# Rage Against the Bunny

An episode of [TheThinkingAtheist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/412308695), 17 Feb 2026, 1 h 13 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/711/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70040131/podcast860_rageagainstbunny.mp3

So much on this week's broadcast, including dog trackers, quantum vibrations, angry atheism, the Epstein files, reptile rain, and of course, Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. 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
[0:22] Speaker 1: because I put my hand on a book and made
[0:24] Speaker 1: a wish 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 3: Oh.
[0:56] Speaker 2: I woke up cranky today, he ever, just wa wake
[1:00] Speaker 2: up cranky for no reason that you're aware of. You
[1:03] Speaker 2: can't think, well, there's one trigger. There's something that bothered me.
[1:06] Speaker 2: I saw a news report or had an argument or whatever.
[1:10] Speaker 2: You just woke up cranky. That's me. Natalie's like, well,
[1:15] Speaker 2: something must have upset you. What specifically happened. I can't
[1:20] Speaker 2: put a finger on it and just grabby. Don't have
[1:24] Speaker 2: any bandwidth, short fuse, not in the mood. I know
[1:27] Speaker 2: you know exactly what I'm talking about. I know it.
[1:31] Speaker 2: Some days you think maybe this is not the day
[1:35] Speaker 2: I should be having personal encounters. They shouldn't be going
[1:40] Speaker 2: out and dealing with people. And it passes. It usually passes,
[1:44] Speaker 2: but it's like you wake up wrong. I woke up wrong.
[1:48] Speaker 2: So that's what you got to today. This is what
[1:50] Speaker 2: you're stuck with. My apologies in advance. Yeah, maybe I
[1:55] Speaker 2: should have. Actually, we got Chinese food yesterday, and of
[1:59] Speaker 2: course always comes with a little fortune cookie, and I
[2:02] Speaker 2: ask for extra because I love the taste of a
[2:05] Speaker 2: fortune cookie. Maybe my fortune is going to be a
[2:08] Speaker 2: good one. Hang on, let me see what my fortune is.
[2:12] Speaker 2: I purposefully left it sealed and wrapped so this would
[2:15] Speaker 2: be a surprise for both of us. I'm sure this
[2:17] Speaker 2: will be some sort of a sacarin horror effects evergreen
[2:22] Speaker 2: kind of thing. But let's see what it says. Okay,
[2:26] Speaker 2: regularly engage in acts of kindness and generosity. Yeah, yeah,
[2:37] Speaker 2: today's not the day. Fortunately, I now have a fortune cookie.
[2:43] Speaker 2: Just knock on the day, call me if you'd like
[2:47] Speaker 2: to talk about something today. I enjoy these sort of
[2:49] Speaker 2: popa reshows. I do themed broadcast. Sorry I'm still chewing.
[2:54] Speaker 2: I do theme to broadcast. Last week we talked to
[2:57] Speaker 2: a spiritual atheist and we've done stuff on Christian nationalism.
[3:02] Speaker 2: We debunk the Bible with Justin de Z I like
[3:05] Speaker 2: the themed stuff, and then we break it up with
[3:08] Speaker 2: just Poe Poree shows where you decide what we want
[3:10] Speaker 2: to chat about. And there's so much going on in
[3:12] Speaker 2: the world. Everybody's still talking about the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny, etc.
[3:18] Speaker 2: And the Epstein files. Jamie Raskin is grilling Pam Bondy
[3:23] Speaker 2: at the time of our conversation today over the fact
[3:28] Speaker 2: that the government was required to make all the files available.
[3:33] Speaker 2: It has not, and the files that it has made
[3:36] Speaker 2: available are so heavily redacted that they scream cover up. Plus,
[3:41] Speaker 2: while they were required by law to cover up the
[3:44] Speaker 2: names of the victims, many of whom have not previously
[3:48] Speaker 2: been known. They are anonymous for a reason. They are
[3:52] Speaker 2: victims who do not want to be known publicly. Those
[3:56] Speaker 2: names have been released, and the perpetrates are being redacted
[4:02] Speaker 2: and blanked out and covered up. And what the actual
[4:05] Speaker 2: hell and where is the bad Bunny level of outrage? Oh?
[4:10] Speaker 2: Worst super Bowl halftime show ever, worst ever, not a
[4:14] Speaker 2: word of English all these people. But it's funny because
[4:17] Speaker 2: all the people who were pissed off about Bad Bunny
[4:20] Speaker 2: you can tell that they didn't watch the kid Rock
[4:23] Speaker 2: Alternative show at Turning Point, USA, because they were bitching
[4:26] Speaker 2: about all the specific stuff at the Super Bowl, which
[4:30] Speaker 2: had a record audience for the halftime. And I watched it.
[4:34] Speaker 2: Did I understand a word of what he was singing? Hell? No,
[4:36] Speaker 2: I don't speak Spanish do I kind of wish there
[4:39] Speaker 2: had been some subtitles so I can understand what was
[4:41] Speaker 2: being sung. Okay, cool, But I wasn't threatened by it.
[4:44] Speaker 2: I wasn't bothered by it. I thought it was kind
[4:45] Speaker 2: of awesome. And then when I saw the symbolism and
[4:49] Speaker 2: so much of what was going on, like the power lines,
[4:52] Speaker 2: at first I wasn't connecting the dots. Well, that was
[4:56] Speaker 2: a referendum on the fact that the United States had
[5:00] Speaker 2: left Puerto Rico essentially in the dark on the power
[5:04] Speaker 2: grid after the massive storms devastated the area. We just
[5:07] Speaker 2: left him hanging. And you know the messages about love
[5:11] Speaker 2: and inclusion, right, the only thing more powerful than hate
[5:15] Speaker 2: is love. We are all Americans. These are not controversial
[5:19] Speaker 2: points of view, and part of me is like, why
[5:21] Speaker 2: not mix it up, Let's get a variety of cultures.
[5:24] Speaker 2: Why would thirteen minutes be threatening to anybody who wasn't
[5:28] Speaker 2: already in outrage mode. This is a culture disperate to
[5:32] Speaker 2: be persecuted, right. I didn't see one white face during
[5:37] Speaker 2: that halftime show. This is an outrage. I'm just like,
[5:40] Speaker 2: what's wrong with people? Why wouldn't you? And I said,
[5:44] Speaker 2: that's kind of cool. It's different. We are celebrating part
[5:47] Speaker 2: of our culture. Oh I wish they'd have brought an
[5:49] Speaker 2: American on, And I'm like, do you understand that Puerto
[5:54] Speaker 2: Rico was part of America? You know, it's a we're
[5:59] Speaker 2: all America anyway, and the listing of the Americas, you know,
[6:03] Speaker 2: and just the whole vibe is positive. Who can turn
[6:08] Speaker 2: a positive and do a negative? Who can take the
[6:11] Speaker 2: bright cloud and find the dark lining? Right, the silver
[6:16] Speaker 2: cloud with the black lining? Who can find that better
[6:18] Speaker 2: than freaking outrage culture? Megan Kelly lost her mind over
[6:24] Speaker 2: the super Bowl, and I am here for it. I'm
[6:27] Speaker 2: here for it. Let her wail and gripe and bitch
[6:30] Speaker 2: and I just knock you to knock yourself out. Of course,
[6:34] Speaker 2: I saw a lot of people who were like, well,
[6:36] Speaker 2: I don't watch football because I'm like, you know, this
[6:40] Speaker 2: kind of superior thing. I don't really watch football either.
[6:43] Speaker 2: So what somebody likes football, let him like football. I
[6:49] Speaker 2: think we've all got our distractions. You know, you do
[6:52] Speaker 2: sci fi television, you collect stamps, you do collectibles. You
[6:57] Speaker 2: know you work on cars, you play dungeons, and I
[7:00] Speaker 2: can who gives a shit? Find what you love and
[7:03] Speaker 2: stop dissing other people. If they happen to love football.
[7:06] Speaker 2: I'll watch the game and enjoy it. I kind of
[7:08] Speaker 2: get it fine, And I follow the NFL. It's not
[7:11] Speaker 2: really my bag. I get around people and they're talking specifics.
[7:15] Speaker 2: You know, so and so ran for one hundred and
[7:17] Speaker 2: thirty yards and someone shows a candidate for the MBF
[7:21] Speaker 2: Trophy of the Hall of Fame of the dah blah,
[7:23] Speaker 2: and I just drool at them. I'm like, if we
[7:26] Speaker 2: were talking about Classic star Trek, I can play. I
[7:30] Speaker 2: can do that. But if you're asking me about football stats,
[7:33] Speaker 2: fantasy football, way over my head. But I don't look
[7:37] Speaker 2: at them with that eyebrow of judgment and go, you
[7:41] Speaker 2: drugla DUTs, you primitive, primitive people who love football. You
[7:48] Speaker 2: like football? Great? Do you think stop being freaking snobs
[7:52] Speaker 2: about everything? Anyway? I digress. Sorry, I just got a
[7:58] Speaker 2: text from a friend of mine who is traveling in Florida,
[8:02] Speaker 2: and so this is a random thing. She sends a
[8:06] Speaker 2: message to Natalie and Me with an update, And here's
[8:08] Speaker 2: what I'm doing down in Florida. A friend of mine
[8:11] Speaker 2: gave me this little tidbit of information that I did
[8:14] Speaker 2: not previously know. Apparently, in Florida, when the temperatures drop
[8:20] Speaker 2: below what fifty iguanas will fall from the sky. Really
[8:29] Speaker 2: wait a minute, lizard rain. Lizard rain in Florida. And
[8:37] Speaker 2: I guess this is legit. I'm gullible, you know, so,
[8:41] Speaker 2: I mean, I'll believe a lot of stuff. Apparently they
[8:46] Speaker 2: go into a kind of hibernation way up in the
[8:49] Speaker 2: branches of whatever tree they happen to be in because
[8:52] Speaker 2: it's freaking cold, and then they hit the ground motionless,
[8:59] Speaker 2: and they look down. They are not dead, and people
[9:02] Speaker 2: have to be told don't like bury throwaway the iguana
[9:12] Speaker 2: body because it's still alive. And he just took a
[9:16] Speaker 2: very long fall because the weather made him freeze. He
[9:19] Speaker 2: goes into a lizard coma. I did not know this
[9:22] Speaker 2: was a thing. I have learned some new information that's
[9:25] Speaker 2: wild to me. It's wild. Back to the Super Bowl, sorry.
[9:31] Speaker 2: Back to the super Bowl, and again the phone lines
[9:33] Speaker 2: are open. If anybody wants to talk about whatever's on
[9:35] Speaker 2: their mind, I would love to talk to you. There
[9:39] Speaker 2: were a ton of commercials about A. Now Big Tech
[9:43] Speaker 2: is really trying to shove AI down our throats. I
[9:47] Speaker 2: just read that Mozilla Firefox is going to be the
[9:49] Speaker 2: first high profile web browser that's going to allow people
[9:53] Speaker 2: to opt out of AI options, which I think it's
[9:57] Speaker 2: about freaking ton because every time I pull up a
[10:00] Speaker 2: search engine, it says AI, and then if I search
[10:04] Speaker 2: for something, the first answer is AI, and I'm like, well,
[10:08] Speaker 2: I would rather have a vetted, reputable source, thank you
[10:11] Speaker 2: very much. I can't trust AI. Maybe it's a guide
[10:16] Speaker 2: that points me in a certain direction toward a reputable source,
[10:20] Speaker 2: but I'm I don't trust it, and with good reason.
[10:24] Speaker 2: And Big Tech has put so many of their cards
[10:28] Speaker 2: on AI investing. They have had major, major investors put
[10:34] Speaker 2: billions and billions of dollars into AI because they are
[10:38] Speaker 2: all expecting a suite return. And yet there are warnings
[10:42] Speaker 2: everywhere about an AI bubble, like the dot com bubble,
[10:46] Speaker 2: It's going to spike for a few and then it's
[10:48] Speaker 2: going to fall apart. People are not buying what AI
[10:52] Speaker 2: is selling. I mean overall, overall, in very specific ways.
[10:56] Speaker 2: I know a lot of people who enjoy chad GPT.
[10:59] Speaker 2: I've used it myself, we've all dabbled in it. But
[11:03] Speaker 2: people are resentful and they're resisting and distrustful. So we're
[11:07] Speaker 2: watching all the Super Bowl commercials. The best one, I
[11:10] Speaker 2: think was the Budweiser commercial with the eagle and the horse.
[11:14] Speaker 2: It was so beautiful, But a lot of the other
[11:16] Speaker 2: ones were about AI. One of them was about a
[11:20] Speaker 2: lost dog and AI cameras ring cameras, which are these
[11:26] Speaker 2: doorbell cameras and you know, you ring them and then
[11:30] Speaker 2: you know, the person in the house can see who's
[11:32] Speaker 2: on the porch. It's a security thing, a convenience thing. Well,
[11:35] Speaker 2: now apparently there's a mode for lost dogs where the
[11:40] Speaker 2: camera can be on or activate if a dog wanders
[11:45] Speaker 2: into your yard or on the porch, and then that
[11:48] Speaker 2: ring camera talks to all the other ring cameras and
[11:52] Speaker 2: then the dog is maybe identified and the owner is
[11:57] Speaker 2: discovered and the dog is returned home. So the idea
[12:02] Speaker 2: behind the commercial was this is amazing technology because little
[12:06] Speaker 2: Fifi is going to be able to find a safe
[12:09] Speaker 2: way back to his or her parents. And on the surface,
[12:12] Speaker 2: I understand what they were trying to do. But I
[12:15] Speaker 2: watched it, and apparently millions of other people watched it,
[12:19] Speaker 2: and they got the chills because they didn't just see
[12:23] Speaker 2: little Fife getting found and returned safely home. They saw surveillance,
[12:28] Speaker 2: state surveillance, state camera's watching everywhere, facial recognition, reporting, reporting reporting.
[12:38] Speaker 2: Are you added than to a database we know to
[12:40] Speaker 2: a degree it's already happening. Right You can't even drive
[12:43] Speaker 2: your car under a light pole or a bridge without
[12:46] Speaker 2: having your license plate documented. Did you ever see those
[12:50] Speaker 2: shows where somebody's trying to escape the law and they're
[12:53] Speaker 2: in a vehicle and cameras pick up a license plate
[12:56] Speaker 2: number three states away and immediately the Feds know where Tom.
[13:00] Speaker 2: It's already happening. There's probably a satellite overhead right now
[13:04] Speaker 2: watching me. I mean, I'm not opposed to using new
[13:09] Speaker 2: technology to find a lost dog. I mean, what are
[13:12] Speaker 2: the tanks that you can embed in their collars and
[13:15] Speaker 2: then if they do happen to run away, there is
[13:18] Speaker 2: a way to log on and GPS them so you
[13:21] Speaker 2: can see them wherever they're wandering about. You can go
[13:23] Speaker 2: find them. I mean, that's I think a little bit
[13:25] Speaker 2: different than Hey, let's you scan everybody who approaches your
[13:30] Speaker 2: property and then add them to a database which is
[13:33] Speaker 2: shared and utilized and even monetized by somebody. I mean,
[13:38] Speaker 2: that's that's kind of a different conversation. Anyway, let's talk
[13:41] Speaker 2: to you. I've got Brian on the line at nine
[13:45] Speaker 2: to eight. Brian, are you there?
[13:47] Speaker 4: Hi, Seth. I've listened to your show on and off
[13:50] Speaker 4: for a little while, and I hear a lot of
[13:52] Speaker 4: things that you say that have really resonated with me,
[13:54] Speaker 4: and so I just fancied Colin in today while I
[13:58] Speaker 4: was out uber driving to kind of get your opinion
[14:01] Speaker 4: on something. It kind of deals with some things that
[14:04] Speaker 4: you've said in videos that have been I think several
[14:07] Speaker 4: months back, regarding how we relate to people that supported
[14:12] Speaker 4: Trump in twenty twenty four. One of the things that
[14:17] Speaker 4: came out in your videos, you said that they had
[14:19] Speaker 4: invited an arsonist into your house, And I guess I
[14:22] Speaker 4: kind of have always had that sentiment because I feel
[14:25] Speaker 4: like I was able to recognize a lot of what
[14:28] Speaker 4: was going on even before Trump was on the scene.
[14:30] Speaker 4: I think probably you and a lot of people were
[14:33] Speaker 4: able to as well. You know, even back in like
[14:36] Speaker 4: two thousand and nine, when we started to see like
[14:39] Speaker 4: the noise that the Westboro Baptist Church was making and
[14:43] Speaker 4: the Birtherism movement, we saw these strains of the Ku
[14:46] Speaker 4: Klux Klan and the rise of American fascism, and I
[14:51] Speaker 4: was telling everybody around me, those are Nazis. They're just
[14:56] Speaker 4: waiting on a Hitler at this point, and I felt
[15:00] Speaker 4: like it could have been Rick Santorum in twenty twelve,
[15:04] Speaker 4: but it turned out that it took four more years,
[15:06] Speaker 4: and it was much much more disappointing because it had
[15:10] Speaker 4: to have that sad like deflated americanized mythology that only
[15:15] Speaker 4: the stupidity of early twenty first century reality television could create.
[15:21] Speaker 4: And so I feel like at this point, with everything
[15:25] Speaker 4: that we've seen, that somebody who voted for Trump in
[15:28] Speaker 4: twenty sixteen could have been stupid. They could have just
[15:34] Speaker 4: been dumb. And even in twenty twenty, after the ludicrous
[15:39] Speaker 4: speech that he gave on the fourth of July and
[15:42] Speaker 4: the kerfuffle and Lafayette Square, you were likely evil, but
[15:47] Speaker 4: you still could have just been seriously, seriously dumb. But
[15:51] Speaker 4: after the events of January sixth and espousing all of
[15:56] Speaker 4: these Nazi influencers and everything support for him in twenty
[16:00] Speaker 4: twenty four, With all of that information on the table,
[16:04] Speaker 4: I feel like has really nailed a lot of people
[16:07] Speaker 4: that I grew up around, and even people that I've
[16:09] Speaker 4: been friends with for my whole life in a category
[16:12] Speaker 4: where you are either so evil that you are just irredeemable,
[16:19] Speaker 4: or you're so catastrophically and dangerously stupid that any reasonable
[16:23] Speaker 4: adult in the room has to treat you as though
[16:28] Speaker 4: you are evil because agency on your part in the
[16:32] Speaker 4: world at large is just going to end up killing
[16:35] Speaker 4: people completely unnecessarily and for unbelievably dumb reasons.
[16:40] Speaker 3: And watching all.
[16:42] Speaker 4: This unfold and this kind of feeds into the question
[16:47] Speaker 4: that I want to ask, and the opinion that I
[16:49] Speaker 4: wanted to get from you is I've got a five
[16:51] Speaker 4: year old daughter, she'll be six very soon, and I'm
[16:55] Speaker 4: staring at the barrel of this burgeoning Christian nationalism the
[17:00] Speaker 4: eyes of a parent that's witnessing these people trying to
[17:03] Speaker 4: take hold for reasons that, you know, beyond just like
[17:08] Speaker 4: hating people that are a different color than them. Many
[17:11] Speaker 4: of them also seriously hate women, and it tears me
[17:15] Speaker 4: up because when I look at this realistically, I view
[17:20] Speaker 4: all of these people supporting him, really, no matter what
[17:25] Speaker 4: reasons they supported him for, as people who essentially have
[17:30] Speaker 4: fired a gun at my child, and it fills me
[17:34] Speaker 4: with just frightening levels of rage. I didn't know that
[17:40] Speaker 4: I could be this angry at people, and it scares me,
[17:49] Speaker 4: and it also has kind of kickstarted me to this
[17:53] Speaker 4: kind of frantic like you know, what can I do?
[17:55] Speaker 4: I think a lot of us are probably in that
[17:57] Speaker 4: headspace where we're like, what can we do to make
[17:59] Speaker 4: a difference? What can we do to course correct? And
[18:03] Speaker 4: lately I've been considering getting into politics, trying to run
[18:08] Speaker 4: for some kind of office. I'm a white guy. I'm
[18:11] Speaker 4: a straight white guy, and because of this, you know,
[18:16] Speaker 4: if we put all of the moral problems with MAGA
[18:20] Speaker 4: aside and we just look at the hard arithmetic reality
[18:24] Speaker 4: that we live in a country that has admitted that
[18:27] Speaker 4: it would rather elect possibly its worst white man than
[18:32] Speaker 4: one of its best and brightest women of color, I
[18:35] Speaker 4: wonder if right thinking white guys kind of have a
[18:39] Speaker 4: responsibility to try and get to the front. And I
[18:43] Speaker 4: worry as well about my particular motivations, if that motivation
[18:48] Speaker 4: is informed by an urgency that came from this gut
[18:52] Speaker 4: churning rage that I'm dealing with. I wonder like, if
[18:56] Speaker 4: we're just talking about any random gray blob of a person,
[19:01] Speaker 4: do you think somebody like that should even consider running
[19:05] Speaker 4: for office in this country?
[19:07] Speaker 2: I think circumstances. I'm not sure if I like the
[19:11] Speaker 2: word radicalize, although it does happen, but they activate. I mean,
[19:14] Speaker 2: I'm like, if you're not angry, you're not paying attention
[19:17] Speaker 2: the fact that you are feeling to your marrow. That
[19:20] Speaker 2: kind of anger means that you have a compass and
[19:24] Speaker 2: that it does matter, and you're thinking beyond yourself. You're
[19:27] Speaker 2: thinking about your family, You're thinking about your human family.
[19:31] Speaker 2: You're outraged at the outrageous that's motivated a lot of
[19:35] Speaker 2: people to move out into activist circles, including politics. I
[19:39] Speaker 2: wouldn't discard that at all. You don't sound like someone
[19:43] Speaker 2: who is leading with unchecked rage, where it's just raw, unfettered,
[19:48] Speaker 2: unconsidered emotion. I feel like you have reasoned through why
[19:52] Speaker 2: this stuff makes you so angry, and it resonates. I
[19:55] Speaker 2: think your words actually resonate with a lot of people
[19:58] Speaker 2: who are listening now, they're like, yes, I know exactly
[20:01] Speaker 2: what he means. I would support that in a candidate,
[20:04] Speaker 2: some kind of a leader somewhere who was able to
[20:07] Speaker 2: give voice to the rest of us. I think that's
[20:09] Speaker 2: totally valid. It's almost like when you come out of religion,
[20:14] Speaker 2: some people apologize. You know, I went through my angry
[20:16] Speaker 2: phase when I left religion. Well, anger is totally understandable.
[20:21] Speaker 2: You are angry at the fact that you would waste
[20:23] Speaker 2: the time. You're angry at the fact that you aren't
[20:26] Speaker 2: being treated fairly by the fundamentalists who are taking you
[20:30] Speaker 2: not very seriously on your journey or cutting you off.
[20:33] Speaker 2: Anger then motivates you to want to go out and
[20:36] Speaker 2: make the path easier and better for other people. I
[20:39] Speaker 2: think that's totally valid. I think those reasons are just
[20:42] Speaker 2: as valid, if not more than any others. Embrace it
[20:45] Speaker 2: as long as it doesn't overwhelm, consume, and ruin you.
[20:48] Speaker 2: I think anger is an understandable and often productive thing.
[20:52] Speaker 2: I get angry as well.
[20:53] Speaker 4: Okay, well, thank you so much for your time. Seth's
[20:56] Speaker 4: that's all I wanted to ask.
[20:58] Speaker 2: Well, you're very kind. I don't I mean, I'm not
[21:00] Speaker 2: an expert, but I am an activist who has come
[21:03] Speaker 2: out of high control environments, and I've been watching what's happening,
[21:07] Speaker 2: and I'm angry and it motivates much of what I do.
[21:11] Speaker 2: Doesn't make me irrational, it just means I'm I got
[21:14] Speaker 2: my eyes open. So hang in there, Brian. Appreciate you
[21:16] Speaker 2: so much. How many people saw an injustice and they
[21:21] Speaker 2: were outraged. Christy Burke I mentioned her friend of mine
[21:25] Speaker 2: who is running for office. She was outraged. Former fundie
[21:30] Speaker 2: Christian who is now a freethinker online, has her own
[21:33] Speaker 2: YouTube channel and has done a lot of good work
[21:36] Speaker 2: out there helping others to deconstruct his seeing the rise
[21:39] Speaker 2: of Christian nationalism, and has decided, you know what, I'm
[21:43] Speaker 2: going to get even more in the game. She is
[21:45] Speaker 2: outraged at the outrageous and she is now going to
[21:48] Speaker 2: run for office. Good. What a great motivator that anger
[21:53] Speaker 2: has been means she's paying attention, wants to make a difference.
[21:57] Speaker 2: That's awesome. Short break, Lots more to talk about with you,
[22:02] Speaker 2: and we will do that next. On the event calendar
[22:10] Speaker 2: for twenty twenty six, we are just a few tickets,
[22:13] Speaker 2: I think less than twenty five tickets from selling out
[22:17] Speaker 2: March seventh with myself, Forrest Valci and Gotsig given in Tulsa.
[22:23] Speaker 2: There is the Western Canadian Reason Conference first weekend of
[22:26] Speaker 2: May in Calgary, Baja, KHN. August twenty first through twenty
[22:30] Speaker 2: third in Sarnia, Ontario, Rocket City Reason and Huntsville, Alabama,
[22:36] Speaker 2: third weekend in October. More events being added all the time.
[22:40] Speaker 2: Just bookmarkt and check it often for tickets and details.
[22:43] Speaker 2: The Thinkingatheist dot com slash events and I've got hal
[22:50] Speaker 2: dialing in from Canada, al what's up?
[22:54] Speaker 5: Well A short intro here. I'm seventy one years old,
[22:57] Speaker 5: and I became an atheist the honest way by looking
[23:00] Speaker 5: for God. As I like to say, I've had all
[23:02] Speaker 5: three Christian baptisms. I spoke in tongues at nineteen, and
[23:07] Speaker 5: strange enough, after I converted to Russian Orthodoxy about twenty
[23:11] Speaker 5: five years ago. I realized then that I just could
[23:15] Speaker 5: not do those daily rituals, and I said to myself,
[23:18] Speaker 5: what are you doing? This is seventh century mysticism, and
[23:23] Speaker 5: so a long story short, I gave it up, and
[23:25] Speaker 5: here I am. And I've been following you Seth since
[23:28] Speaker 5: the days before you went public with your identity, so
[23:31] Speaker 5: you know how long ago that is.
[23:33] Speaker 2: Let's see, I think I first showed my face in
[23:35] Speaker 2: twenty eleven. You've been with me for a decade.
[23:39] Speaker 5: Old half before then, before then, when you had the
[23:42] Speaker 5: thinking atheists on there, and I stumbled across, I said, well,
[23:45] Speaker 5: who's this guy's This guy's like my brother from another mother.
[23:48] Speaker 2: According to the note I have here, you're calling about
[23:51] Speaker 2: something that we as atheists have in common. What would
[23:53] Speaker 2: that be?
[23:55] Speaker 5: Well, here's the thing, Now, here's the thing. At first,
[23:57] Speaker 5: I became a diehard atheist. I became, you know, very
[24:00] Speaker 5: antitheists and everything. My YouTube, my first YouTube channel was
[24:04] Speaker 5: Lord's Sawceness, like I was a representative on Earth of
[24:07] Speaker 5: the flying Spaghetti Monster as a way of being fartastic.
[24:10] Speaker 5: And then I became strident atheist, and then it became
[24:13] Speaker 5: the secular atheist. And now I've kind of toned down
[24:16] Speaker 5: a bit. And you know it really got me going
[24:18] Speaker 5: was my mother passed away in twenty fifteen, and she
[24:21] Speaker 5: was a Christian and she knew exactly what happened to me.
[24:24] Speaker 5: And I asked her, I said, Mom, before you die,
[24:26] Speaker 5: give me some advice that I can carry with me.
[24:29] Speaker 5: So did she tell me to go back to church
[24:31] Speaker 5: get right with God. No, she said this to me,
[24:34] Speaker 5: be good to people.
[24:35] Speaker 3: That's all.
[24:36] Speaker 5: Just be good to people. That was her advice to me.
[24:39] Speaker 5: And you know, Seth, we all know when we're not
[24:42] Speaker 5: being good to somebody. We know what being good to
[24:44] Speaker 5: people means. And that got me thinking and rolling in
[24:47] Speaker 5: my mind. And now I'm just you know, like I
[24:49] Speaker 5: saw that earlier today, that the lady you had on
[24:52] Speaker 5: about spiritual atheism, and I thought, you know, I wouldn't
[24:55] Speaker 5: call myself a spiritual atheist, but I really enjoyed that
[24:59] Speaker 5: because it made me. It reminded me of the only
[25:01] Speaker 5: thing I have in common with somebody else who is
[25:04] Speaker 5: an atheist is the fact that they don't believe in God.
[25:07] Speaker 5: That's it. We can have zero in common. I like
[25:10] Speaker 5: a lot of things in life. I like music, I
[25:12] Speaker 5: like playing guitar, I like working out, I like health,
[25:15] Speaker 5: I like science. I can have all that in common
[25:18] Speaker 5: with many theists and zero of that in common with
[25:21] Speaker 5: any atheists. So I don't walk around in the morning
[25:23] Speaker 5: and say, oh, you know, God, I'm an atheist. I
[25:26] Speaker 5: wake up and enjoy the things I like to enjoy
[25:29] Speaker 5: and I've come to learn that whether you're a good
[25:31] Speaker 5: person or a bad person, if you're a Christian or
[25:35] Speaker 5: an atheist, that's just an add on tag at the
[25:38] Speaker 5: end of you being good or bad.
[25:40] Speaker 2: This speaks to the larger point that values are more
[25:43] Speaker 2: important than beliefs. I've met some amazing atheists, and I've
[25:47] Speaker 2: met some horrible atheists. I've met some wonderful Christians and
[25:50] Speaker 2: terrible Christians. It really comes down to values. So if
[25:53] Speaker 2: somebody says, I believe in Jesus, but we align in
[25:55] Speaker 2: terms of humanism and protecting other people, condemning cruelty, take that.
[26:00] Speaker 2: We can talk about theology down the way. But I've
[26:03] Speaker 2: got a lot of believers in my own life, so
[26:05] Speaker 2: I take your point. I think it's a good one.
[26:07] Speaker 2: Same here.
[26:07] Speaker 5: I mean, all we've got to do is look what
[26:08] Speaker 5: Mega is doing right now. And I'm thinking to myself,
[26:11] Speaker 5: you know, I know my Bible real well. I probably
[26:13] Speaker 5: forgot more about the Bible than most any maga Christian
[26:17] Speaker 5: would know. And I know right away watching Donald Trump,
[26:20] Speaker 5: he is the exact description of the anti Christ in
[26:22] Speaker 5: the Bible that saying should come if possible to see
[26:26] Speaker 5: the elect Well, if we're going to consider born than
[26:29] Speaker 5: Christians to be the elect? Are they not fully being
[26:32] Speaker 5: the seed?
[26:32] Speaker 3: Right now?
[26:33] Speaker 2: Let meet you on that one. How let meet you
[26:36] Speaker 2: on that one. Okay. Now, I may have thoughts and
[26:39] Speaker 2: I'm going to attempt to nuance, but be safe over
[26:42] Speaker 2: there in Windsor, Ontario. And I look forward to being
[26:45] Speaker 2: in Canada here in a few months. Okay, my friend, I.
[26:48] Speaker 5: Want to try and get up there or see you there.
[26:49] Speaker 5: Thanks for talking to me so appreciate pleasure.
[26:52] Speaker 2: I should do a whole show on this. There is
[26:55] Speaker 2: an idea that people say that maga Christianity is not
[26:59] Speaker 2: true Christianity. We're going to have to define true Christianity.
[27:03] Speaker 2: And the problem is is that people make a religion
[27:06] Speaker 2: in their own image. So somebody can be a progressive
[27:10] Speaker 2: Christian and they are a true Christian. My allies, who
[27:14] Speaker 2: are believers, whether it's Amanda Tyler or April la Joy
[27:17] Speaker 2: or somebody else, they're Jesus followers and they are legitimately
[27:21] Speaker 2: true Christians. Okay. The people who aren't engaged at all
[27:25] Speaker 2: in scripture, but they said the prayer and believe in
[27:28] Speaker 2: Jesus are true Christians. They're Christians, all right. The people
[27:33] Speaker 2: who are fundamentalist, dominionist, Old Testament hell fire Christians are Christians.
[27:40] Speaker 2: So I think the whole no true Christian or they're
[27:44] Speaker 2: not practicing Christianity correctly ignores the fact that Christianity has
[27:49] Speaker 2: a thousand different shades, and I think most of them
[27:53] Speaker 2: are Christians. You believe in Jesus and in some way
[27:56] Speaker 2: you hold to the Bible or Christian values. You identify
[28:00] Speaker 2: a Christian, You're a Christian. You are a Christian. So
[28:05] Speaker 2: again we have to peel that back and say, what
[28:07] Speaker 2: kind of freaking person are you? Are you kind? Are
[28:10] Speaker 2: you generous? Are you nasty? Are you cruel? Are you bigoted?
[28:13] Speaker 2: Are you an egalitarian? Do you see us all as
[28:16] Speaker 2: the human condition? Or are you a supremacist of some kind?
[28:20] Speaker 3: Right?
[28:20] Speaker 2: That speaks two values. Now again, the two are married
[28:24] Speaker 2: and they often exist in the same space, which is
[28:27] Speaker 2: why you can see those who love the God of
[28:29] Speaker 2: judgment and those who love a God of love and acceptance.
[28:34] Speaker 2: But they're all Christians. And this gets so messy. It's
[28:37] Speaker 2: so hard to navigate these conversations, especially in the online space.
[28:42] Speaker 2: George is dialing in from five to four zero. Welcome George,
[28:46] Speaker 2: thanks for calling.
[28:47] Speaker 6: Hi.
[28:49] Speaker 7: You got it wrong, but that's.
[28:51] Speaker 2: I want to get it right. It says, George, what
[28:54] Speaker 2: is your name, Lina? How in the world did it
[28:57] Speaker 2: give me George? Lena?
[29:00] Speaker 7: I gave them my last name.
[29:02] Speaker 2: I blame AI for this. I don't care if it's
[29:05] Speaker 2: responsible or not. I'm just in that kind of crabby mood.
[29:09] Speaker 2: All right, Lena, let's talk what's on your mind.
[29:12] Speaker 7: I just wanted to say thank you for everything you do.
[29:17] Speaker 7: I'm an eighty year old atheist and I became an
[29:21] Speaker 7: atheist at fifteen, and I wanted to quickly give you
[29:25] Speaker 7: my dee conversions, which is very short. I was thirteen
[29:31] Speaker 7: and I was becoming moving in my Sunday school from
[29:36] Speaker 7: older children to the young adult and my Sunday school
[29:40] Speaker 7: teacher took me aside and explained to me why slavery
[29:44] Speaker 7: was right, that God had condoned slavery, and that there
[29:50] Speaker 7: was nothing wrong with slavery, and I was horrified. I
[29:56] Speaker 7: didn't say anything because nobody spoke to you adults other
[30:00] Speaker 7: than to say yes, sir. But anyway, I went home
[30:04] Speaker 7: that day from Sunday school and started reading the Bible
[30:07] Speaker 7: because I was certain that God did not condone in slavery.
[30:12] Speaker 7: It didn't take me long to find out that yes
[30:15] Speaker 7: he did. Indeed, I had never even heard of atheism,
[30:20] Speaker 7: and so for two years I believed this God was
[30:24] Speaker 7: going to send me to hell because I would not
[30:26] Speaker 7: worship an evil god. Finally, at fifteen, I learned about atheism.
[30:33] Speaker 7: I think I got it from Mark Twain, who was
[30:35] Speaker 7: a favorite of mine, And at that time I became
[30:39] Speaker 7: an instant atheist. And that's my story. But I listened
[30:44] Speaker 7: to you guys all the time, and I really have
[30:47] Speaker 7: difficulty understanding how Christians read the passages on slavery. And
[30:54] Speaker 7: don't understand, I mean, just excuse it. And that's that's
[31:00] Speaker 7: really my one question.
[31:02] Speaker 2: I think people, except for a number of reasons. You
[31:06] Speaker 2: look at the two major determiners of someone's religious belief,
[31:09] Speaker 2: family and geography. Right where were you born? What was
[31:13] Speaker 2: the religion of your parents? In the church, we called
[31:15] Speaker 2: it the four to fourteen windows. So when I was
[31:18] Speaker 2: a very very very young child, the same people who
[31:21] Speaker 2: taught me how to tie my shoes and made sure
[31:24] Speaker 2: I had food in my belly and put a roof
[31:26] Speaker 2: over my head that I trusted for so much, you know,
[31:30] Speaker 2: to protect and educate me in this world. Those same
[31:32] Speaker 2: people told me that there was a god in heaven
[31:35] Speaker 2: and it was the Christian God in the Bible is true.
[31:37] Speaker 2: And then they put me in a culture of reinforcement.
[31:40] Speaker 2: Whereverwhere I went, everybody was like that Christian school, Christian music,
[31:45] Speaker 2: Christian a peril, Christian culture, et cetera. And it becomes
[31:50] Speaker 2: your normal. Then they embed fear. So just like you,
[31:54] Speaker 2: you dare to question, you dare to acknowledge, doubt. You
[31:58] Speaker 2: think I'm going to cook forever, I'm going to be
[32:00] Speaker 2: earning and screaming forever. In hell, God's going to judge me.
[32:04] Speaker 2: You're taught to doubt yourself, trust, not in your own understanding.
[32:08] Speaker 2: All these things plus other issues. Religions like to grab
[32:12] Speaker 2: people at a vulnerable spot in their lives. This is
[32:15] Speaker 2: why we see addiction recovery and divorce recovery and other programs.
[32:19] Speaker 2: You find somebody at a low point and then you
[32:22] Speaker 2: love bomb them and they feel validated and attended to
[32:26] Speaker 2: and part of a community, and they respond emotionally to that.
[32:29] Speaker 2: And then once you've made that relationship, you've kind of
[32:33] Speaker 2: married yourself to the religion. It becomes a matter of
[32:36] Speaker 2: defending your decision to believe or to stay in the belief,
[32:40] Speaker 2: And somebody comes to you and they're like, well, Adam
[32:42] Speaker 2: and Eve falls apart, and there was no global flood
[32:45] Speaker 2: and people didn't live to be a thousand years old,
[32:47] Speaker 2: and there weren't sea monsters, and slavery is wrong and
[32:51] Speaker 2: blah blah blah. Instead of immediately saying, oh, well, I
[32:54] Speaker 2: need to dismantle or at least analyze this, you defend
[32:57] Speaker 2: it and you're like, whoa, whoah, Because if it's not true,
[33:00] Speaker 2: what are the consequences? The house of cards comes down,
[33:04] Speaker 2: you may be back at square one, or worse, does
[33:06] Speaker 2: your community cast you off? Do you go to hell?
[33:09] Speaker 2: If you're wrong? There's so many thousands upon thousands of
[33:13] Speaker 2: reasons that people accept the unacceptable, that they rereason the unreasonable.
[33:19] Speaker 2: And so while I'm not a psychologist, I've been around
[33:21] Speaker 2: the block a few times and I was indoctrinated. It
[33:25] Speaker 2: took me a long time to crawl out. So sometimes
[33:27] Speaker 2: I beat myself up for being an idiot, and other
[33:30] Speaker 2: times I give myself grace and say, you were a
[33:33] Speaker 2: kid and they didn't give you a choice. Give yourself
[33:36] Speaker 2: credit for finally getting there. I don't know. Does that
[33:39] Speaker 2: make any sense to you, Lena, Yeah, it does.
[33:42] Speaker 7: I never told anybody in my family that I was
[33:45] Speaker 7: an atheist.
[33:46] Speaker 2: And why not because I knew.
[33:49] Speaker 7: They would come down on me like a ton of bricks. Yeah,
[33:53] Speaker 7: so I just kept it to myself. But I didn't
[33:55] Speaker 7: go to church anymore, and that I took flat for that.
[33:58] Speaker 7: But since a lot of my cousins didn't go to
[34:01] Speaker 7: church even though they believed, they let it go.
[34:05] Speaker 2: It's remarkable that you figured it out so young, and
[34:09] Speaker 2: I so admire you and your journey, and I'm thankful
[34:12] Speaker 2: for your kind words, Lena. It just made my day
[34:15] Speaker 2: much appreciated.
[34:16] Speaker 7: Well, I appreciate everything you do. Thank you so much.
[34:20] Speaker 2: All Right, be safe out there, take care, okay.
[34:22] Speaker 3: Bye.
[34:24] Speaker 2: Sometimes I'll run into antitheists and they're so condescending to
[34:29] Speaker 2: the believers. Grow up, grow up, Santa Claus. For adults
[34:36] Speaker 2: on the surface, I get it, but it's so dismissive.
[34:41] Speaker 2: It's not compassionate, it's not empathetic, it's not humanistic. It's
[34:45] Speaker 2: just superior, snobby and kind of shitty. Yeah, that's a
[34:50] Speaker 2: whole other show. I've got a four oh five area
[34:54] Speaker 2: code that sounds like Oklahoma. Hi, what do I call you?
[34:58] Speaker 3: This is Paul.
[35:00] Speaker 2: Hi, Paul, thanks for calling. What's up?
[35:03] Speaker 3: Well?
[35:04] Speaker 6: I just want to first off, thank you very much
[35:06] Speaker 6: because about well, it was right around COVID that I
[35:09] Speaker 6: started waking up and I used to be a night
[35:12] Speaker 6: janitor and I couldn't listen to your podcast without screaming.
[35:17] Speaker 6: But I was glad that I was a knight janitor
[35:19] Speaker 6: because I could yell. And now you know, all these
[35:23] Speaker 6: years later, I finally looked at it with a much
[35:25] Speaker 6: more nuanced approach, and I just was thankful for what
[35:29] Speaker 6: you had on yesterday with the spiritual or two days
[35:33] Speaker 6: ago or something with a spiritual atheist. I would have
[35:36] Speaker 6: screamed at that when I first became an atheist, but
[35:38] Speaker 6: I kind of landed there myself.
[35:41] Speaker 2: Why did you scream when you first listened to my show?
[35:44] Speaker 6: Because I was raised Southern Baptist and a church family,
[35:48] Speaker 6: a preacher family, and I was beaten severely and abused emotionally,
[35:54] Speaker 6: and everything you said I was just the trauma. I
[35:58] Speaker 6: wasn't mad at you. I was screaming because I was saying,
[36:01] Speaker 6: I can't listen to these topics without getting mad.
[36:05] Speaker 2: It's understandable. I think people who have been beaten up
[36:08] Speaker 2: by high control cultures should be angry. You know, I
[36:11] Speaker 2: don't know where you are in your journey. Are you
[36:13] Speaker 2: doing better today?
[36:15] Speaker 6: I'm doing a lot better. So what I did was
[36:17] Speaker 6: I was the anger atheist for a while. But I'm
[36:20] Speaker 6: very curious, and so I got into quantum physics and
[36:26] Speaker 6: a bunch of different other studies of Buddhism stuff like that,
[36:30] Speaker 6: and I kept realizing, and I don't want to scare
[36:33] Speaker 6: off listeners, but I kept realizing that everyone that looks
[36:36] Speaker 6: for a higher power keeps pointing to a certain thing,
[36:39] Speaker 6: that we are all connected. And I'm not saying that's God,
[36:43] Speaker 6: but that's where I.
[36:45] Speaker 2: Land now, Like we are all the human condition and
[36:50] Speaker 2: we control our destinies. Is that what you're saying.
[36:54] Speaker 6: Well, at first I thought it was we are all
[36:56] Speaker 6: just ones and zeros, and I I was very comfortable
[37:01] Speaker 6: with that, But then I kept saying, no, I have
[37:03] Speaker 6: felt things. I feel a connection between people. And then
[37:06] Speaker 6: you look at quantum entanglement, and Einstein talked about a
[37:10] Speaker 6: booky action at a distance, and there are just certain
[37:14] Speaker 6: things that connect us throughout the universe that we can't explain.
[37:18] Speaker 6: And I'm not saying it's God. I definitely know it's
[37:21] Speaker 6: not the God of the Bible, but there is something
[37:24] Speaker 6: out there, and that's why I was just happy that
[37:27] Speaker 6: you had that person on the other day.
[37:30] Speaker 2: Quantum entanglement is something that I, a layperson, had to
[37:34] Speaker 2: look up just now. The phenomenon wherein the quantum state
[37:38] Speaker 2: of each particle in a group cannot be described independently
[37:42] Speaker 2: of the state of the others, even when the particles
[37:45] Speaker 2: are separated by a large distance.
[37:49] Speaker 6: There does seem to be something out there that connects us.
[37:53] Speaker 2: A spiritual force, something that is an energy or are
[37:58] Speaker 2: we just talking about how we perceive each other as
[38:01] Speaker 2: part of the human condition, Fellow travelers, how do you
[38:04] Speaker 2: mean it?
[38:05] Speaker 6: Well, in the sense of the hippies, how we are
[38:09] Speaker 6: all cells and everything is a vibration. We keep with
[38:12] Speaker 6: the tools that we have, we keep looking. We thought
[38:15] Speaker 6: that this most thing was atoms, but then we saw
[38:17] Speaker 6: that we got down to the plank length, and with
[38:20] Speaker 6: more tools, we'll keep getting farther and farther down, and
[38:24] Speaker 6: we see that everything is just vibrations that make up
[38:27] Speaker 6: a whole scene that we say is reality. And that
[38:33] Speaker 6: seems to be well, like ninety of what our atmosphere is.
[38:38] Speaker 6: We don't know what it is. We call it dark energy,
[38:41] Speaker 6: and that sounds a lot like God as described in
[38:44] Speaker 6: the Bible or other religions. Are you tracking well.
[38:48] Speaker 2: I'm trying I understand what you are saying. Sorry, I
[38:51] Speaker 2: turned my volume down because every Wednesday at noon they
[38:55] Speaker 2: fire off the tornado sirens in Oklahoma to test them.
[39:00] Speaker 2: You know, we're getting into spring tornado season, and so
[39:03] Speaker 2: I'm sitting here listening intently, and all of a sudden,
[39:05] Speaker 2: that siren, which is three blocks from me, starts sounding
[39:09] Speaker 2: at high volume, and all the dogs start to howl,
[39:12] Speaker 2: et cetera. It's just one of those weird things. But yes,
[39:15] Speaker 2: I am listening. I'm going to be a hard sell
[39:18] Speaker 2: on the vibrations thing. I mean, Einstein gets invoked even
[39:22] Speaker 2: by Christians, by other religious people, so I mean Einstein
[39:26] Speaker 2: was into a lot of things. He certainly didn't believe
[39:28] Speaker 2: in a personal God because he told us so. But
[39:30] Speaker 2: you know, the idea that we are all connected by
[39:33] Speaker 2: a vibrating energy, that's a hard cell for me. I
[39:36] Speaker 2: will say that I'm open if evidence becomes available. In
[39:40] Speaker 2: the meantime, I think we should invent quantum Buddhism, because
[39:44] Speaker 2: you talked about both of those and I was like, oh,
[39:46] Speaker 2: you know, I maybe we can combine those two so
[39:49] Speaker 2: we can meditate and vibrate together. Maybe you and I
[39:53] Speaker 2: can start that quantum Buddhism. How's that sound.
[39:56] Speaker 6: I like that?
[39:57] Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know. You know, I'm not a physicist.
[40:02] Speaker 2: I'm a little bit dubious about the vibrating energy thing.
[40:06] Speaker 2: What I really like for me is to see each other,
[40:09] Speaker 2: as you know, we choose to see each other as
[40:11] Speaker 2: a connected species, connected to all living things into each other.
[40:15] Speaker 2: That's magical enough for me. But it's an interesting topic.
[40:18] Speaker 2: And I appreciate you calling.
[40:20] Speaker 6: Well, thank you for all you what you do.
[40:23] Speaker 2: Be very kind, all right, be good. Tornado sirens you
[40:28] Speaker 2: can tell people who live in Tornado Alley because whenever
[40:32] Speaker 2: there are warnings and the radar turns dark red or
[40:35] Speaker 2: purple and the sirens are going off, most of us
[40:39] Speaker 2: run outside with our cell phone cameras. They said it
[40:43] Speaker 2: was coming in from the southwest. You turn southwest. You're
[40:47] Speaker 2: watching the clouds. There's a roiling green kind of low
[40:50] Speaker 2: cloud and the air down here is still, and it's
[40:54] Speaker 2: really muggy. It's got almost a certain smell to it,
[40:57] Speaker 2: tornado weather and the like. Will I catch rotation on
[41:02] Speaker 2: my camera? I gauged the distance to my in ground
[41:06] Speaker 2: underground storm shelter. It's in my garage, and so we've
[41:09] Speaker 2: got the dogs ready and we know where the cat
[41:11] Speaker 2: is and we're you know, we're ready to go underneath.
[41:14] Speaker 2: But until I absolutely have to, I want to catch
[41:18] Speaker 2: a video, right, I want documentation. I want to see
[41:21] Speaker 2: what's going on. And I fantasize, and I'm sure I
[41:23] Speaker 2: wouldn't do this, but if the thing's passing a block
[41:25] Speaker 2: from me, I'm in the shelter with the garage door open,
[41:28] Speaker 2: and I've got my hand and a phone sticking out
[41:31] Speaker 2: the top, how's the footage? Should I shoot it vertically
[41:38] Speaker 2: or horizontally? I find tornadoes exhilarating. I've been through two
[41:44] Speaker 2: in my life. One was a direct hit. It actually
[41:47] Speaker 2: sort of skipped just over my house, the house I
[41:50] Speaker 2: was living in I was five years old, through the
[41:52] Speaker 2: neighbor's roof in our yard and we lost a few shingles.
[41:57] Speaker 2: And my family was convinced this was Jesus. Jesus, Jesus
[42:03] Speaker 2: caused that tornado to skip right over. We should have
[42:07] Speaker 2: been hit directly by that June eighth tornado. Oh but
[42:11] Speaker 2: the Lord smiled on us, and I'm like, well, this
[42:13] Speaker 2: poor bastard who lives next to us, he just lost
[42:19] Speaker 2: half his house. God's like, I screw that guy, We're
[42:24] Speaker 2: gonna help you. It just didn't make any sense to
[42:27] Speaker 2: me anyway. I'm sorry. I totally, I totally. I got
[42:31] Speaker 2: Bill at two five zero, Bill, are you with me?
[42:35] Speaker 3: I'm with you? Set. It's Bill Lidgerwood of Imagine No Religion.
[42:38] Speaker 2: Bill, I've done. I spoke at that event through two
[42:42] Speaker 2: three times something like that.
[42:45] Speaker 3: I think you were a regular.
[42:47] Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, it's been a long time. How are things
[42:51] Speaker 2: up north?
[42:54] Speaker 3: Some things are going well here? How are you and
[42:55] Speaker 3: your lovely wife?
[42:57] Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the country's on fire and people suck,
[43:02] Speaker 2: but beyond that we're delightful. Actually, yeah, that's unfair. A
[43:05] Speaker 2: lot of really good people are doing really good things.
[43:08] Speaker 2: But I don't know if you guys get those headlines
[43:10] Speaker 2: up north. But there are people who are going to
[43:13] Speaker 2: be in late March again, marching in public by the millions.
[43:17] Speaker 2: They're calling their representatives, they're going online sounding the alarm.
[43:21] Speaker 2: We've got Olympic athletes overseas who are saying, we love
[43:25] Speaker 2: our country, we're happy to represent it, but we don't
[43:29] Speaker 2: agree with all the horrible stuff that's going on. So
[43:31] Speaker 2: I haven't completely given up on my country. But you
[43:34] Speaker 2: get it, right, it's crazy down here.
[43:37] Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh yeah, we get it for sure. It's
[43:42] Speaker 3: unbelievable actually to look at what's going on down there.
[43:45] Speaker 3: But you know what, it's not. It's not a lot
[43:48] Speaker 3: better here. It's just more undercover here. I live in
[43:53] Speaker 3: British Columbia, which is probably the wokest province of Canada,
[43:57] Speaker 3: possibly the wokest place in the world. I think that's
[44:00] Speaker 3: where woke was invented. Anyway, One of the things I
[44:05] Speaker 3: wanted to just mention to you is we just had,
[44:08] Speaker 3: actually yesterday a school shooting in a small town in
[44:13] Speaker 3: northern BC called tumblr Ridge. This guy killed ten, killed
[44:19] Speaker 3: ten people, killed himself, wounded twenty something in a tiny
[44:24] Speaker 3: little town in a junior secondary school. And all I'm
[44:29] Speaker 3: hearing and of course this is this is awful, and
[44:32] Speaker 3: the fact that it was they couldn't describe, they couldn't
[44:35] Speaker 3: describe this guy before they knew that he was dead,
[44:40] Speaker 3: and they were putting out warnings. But they said it
[44:43] Speaker 3: was a woman in a dress with brown hair. Well
[44:46] Speaker 3: it wasn't. It was a trans guy in a dress,
[44:49] Speaker 3: brown hair, and they still did right now, won't even
[44:52] Speaker 3: identify him as a heat anyway, that's beside the point.
[44:56] Speaker 3: All the politicians, of course, are oh, we're praying for
[44:59] Speaker 3: the for the victims, and I'm like, well, it's a
[45:02] Speaker 3: bit late for that, isn't it. I mean, God, if
[45:06] Speaker 3: you have, if there's a god, he allowed this to happen,
[45:10] Speaker 3: and you're praying for the victims. Like, it's pathetic really
[45:14] Speaker 3: when they do that, and they do it all the
[45:15] Speaker 3: time here, your country, everywhere. Yeah, so that's.
[45:20] Speaker 2: What's going on here. It's uh, hang on just a second.
[45:24] Speaker 2: I mean, so, if it was a trans person who
[45:28] Speaker 2: identifies as a woman, is that what happened? Yes, okay,
[45:34] Speaker 2: your beef is what that the trans problem? It's a
[45:37] Speaker 2: man ah, which explains earlier.
[45:43] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's yeah, it's not a woman. It's it's a guy.
[45:48] Speaker 3: It's a man.
[45:48] Speaker 2: You and I are going to probably have a disagreement
[45:51] Speaker 2: as to you know, the person identifies as a woman.
[45:54] Speaker 2: I don't know that person's story, but it sounds to
[45:58] Speaker 2: me like you're not going out after the murderer as
[46:01] Speaker 2: much as you're going after the trans person who was woke?
[46:05] Speaker 2: Who was? I mean, what are you trying to tell me?
[46:07] Speaker 8: Bill?
[46:08] Speaker 3: No, I'm not going after the murderers, just that he
[46:10] Speaker 3: should be described accurately, especially when he's on the loose.
[46:13] Speaker 3: When they think he's on the loose, everybody's looking for
[46:16] Speaker 3: a woman. It's not a woman, it's a man. That's
[46:19] Speaker 3: my point. Of course, I'm talking about the murder, and
[46:21] Speaker 3: I'm talking about how the media describes it, and in
[46:24] Speaker 3: all these woke terms, they refused to say it was
[46:27] Speaker 3: a trans person.
[46:28] Speaker 2: Due they won't even say that.
[46:30] Speaker 3: I am the media, all the media.
[46:32] Speaker 2: You and I I think if I recall, Bill, wasn't
[46:36] Speaker 2: there a conversation we had a long time ago about
[46:39] Speaker 2: some of the people that we disagreed with on some
[46:42] Speaker 2: of these subjects, and I think the word woke had
[46:45] Speaker 2: come up where you were were you defending Lawrence Krause
[46:49] Speaker 2: and a few others.
[46:51] Speaker 3: Absolutely?
[46:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, Well you realize how problematic Krause has become. And
[46:56] Speaker 2: of course now we see an association with Jeffrey Epstein, etc.
[47:00] Speaker 2: I mean, I worry that you may not be on
[47:02] Speaker 2: the right side of some of these critical and I
[47:06] Speaker 2: think humanistic conversations. This needs to be treated with compassion.
[47:10] Speaker 2: These are human beings who identify in a very specific way,
[47:14] Speaker 2: and so I think you and I may they do,
[47:16] Speaker 2: stand very much apart on a great much of this.
[47:20] Speaker 2: I'm so sorry about you know what had happened in Canada.
[47:22] Speaker 2: I've been so busy perusing our headlines. I hadn't seen those.
[47:27] Speaker 2: Do you know what motivated the shooting? Was it a
[47:29] Speaker 2: mentally ill person? Was it politically motivated, a combination something else?
[47:33] Speaker 3: What happened, Well, they don't know, but of course it's
[47:37] Speaker 3: a mentally ill person. Anybody that thinks for the opposite
[47:41] Speaker 3: sex is.
[47:41] Speaker 2: Meant Jesus Christ. Bill, We're talking about a shooter, and
[47:45] Speaker 2: I'm asking if that person was motivated for an agenda
[47:50] Speaker 2: of some kind. And the first place you go is
[47:54] Speaker 2: that they are broken because they are trans You're not
[47:57] Speaker 2: going to get that platform here. You and I stand apart,
[48:00] Speaker 2: and I think it's disrespectful. It's disrespectful to me, to
[48:03] Speaker 2: the show and to our listeners to call up and
[48:05] Speaker 2: dehumanize people in that way. I just disupernize them. You
[48:10] Speaker 2: are very much real dehumanizing. You are very much telling
[48:15] Speaker 2: the truth, Removie. Well, you can say the word truth
[48:18] Speaker 2: over and.
[48:20] Speaker 3: It's about telling the truth. It's about dealing with facts
[48:23] Speaker 3: and science.
[48:24] Speaker 2: You can say truth and facts. And you know who
[48:27] Speaker 2: else says truth in facts? Religious people of all the truth,
[48:32] Speaker 2: conspiracy theorists say truth in facts. It doesn't make them
[48:36] Speaker 2: truth in facts. Bill, You and I simply stand apart,
[48:38] Speaker 2: and I don't find this a charitable or productive conversation.
[48:42] Speaker 2: I would rather us look at what truly motivated the
[48:46] Speaker 2: violence in Canada. Not that they were trans but what
[48:49] Speaker 2: truly motivated it? What was the agenda? What actually happened,
[48:53] Speaker 2: because I pretty much can tell you it's not because
[48:56] Speaker 2: the person identified as a man or a woman. This
[48:58] Speaker 2: is someone who simply wants to come the terms with
[49:00] Speaker 2: who they are. I mean, what else was going on?
[49:04] Speaker 2: I'll look the story up. I'd like to see how
[49:06] Speaker 2: the news has reported. Maybe maybe there's something that you
[49:09] Speaker 2: and I could both discover. Is that fair?
[49:12] Speaker 3: Well? You will never know because he killed himself and
[49:14] Speaker 3: he killed his parents.
[49:16] Speaker 2: You don't know that. We won't know. Is there a
[49:18] Speaker 2: paper trail where their emails are? Their forums? Are there?
[49:22] Speaker 2: Is there are there social media. Have you ever heard
[49:27] Speaker 2: about someone who mash who is involved in a mass shooting,
[49:30] Speaker 2: and after they are killed by the police or whatever,
[49:34] Speaker 2: or killed themselves, we discover a paper trail. There are
[49:38] Speaker 2: motivational posts on social media. Some people write manifestos, some
[49:43] Speaker 2: people actually write letters to explain why they did what
[49:46] Speaker 2: they did. We can be a forensic examiner at the
[49:49] Speaker 2: crime scene, so I'm not going to say we can't know.
[49:52] Speaker 2: I think we must try our best to know. That's fair,
[49:55] Speaker 2: isn't it, Bill, Yes, of course it's let's do that.
[49:59] Speaker 2: You must try our best to know. Let's do it.
[50:01] Speaker 3: Let the media won't tell us even if we do know,
[50:03] Speaker 3: how about that because they refuse to acknowledge the fact,
[50:08] Speaker 3: the simple fact. So they're not going to tell us.
[50:12] Speaker 3: I mean, if he did this because he was motivated
[50:14] Speaker 3: by his trans cult, then they will never tell us that.
[50:19] Speaker 2: Bill. I'm gonna let you go. I wish you the best,
[50:22] Speaker 2: Thank you so much. All right, We'll see you later.
[50:25] Speaker 2: Jesus Okay. I debated as to whether or not to
[50:29] Speaker 2: leave that phone call in the final edit of this
[50:31] Speaker 2: show before release. But we're all adults here, and it
[50:34] Speaker 2: provides me a chance to maybe clarify some stuff, and
[50:37] Speaker 2: none of this is unfair to Bill, just backstory. So
[50:41] Speaker 2: Bill and his wife were just lovely hosts for that
[50:45] Speaker 2: event in Canada Imagine No Religion, and there were a
[50:49] Speaker 2: lot of great people on the stage. Bradley o'neishi, who
[50:52] Speaker 2: is one of the hosts of the Straight Wide American
[50:55] Speaker 2: Jesus podcast and he's been going hard at Christian nationalism.
[50:59] Speaker 2: Just a lovely Miriamnimazi human rights activist who has been
[51:03] Speaker 2: standing up for women in Islamic nations and beyond. I
[51:07] Speaker 2: was there with Matt Delahunty and ur and Raw. We
[51:09] Speaker 2: brought the Unholy Trinity to a big Saturday night show
[51:12] Speaker 2: at IANR and it was just a blast, and it
[51:15] Speaker 2: was universally positive. I never heard a bad word about
[51:20] Speaker 2: anybody's behavior or conduct, but we know that there were
[51:24] Speaker 2: some people on stage who have since become very problematic.
[51:28] Speaker 2: Right as the information came out, Jerry Coin, author of
[51:32] Speaker 2: Why Evolution Is True, a book which really helped me.
[51:37] Speaker 2: Jerry's gone out and said some very unfortunate things about
[51:40] Speaker 2: trans people. Same with Richard Dawkins. Dawkins has been in
[51:44] Speaker 2: the hot seat with his conflict with Rebecca Watson. Watson
[51:49] Speaker 2: said she was inappropriately or uncomfortably approached at a pre
[51:52] Speaker 2: thought event, and Dawkins essentially told her to stop whining,
[51:56] Speaker 2: grow up, get over it. And then Dawkins identified a
[51:59] Speaker 2: few years ago as a cultural Christian and started singing
[52:04] Speaker 2: the praises of the great American Elon Musk. So I've
[52:08] Speaker 2: been watching this guy whose book The God Delusion was
[52:11] Speaker 2: so instrumental in my life. I mean, it was a
[52:13] Speaker 2: seminal work in my life. They've just changed my life.
[52:17] Speaker 2: It's been hard to watch this guy slip off the
[52:20] Speaker 2: rails and go down into oblivion. And then, of course
[52:23] Speaker 2: there is Lawrence Krause, theoretical physicist, but it comes to
[52:28] Speaker 2: light that he has been accused on many fronts of
[52:33] Speaker 2: sexual misconduct and appropriate behavior freethought conferences at the university.
[52:39] Speaker 2: I think it was Case Western University, where he was
[52:42] Speaker 2: serving as professor. There were allegations. BuzzFeed had a big
[52:45] Speaker 2: article which released about it in twenty eighteen, listing the victims.
[52:49] Speaker 2: Lawrence Kraus denied the allegations that it was all a
[52:52] Speaker 2: bunch of crap. Arizona State University, where Kraus was a professor.
[52:56] Speaker 2: I think he was heading up the Origins project. There,
[53:00] Speaker 2: they did their own investigation and found what they called
[53:03] Speaker 2: a preponderance of evidence enough for them to essentially recommend
[53:08] Speaker 2: that he be removed from his post. He was gone
[53:11] Speaker 2: from the university in short order. And so Lawrence Krauss,
[53:15] Speaker 2: as you know, he has just been one of those
[53:18] Speaker 2: falling stars, a guy you're like you were a science
[53:21] Speaker 2: educator at the top of his game, a household name
[53:23] Speaker 2: in your field, and look, you know, I feel like
[53:26] Speaker 2: you just self immolated. Well, now we've got the Epstein
[53:30] Speaker 2: files and the names of various scientists listed in the files.
[53:35] Speaker 2: And this gets messy because Jeffrey Epstein operated a bunch
[53:40] Speaker 2: of foundations that actually funded different science events. So at
[53:44] Speaker 2: one point, I think there was a physics conference in
[53:47] Speaker 2: two thousand and six, and he had twenty of the
[53:49] Speaker 2: physicists from the conference that one of his foundations helped
[53:53] Speaker 2: to fund. They traveled to his island. Who knows what
[53:56] Speaker 2: happened there could have been everything, it could have been nothing.
[53:58] Speaker 2: We have no idea. We know that there were people
[54:01] Speaker 2: like Neil Schuben, the scientist, the palaeontologist who was just
[54:05] Speaker 2: appointed to head up the National Academy of sciences. He
[54:08] Speaker 2: said that he had met Jeffrey Epstein, there was a
[54:11] Speaker 2: listing of his name at some encounter, but he said
[54:14] Speaker 2: he immediately distanced himself, so there was really nothing there.
[54:19] Speaker 2: We don't know what the relationship with Richard Dawkins was.
[54:22] Speaker 2: It looks like he was kind of on the outside.
[54:25] Speaker 2: I think he had maybe email Lawrence Krauss about his
[54:28] Speaker 2: own frustrations about being poorly treated by those movement feminists
[54:34] Speaker 2: who need to grow up and grow his skin, and
[54:37] Speaker 2: Kraus forwarded those onto Ebstein or something along those lines.
[54:41] Speaker 2: I'll have to go back and look that up to
[54:44] Speaker 2: get more specific, or you can as well. I want
[54:46] Speaker 2: to make sure that I'm not being unfair, but you
[54:48] Speaker 2: get it. Krause himself, according to the recently released documents,
[54:53] Speaker 2: can be seen having one on one email exchanges with
[54:57] Speaker 2: Jeffrey Epstein where Lawrence is asking for Jeffrey's advice on
[55:02] Speaker 2: how to deal with all of these sexual misconduct allegations. Hey,
[55:07] Speaker 2: what do you think I ought to do about all this?
[55:09] Speaker 2: I guess this is PR reputation management something along those lines.
[55:14] Speaker 2: He's asking Epstein for counsel. I don't know how much
[55:20] Speaker 2: Lawrence Krause knew. You don't know how much Lawrence Krause knew,
[55:25] Speaker 2: but I am hearing nothing but alarm bells on this one.
[55:29] Speaker 2: A guy with a history of sexual misconduct allegations asking
[55:33] Speaker 2: for advice says to how to deal with the accusations
[55:36] Speaker 2: from Jeffrey Epstein. I think that connection is an awfully
[55:40] Speaker 2: big coincidence, if ever there was one. But I'll leave
[55:44] Speaker 2: the speculation to everybody else, so let's try to work
[55:47] Speaker 2: the evidence. The bottom line is this, when I ask
[55:50] Speaker 2: Bill about Lawrence Krause, he is still a defender of
[55:54] Speaker 2: Lawrence Krause because and I don't think this is unfair
[55:57] Speaker 2: to Bill, but he believes that people like Jerry Con
[56:01] Speaker 2: Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krause, etc. Have been unfairly targeted by
[56:07] Speaker 2: the woke libs who are now a cancer in the
[56:10] Speaker 2: atheist movement. I had a chance to think about my
[56:15] Speaker 2: most recent encounter with Bill. I think it was a
[56:18] Speaker 2: couple of years ago on Facebook. I can't remember what
[56:21] Speaker 2: I had posted online. I'm sure he considered it to
[56:24] Speaker 2: be woke lib trash, and he swooped in out of
[56:28] Speaker 2: nowhere into the comments section. We hadn't spoken in for it.
[56:31] Speaker 2: I don't think we'd spoken since the last conference I
[56:34] Speaker 2: was at, and he was pretty pissed. It's almost like
[56:37] Speaker 2: we'd never met. Bill. We've had a friendly relationship, but
[56:40] Speaker 2: he's obviously got a really bad taste in his mouth
[56:43] Speaker 2: and he brought it to the show today, and I
[56:46] Speaker 2: just I don't think it's unfair to say, maybe trans
[56:50] Speaker 2: people deserve better than to be told they have broken
[56:53] Speaker 2: brains and that might motivate them to grab weapons and
[56:57] Speaker 2: massacre people in the streets. How was that unfair? You know,
[57:02] Speaker 2: I've met a lot of trans people. I have trans
[57:04] Speaker 2: friends and allies in my life. You know what the
[57:07] Speaker 2: trans agenda is. They just want to live in peace.
[57:11] Speaker 2: They want to be able to walk out the door
[57:14] Speaker 2: and be who they are and be comfortable in their
[57:16] Speaker 2: own skin. And many people are going to argue that
[57:19] Speaker 2: Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyn are evolutionary biologists, but there's
[57:24] Speaker 2: a ton of other biology science coming in studies published
[57:28] Speaker 2: in Nature. I just saw one recently from the Hudson
[57:31] Speaker 2: Institute of Medical Research and elsewhere. Other biologists are saying
[57:35] Speaker 2: we have discovered so much more about sex and gender
[57:38] Speaker 2: beyond the gamytes right, whether it's brain science, genetic variations,
[57:44] Speaker 2: other factors going on, this is a subject which deserves
[57:48] Speaker 2: our compassion and a measured, thoughtful approach. And I don't
[57:53] Speaker 2: think the previous call from Bill qualifies, but I will
[57:58] Speaker 2: let you talk about it. Sure, I'm going to get
[58:00] Speaker 2: crucified in the comments section. What else is new? Okay?
[58:05] Speaker 2: What else is new? Anyway, that's the backstory which colors
[58:08] Speaker 2: a little bit inside those lines, so you know a
[58:11] Speaker 2: little bit more about what is going on. Okay, let's
[58:16] Speaker 2: take a short break at that spot and I'll be
[58:19] Speaker 2: right back with more of your calls next. So glad
[58:29] Speaker 2: you are listening, So thankful you are part of this
[58:32] Speaker 2: family and this community. You are much appreciated. We are
[58:36] Speaker 2: talking to you about whatever is on your mind. Joe
[58:42] Speaker 2: is dialing in. Joe, welcome, Thanks for waiting. What's up, hey,
[58:46] Speaker 2: South thousand?
[58:46] Speaker 9: Things going?
[58:47] Speaker 2: I am just peachy. What's happening in your world? And
[58:50] Speaker 2: what do you want to talk about?
[58:51] Speaker 8: Well, not too bad.
[58:52] Speaker 9: I'm down south of Tampa and I've had one burning
[58:57] Speaker 9: question that I've heard you dressed on other shows, and
[59:01] Speaker 9: this is since this is ask you anything I figured
[59:03] Speaker 9: I would do that I would ask you anything. So
[59:06] Speaker 9: I've heard you mentioned several times about the correct way
[59:09] Speaker 9: to load a dishwasher, and I'd love to keep on
[59:12] Speaker 9: that topic.
[59:15] Speaker 2: Okay, Now this comes down to two different types of
[59:18] Speaker 2: people in this world. There's the person who loads the dishwasher,
[59:23] Speaker 2: and then there's the person who goes back, takes everything out,
[59:26] Speaker 2: and then reloads it because the first person apparently threw
[59:30] Speaker 2: the dishes in from the other side of the kitchen.
[59:33] Speaker 2: Which one are you? Are you meticulous or are you
[59:36] Speaker 2: the person who just haphazardly loads it up.
[59:39] Speaker 9: Well, I've got my version of meticulous. Yes, where things
[59:44] Speaker 9: have to go in certain spots. I'm not going to
[59:46] Speaker 9: disagree with you on that, but I figured, being the
[59:49] Speaker 9: expert on that topic, you might have like a like
[59:52] Speaker 9: a loading map of your dishwasher. That's the shows where
[59:55] Speaker 9: everything goes.
[59:56] Speaker 2: That's why it goes there. Lighthearted question after my previous calls.
[1:00:02] Speaker 2: So my thing is this, don't cover other dishes with dishes,
[1:00:07] Speaker 2: Like if there's a cup and it's facing down toward
[1:00:10] Speaker 2: the agitator and the sprayer, why would you put a
[1:00:13] Speaker 2: bowl or a cup over that Because it's not going
[1:00:15] Speaker 2: to be properly exposed to the washing mechanism. I don't
[1:00:19] Speaker 2: get that. And when I see this sort of weird layering,
[1:00:23] Speaker 2: it just does not work that way. Everything has to
[1:00:26] Speaker 2: be properly exposed to the mechanisms which clean the dishes.
[1:00:31] Speaker 2: And also there's a tetris element to it. So if
[1:00:36] Speaker 2: there's all this unused space, these weird little gaps, that's
[1:00:40] Speaker 2: a problem. You have to take everything out and you
[1:00:42] Speaker 2: have to make sure that you've assembled things so that
[1:00:45] Speaker 2: those little gaps are gone, or you've made room for
[1:00:48] Speaker 2: more dishes. More dishes can go in in the cycle.
[1:00:52] Speaker 2: Am I preaching the word? My friend? Do you are
[1:00:55] Speaker 2: you picking up what I'm throwing down?
[1:00:57] Speaker 3: Amen?
[1:00:58] Speaker 2: My brother, got You've got it.
[1:01:00] Speaker 3: You've got it nailed.
[1:01:00] Speaker 2: You've got it nailed. Thanks for thanks for the question.
[1:01:04] Speaker 2: You made us all smile. Anything else before I move?
[1:01:07] Speaker 9: Oh yeah, that's what I wanted to. I just wanted
[1:01:09] Speaker 9: to lighten it up a bit. And one other thing.
[1:01:10] Speaker 9: And I don't know if you if you've considered this
[1:01:12] Speaker 9: or not, but I mean, since I started watching you
[1:01:15] Speaker 9: and listening to your podcast, I mean, I've got you
[1:01:17] Speaker 9: on Spotify, I listened to your short stories and all that,
[1:01:19] Speaker 9: and It's all great.
[1:01:20] Speaker 3: I love it.
[1:01:21] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[1:01:22] Speaker 9: The one thing I think, I don't know if you
[1:01:24] Speaker 9: consider doing this or not. Have you ever considered being
[1:01:27] Speaker 9: a voiceover coach? And if not, why not? And if
[1:01:30] Speaker 9: you do, I would gladly hand over some cash.
[1:01:34] Speaker 2: I'm not you know, I'm not Yoda on this stuff.
[1:01:37] Speaker 2: I've done it a long time. There are some trapdoors
[1:01:40] Speaker 2: I help people avoid when they ask. But you know,
[1:01:44] Speaker 2: there are so many people who do this better than
[1:01:46] Speaker 2: I do. There are you know. I've got a lot
[1:01:48] Speaker 2: of heroes in this business, and I guess these days
[1:01:51] Speaker 2: we're all on the bubble of being replaced by AI anyway,
[1:01:55] Speaker 2: so maybe I'll be obsolete in six months. I don't know.
[1:01:59] Speaker 2: But to you know, if you ever want any pointers
[1:02:02] Speaker 2: or tips, I can tell you what I think. You
[1:02:03] Speaker 2: can take it or leave it, drop me an email, okay.
[1:02:06] Speaker 8: Sounds good.
[1:02:07] Speaker 2: Appreciate you together.
[1:02:08] Speaker 8: Thanks, I see you.
[1:02:09] Speaker 3: Yep, have a good one.
[1:02:11] Speaker 2: I mean, I've got opinions. Who doesn't have an opinion?
[1:02:14] Speaker 2: I know. One of the mistakes I made that I
[1:02:17] Speaker 2: tried to sound like an announcer when I was doing
[1:02:19] Speaker 2: professional radio stuff, doing commercials and a radio show where
[1:02:24] Speaker 2: you kind of punch. Those continents in radio we call
[1:02:26] Speaker 2: them pukers. Don't be a puker. Right at that point,
[1:02:31] Speaker 2: you're talking at people, You're not speaking to them. This
[1:02:33] Speaker 2: is a medium about relationships, right, be yourself if that's
[1:02:38] Speaker 2: a good thing. Unless you're an asshole, then don't be
[1:02:40] Speaker 2: that person. You talk to people, develop a relationship with people. Relax.
[1:02:48] Speaker 2: That was one of the big ones. I was also
[1:02:50] Speaker 2: amazed at how many people were told my family and
[1:02:53] Speaker 2: friends because they had a great deep voice, that they
[1:02:56] Speaker 2: should be good on a radio show, on a broadcast,
[1:03:00] Speaker 2: and that is very much not the case. I met
[1:03:03] Speaker 2: a lot of people. Hell, I tried to train a
[1:03:05] Speaker 2: lot of people in my FM days who had amazing
[1:03:09] Speaker 2: resonant sounds coming out of their mouth. They were the
[1:03:12] Speaker 2: worst broadcasters, communicators, storytellers. You couldn't relate to them. They
[1:03:16] Speaker 2: couldn't change three words together, even though they had raw materials.
[1:03:21] Speaker 2: This was not their gift. Their gifts lay elsewhere. And
[1:03:26] Speaker 2: yet because someone said, wow, you got a deep voice,
[1:03:28] Speaker 2: you'd be great, they just assumed they would be great. Meanwhile,
[1:03:32] Speaker 2: there are a ton of people who don't have that
[1:03:34] Speaker 2: sort of signature radio sound, who had such amazing personalities,
[1:03:39] Speaker 2: and they were so smart and funny and relational and
[1:03:42] Speaker 2: all those things that they were just must listen radio, right,
[1:03:47] Speaker 2: So don't let somebody put that in a box. It's
[1:03:49] Speaker 2: not about the tenor of your voice necessarily. It's about
[1:03:52] Speaker 2: what you do. You have microsoft word wonderful? Can you
[1:03:56] Speaker 2: write a best seller? These are two different questions. Practice
[1:04:02] Speaker 2: is a big thing, especially when you're starting out. Make
[1:04:05] Speaker 2: bullet point notes, cute cards, make notes on your phone, whatever,
[1:04:10] Speaker 2: and then use those guidelines the bullet points to practice
[1:04:14] Speaker 2: talking about what you want to talk about, I mean,
[1:04:16] Speaker 2: to yourself, if you're at home by yourself, if you're
[1:04:20] Speaker 2: in the car. The car is probably the best place
[1:04:23] Speaker 2: to practice doing a monologue or storytelling, because if you're
[1:04:26] Speaker 2: in an intersection and you're verbalizing something and another person
[1:04:31] Speaker 2: sees you through the window, you can act like you're
[1:04:33] Speaker 2: either singing or you're talking on the phone. You can
[1:04:36] Speaker 2: totally fake your way through it. But practice, practice, practice,
[1:04:39] Speaker 2: How in the world do athletes do what they do
[1:04:42] Speaker 2: without practice? Everybody in a profession needs to hone it,
[1:04:46] Speaker 2: work it out, figure it out, iron out the kinks
[1:04:49] Speaker 2: and the wrinkles, and vocal work is very much the
[1:04:52] Speaker 2: same way, and ultimately, at the end of the day,
[1:04:55] Speaker 2: I just tell people to play to their gifts. If
[1:04:58] Speaker 2: you're good at something, do that. If you know you're
[1:05:01] Speaker 2: not good at something and you probably won't ever get
[1:05:04] Speaker 2: good at that something, then maybe you should do something else.
[1:05:07] Speaker 2: I never want to kill a dream, but I'll tell
[1:05:08] Speaker 2: you I met a lot of people who had they
[1:05:11] Speaker 2: had visions of greatness and they couldn't talk their way
[1:05:14] Speaker 2: through an order at the McDonald's drive through. And sometimes
[1:05:19] Speaker 2: you have to protect people from themselves and just give
[1:05:22] Speaker 2: them the hard news this is not going to be
[1:05:25] Speaker 2: your thing anyway. Just a couple of things that popped
[1:05:28] Speaker 2: into my brain six'. Four one is dialing In. Hi
[1:05:34] Speaker 2: what's your? Name?
[1:05:35] Speaker 10: Jan?
[1:05:36] Speaker 2: Hi, jan appreciate. You what's?
[1:05:37] Speaker 5: Up?
[1:05:38] Speaker 10: Hi thanks for taking my? Call, yeah enjoying. Yourself just
[1:05:43] Speaker 10: have a question for you play do you identify as an?
[1:05:48] Speaker 10: Atheist rather than.
[1:05:49] Speaker 2: Ask why DO i identify as an atheist rather than an? Agnostic,
[1:05:56] Speaker 2: Well i'm kind of both. AGNOSTIC i don't know that
[1:06:01] Speaker 2: there might not be something out there. SOMEWHERE i am
[1:06:05] Speaker 2: atheist BECAUSE i simply don't believe that there. IS i
[1:06:09] Speaker 2: haven't seen any evidence to suggest that there. IS i
[1:06:12] Speaker 2: know there's not an, involved, personal Theistic, God so why
[1:06:17] Speaker 2: does it have to be one or the. Other which are?
[1:06:19] Speaker 10: You, okay, WELL i am, agnostic and my feeling is
[1:06:25] Speaker 10: that everyone it's. Agnostic, Christians, buddhists, atheists nobody really.
[1:06:32] Speaker 2: Knows, Right but if they think they, know then they
[1:06:37] Speaker 2: are a. Believer they would not be.
[1:06:40] Speaker 10: Agnostic, WELL i guess you have a. POINT i guess
[1:06:44] Speaker 10: it's just a matter of semantics that you. Know agnostic
[1:06:49] Speaker 10: is defined as that it can't cannot be, known so
[1:06:55] Speaker 10: nobody can really. Know it can't be.
[1:06:58] Speaker 2: Known you AND i, agree even the people who say
[1:07:01] Speaker 2: they know the origin of all things do not. Know
[1:07:05] Speaker 2: the people who say that they know there is A
[1:07:07] Speaker 2: god do not. KNOW i mean we can look at
[1:07:09] Speaker 2: that and, say, okay, fine BUT i see identifying as
[1:07:14] Speaker 2: one or the other a product of agency you. Have you,
[1:07:17] Speaker 2: know this is how you brand. Yourself SO i don't
[1:07:20] Speaker 2: believe OR i don't, know but if someone says they,
[1:07:23] Speaker 2: DO i would be more apt to call them a. Believer,
[1:07:26] Speaker 2: PERSONALLY i don't get hung up too much on the.
[1:07:28] Speaker 2: Labels it is what it. Is knock yourself, out call
[1:07:31] Speaker 2: yourself whatever you, Want, Okay.
[1:07:33] Speaker 10: Okay, Yeah LIKE i, say my point is to believe
[1:07:36] Speaker 10: that everyone is really. AGNOSTIC i, mean they can add
[1:07:40] Speaker 10: whatever they want to, that but they'll be everybody is
[1:07:44] Speaker 10: agnostic because there's no way that we can.
[1:07:46] Speaker 2: Know how do you know there's no way we could ever?
[1:07:48] Speaker 2: Know what if one day we develop a method which
[1:07:53] Speaker 2: will tell us yes or. No i'm not ready to
[1:07:55] Speaker 2: give up just. Yet, okay you have a. Point will
[1:08:00] Speaker 2: we see the technology to probe the universe and check
[1:08:04] Speaker 2: under every cosmic rock for a?
[1:08:06] Speaker 8: God?
[1:08:07] Speaker 2: NAH i mean SO i understand what you're, saying but you,
[1:08:10] Speaker 2: KNOW i don't like to say we will never because,
[1:08:13] Speaker 2: hey what if we're all existing in a giant snow
[1:08:15] Speaker 2: globe somewhere and we discovered there might be? Something SO
[1:08:19] Speaker 2: i appreciate you calling, Though thanks so, Much, Jan.
[1:08:22] Speaker 10: Thank you all?
[1:08:23] Speaker 2: Right, Oh i've seen arguments online about. This are you
[1:08:26] Speaker 2: an ather used to an? Agnostics somebody was arguing about
[1:08:29] Speaker 2: whether or not rocks are agnostic or? Atheist And i'm, Like,
[1:08:34] Speaker 2: jesus is this what you want to do with your
[1:08:35] Speaker 2: time and? Energy you know What i'm, Saying is this
[1:08:39] Speaker 2: what you want to do with your time and? Energy
[1:08:42] Speaker 2: jeremiah's dialing in from four to three to. Two thanks for.
[1:08:45] Speaker 2: Waiting what's going? On, no not?
[1:08:47] Speaker 8: Much hang, on, okay my one's not on. SPEAKER i
[1:08:50] Speaker 8: just wanted to pick your brain about movies BECAUSE i
[1:08:53] Speaker 8: hear you like horror. Movies.
[1:08:54] Speaker 2: Movies, yeah, WELL i a lot of different types of,
[1:08:58] Speaker 2: movies BUT i do have a soft spot for the horror.
[1:09:01] Speaker 2: Genre what are you.
[1:09:02] Speaker 8: Thinking, well there's a recent indie horror hit Called Iron.
[1:09:05] Speaker 8: Lung have you heard of?
[1:09:06] Speaker 2: IT i. Have it was made on a shoe string
[1:09:09] Speaker 2: and it's well. Reviewed it's like folk, horror Like The
[1:09:12] Speaker 2: witch AS i.
[1:09:13] Speaker 8: Understand oh, no it is cosmic.
[1:09:17] Speaker 5: Horror. Really.
[1:09:20] Speaker 8: Yeah it is a high concept sci fi setting involving
[1:09:23] Speaker 8: a cosmic. Being And i've seen it twice now BECAUSE
[1:09:27] Speaker 8: i really enjoyed. It and the thing that really stands
[1:09:30] Speaker 8: out to me is that it does not rely on
[1:09:32] Speaker 8: cheap jump. Scares it just puts scary things on the
[1:09:34] Speaker 8: screen and lets you sit with.
[1:09:36] Speaker 2: It you know. WHAT i was thinking of another film
[1:09:40] Speaker 2: that is folk horror that was made for almost, nothing
[1:09:44] Speaker 2: AND i got those two. Conflated, okay so you're saying
[1:09:47] Speaker 2: it's worth a. WATCH i THINK i saw it listed
[1:09:50] Speaker 2: on shutter or. Something SO i, Mean i'll give it
[1:09:52] Speaker 2: a watch if you like.
[1:09:53] Speaker 8: IT i highly recommend. It it's a good. Time it
[1:09:56] Speaker 8: just benefit greatly from a second. Viewing it's one of
[1:09:59] Speaker 8: those movies that is not interested in answering your questions.
[1:10:02] Speaker 8: Easily it wants you to THINK i have.
[1:10:05] Speaker 2: Been reading That Mike, flanagan who is a genius behind
[1:10:09] Speaker 2: films Like hush and the Series The haunting Of Hill
[1:10:12] Speaker 2: house And The fall of The house Of husher and,
[1:10:15] Speaker 2: others has made Another exorcist. Film, now NORMALLY i would
[1:10:20] Speaker 2: Hear exorcist film and say stop, it, right it's been
[1:10:24] Speaker 2: fifty three, years just stop. It but because It's.
[1:10:28] Speaker 8: Mike flann the same Way, Aliens i'm.
[1:10:30] Speaker 2: In because It's Mike, FLANAGAN I i'm. Going he's the
[1:10:36] Speaker 2: one GUY i would trust to be a. Steward AND
[1:10:39] Speaker 2: i don't know if he can make it spooky or scary.
[1:10:41] Speaker 2: AGAIN i, mean The exorcist was scary WHEN i was
[1:10:44] Speaker 2: a believer because of all the demonic, stuff and nineteen
[1:10:47] Speaker 2: seventy three was very much right at the beginning of
[1:10:50] Speaker 2: The satanic, panic and there were all These it really
[1:10:52] Speaker 2: was lightning in a bottle and then all the sequels
[1:10:55] Speaker 2: came along in a squillion different, ripoffs and you, know
[1:10:58] Speaker 2: it robbed it all of its. Power you, know The
[1:11:01] Speaker 2: Linda blair, jokes you, know the vomiting peace soup, jokes
[1:11:04] Speaker 2: all those. Things But Mike flanagan might be able to
[1:11:07] Speaker 2: pull it. Off it. RELEASES i think in a few
[1:11:09] Speaker 2: WEEKS i will be watching. Closely, Okay, Jeremiah.
[1:11:12] Speaker 8: Well thank you for putting that on my. RADAR i
[1:11:14] Speaker 8: will also be watching.
[1:11:15] Speaker 2: It all, right we'll all watch, yours you watch, mine
[1:11:18] Speaker 2: and we'll.
[1:11:18] Speaker 8: Rendezvous, okay all, right, Excellent thanks for talking to, me you,
[1:11:21] Speaker 8: later all.
[1:11:22] Speaker 2: Right, Bye. OKAY i went and looked At april. Fast
[1:11:25] Speaker 2: the ONE i was thinking of at first Was mother Of,
[1:11:28] Speaker 2: flies which was made for like a buck and a,
[1:11:31] Speaker 2: half directed by a guy Named John. Adams of all,
[1:11:34] Speaker 2: things it's like a, dark, magic witchy folk horror kind of.
[1:11:38] Speaker 2: Thing so that was the. One i'm always up for,
[1:11:40] Speaker 2: that AND i love a good indie, flick somebody thinking
[1:11:43] Speaker 2: out of the, box shooting a movie with you, know
[1:11:47] Speaker 2: a handheld and no. Budget. Hell one of my favorite
[1:11:50] Speaker 2: horror movies of all time is Called, host came out
[1:11:54] Speaker 2: five six years, ago shot entirely with cell. Phones it's
[1:12:00] Speaker 2: refine and it's. Awesome let's call that a show and
[1:12:06] Speaker 2: we'll do it again next. Time thank you so much for.
[1:12:09] Speaker 2: Listening hang in, There i'll see you.
[1:12:11] Speaker 1: Soon Follow The Thinking atheist On facebook And twitter for
[1:12:15] Speaker 1: a complete archive of podcasts and, videos products like mugs
[1:12:19] Speaker 1: and t shirts featuring The Thinking atheist, logo links to
[1:12:22] Speaker 1: atheist pages and, resources and details on upcoming free thought
[1:12:26] Speaker 1: events and. Conventions log onto our, Website The thinkingatheist dot.
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