flawed as it was, still has a lot of wonderful,
[50:36] Speaker 2: meritorious things about it. I think the potentials are there,
[50:40] Speaker 2: but this idea of national pride. National pride kind of
[50:45] Speaker 2: bugs me. That's why things like loyalty, oaths, a pledge
[50:49] Speaker 2: of allegiance, all of these sort of chest pounding anthems
[50:53] Speaker 2: that celebrate America really leave a bad taste in my mouth.
[50:56] Speaker 2: We're a citizen of this country, but I find myself
[50:59] Speaker 2: equal wanting to be a citizen of the world. And
[51:02] Speaker 2: I don't think that's unhealthy at all. In fact, I
[51:05] Speaker 2: think that's a better model. Chris.
[51:07] Speaker 11: Yeah, it to be reserved for something you did yourself,
[51:10] Speaker 11: you know, not not in the place you were born,
[51:13] Speaker 11: or even a heritage thing like where your family was from.
[51:17] Speaker 11: You know, I just never understood that. I grew up
[51:20] Speaker 11: my dad was military, so I grew up all over
[51:22] Speaker 11: the place and all the places I lived. You know,
[51:24] Speaker 11: I met a lot of immigrants and immigrant families, and
[51:27] Speaker 11: they always seem to be good people to me. Like
[51:30] Speaker 11: they would move here and they would have these small
[51:33] Speaker 11: communities in different places, and people would treat them kind
[51:36] Speaker 11: of badly.
[51:37] Speaker 2: You know, who was it who said one of the
[51:39] Speaker 2: greatest cures for bigotry is travel, To travel to the
[51:43] Speaker 2: places that you had never been and meet people you
[51:46] Speaker 2: had never previously met and be introduced to the rest
[51:49] Speaker 2: of the world.
[51:50] Speaker 11: And just in my own life, of the immigrants I've met,
[51:53] Speaker 11: they're good people. It seems like.
[51:56] Speaker 2: There's another line. I would rather lend a helping hand
[52:00] Speaker 2: to an immigrant who crossed a river to be safe
[52:04] Speaker 2: and free than I would for a bigot who lived
[52:07] Speaker 2: across the street who wouldn't help an immigrant. It's all
[52:10] Speaker 2: about our humanity. Yeah, Chris, So that's good stuff. I
[52:13] Speaker 2: think pride has to be merit based. If I'm proud
[52:16] Speaker 2: of you, I'm proud of an accomplishment of my own
[52:19] Speaker 2: that's one thing, But proud to be born here, proud
[52:22] Speaker 2: to be white, proud to be Christian. To me, I
[52:25] Speaker 2: don't buy that. I think it's unhealthy. Yes, all right, Chris,
[52:29] Speaker 2: thank you for calling the show today. Yep, we'll see
[52:32] Speaker 2: you later. Ray is dialing in from three zero one. Hi, Ray,
[52:37] Speaker 2: thanks for waiting. What's up, Hi, Seth.
[52:40] Speaker 12: I was watching the news earlier in the week or
[52:43] Speaker 12: last week, and Fox News showed a video from like
[52:48] Speaker 12: twenty sixteen, but the audience would assume it was from
[52:51] Speaker 12: this year.
[52:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, let me set that up, Ray real fast. There
[52:56] Speaker 2: was a video of the dignified transfer of dead American soldiers,
[53:02] Speaker 2: you know, those who were killed after we had started
[53:04] Speaker 2: a war with Iran. And at the dignified transfer, as
[53:10] Speaker 2: the flag covered caskets were brought off of the aircraft,
[53:14] Speaker 2: Donald Trump stood there in the procession with the freaking
[53:18] Speaker 2: white ball cap on ball cap that he sells on
[53:22] Speaker 2: his store that he is using to pitch him his brand.
[53:25] Speaker 2: He's sitting there wearing a freaking white ball cap and
[53:28] Speaker 2: people are like, you got to be shitting me, unbelievable
[53:32] Speaker 2: amounts of disrespect. Fox News covers the story of the
[53:35] Speaker 2: Dignified Transfer, but they did not show the actual video
[53:40] Speaker 2: from this recent event. They showed an archived video from
[53:45] Speaker 2: a different dignified transfer where Trump did not have the
[53:49] Speaker 2: hat on. They lied outright to their audience and only
[53:53] Speaker 2: apologized when they got busted, and even then did not
[53:58] Speaker 2: show the correct video with the ball cap. I had
[54:01] Speaker 2: to give that backstory. Ray, go ahead, continue your story.
[54:05] Speaker 12: So my thinking is not a lot we can do
[54:09] Speaker 12: about this, but maybe there's a little bit we could have.
[54:13] Speaker 12: And I don't think we have an agency that covers
[54:14] Speaker 12: both broadcasts and cable, but we could have an agency
[54:18] Speaker 12: that covers news. I'd say mainstream news in this case,
[54:22] Speaker 12: and required truth and labeling. So if a news show,
[54:27] Speaker 12: TV news show shows a video, it has to label
[54:32] Speaker 12: it fine, date, place, and if they don't or if
[54:37] Speaker 12: they mislabel it, they'll have to show the right version.
[54:41] Speaker 12: They can't just say oh, my mistake and not show
[54:45] Speaker 12: at the same time next news broadcast. They have to
[54:48] Speaker 12: show the right video with the right label and say
[54:51] Speaker 12: this is what we're supposed to show you. Now. The
[54:53] Speaker 12: monetary fees is enough to motivate a good enough finality
[54:57] Speaker 12: so they don't mess around. But I thought that this
[54:59] Speaker 12: would be a right step in the right direction. Require
[55:01] Speaker 12: truths in labeling, no matter whether the news is on
[55:04] Speaker 12: cable or internet or TV.
[55:07] Speaker 2: Might be a piece of the puzzle, it doesn't stop
[55:10] Speaker 2: them from removing the context if they show up, like
[55:14] Speaker 2: there was a comment that was posted I'm trying to
[55:17] Speaker 2: remember what it was from James tallerico politician down in Texas,
[55:22] Speaker 2: and only the first part of the sentence was broadcast
[55:27] Speaker 2: and it gave a completely different context because he had
[55:29] Speaker 2: then come back and he'd finished the thought, making it
[55:32] Speaker 2: mean something totally different. So they can get the time
[55:35] Speaker 2: and the date stamp correct, but they still can be dishonest.
[55:39] Speaker 2: But you know, an accurate stamp of the who, what, where,
[55:42] Speaker 2: and when might be a piece of the larger puzzle.
[55:46] Speaker 12: That's a good point in context. Would be another way
[55:48] Speaker 12: they use this misuse this.
[55:50] Speaker 2: Perhaps if now that we have linkable stuff on our news,
[55:54] Speaker 2: you know, people can click and go deeper, maybe there
[55:57] Speaker 2: should be a requirement to be able to pull up
[55:59] Speaker 2: the higher event, the entire speech, the entire presentation, whatever
[56:05] Speaker 2: it is, and say for the whole thing, uninterrupted, uncut
[56:09] Speaker 2: in its entirety. You can click here for reference. That
[56:13] Speaker 2: might be another piece of the puzzle that gives context.
[56:16] Speaker 2: Do I have a lot of faith people would actually
[56:19] Speaker 2: do that. I don't know. We were not a very
[56:21] Speaker 2: patient culture. We want it fast, we want it on TikTok,
[56:25] Speaker 2: we want it in twelve seconds, and we want to
[56:27] Speaker 2: be validated by it.
[56:28] Speaker 12: Right, Yes, and I like that. I also would require
[56:31] Speaker 12: that the link take you to that spot in the
[56:34] Speaker 12: full video, so you can go a little back and
[56:36] Speaker 12: a little forward, but it starts at the right place.
[56:38] Speaker 12: You don't have to search.
[56:39] Speaker 2: That's smart. See if they would just put you in
[56:41] Speaker 2: charge of things, right, you know, the world would be fixed.
[56:46] Speaker 2: You and me.
[56:47] Speaker 12: I'm not a good manager.
[56:48] Speaker 2: So all of this audience, okay, they would put all
[56:51] Speaker 2: of this community in charge of the world. It's fixed tomorrow.
[56:54] Speaker 2: I'm just saying, they just call me, everybody call us,
[56:58] Speaker 2: let us take the wheel. Can at least do better
[57:01] Speaker 2: than what's being done. But that's interesting. I wish you know,
[57:05] Speaker 2: integrity and media was the thing right now, it's just
[57:07] Speaker 2: the oligarchs who were funneling algorithms and propaganda and essentially
[57:11] Speaker 2: spoon feeding a culture that's way too eager to lap
[57:14] Speaker 2: it up. There are just a few few people out
[57:16] Speaker 2: there I think resisting. There needs to be more. But
[57:19] Speaker 2: those are those are smart ideas, Ray, and I appreciate
[57:21] Speaker 2: you offering those on the show.
[57:23] Speaker 12: Makes sense.
[57:24] Speaker 2: All right, be good, see you later. How would you
[57:27] Speaker 2: fix the news? Most of news today is just punditry,
[57:33] Speaker 2: it's opinion. You get a twenty four hour news cycle
[57:37] Speaker 2: and they're filling the cycle and they know what sells,
[57:39] Speaker 2: and outrage is usually what sells. If it bleeds, it
[57:43] Speaker 2: leads rage. People love rage, click bait, rage bait. How
[57:48] Speaker 2: do you fix that? Would people even respond to a
[57:52] Speaker 2: channel that was just this happened at this time, and
[57:55] Speaker 2: here are the facts surrounding it. The missile fell here,
[58:00] Speaker 2: it appears to have originated here. The casualty numbers are this,
[58:04] Speaker 2: The results are that is one, two, three, four, five.
[58:08] Speaker 2: People even watch that, probably not, They're going to want
[58:11] Speaker 2: somebody who is pounding the table and sounding off about
[58:14] Speaker 2: how they feel about it. So our news really isn't news,
[58:18] Speaker 2: is it? And if it was, it would be totally
[58:21] Speaker 2: drowned out and ultimately canceled because people who have been
[58:25] Speaker 2: weaned in an entertainment culture would rather have entertainment than news.
[58:30] Speaker 2: That's my two cents. I got a run. I so
[58:33] Speaker 2: appreciate you being a part of the broadcast, and I
[58:36] Speaker 2: will catch you back here very very soon.
[58:39] Speaker 1: Follow The Thinking Atheist on Facebook and Twitter for a
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