# Root People

An episode of [TheThinkingAtheist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/412308695), 23 Oct 2025, 40 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/711/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/68241304/podcast836_rootpeople.mp3

In our lives, there are "root people" and "surface people." What have you learned about your friends and family in the time of Trump? Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: The Thinking Atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol,
[0:09] Speaker 1: an idea.
[0:10] Speaker 2: The population of atheists this country is going through the.
[0:13] Speaker 1: Rule, rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If I
[0:19] Speaker 1: tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth, not
[0:22] Speaker 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.
[0:32] Speaker 2: Truth Fusian wisdom will come to you that way.
[0:35] Speaker 1: Assume nothing, question everything, and start thinking. This is the
[0:43] Speaker 1: Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews.
[0:56] Speaker 2: I woke up this morning. I was driving Linus to
[0:59] Speaker 2: the Vatti had to have a teeth cleaning. This is
[1:03] Speaker 2: always stressful for Natalie and me because we lost a
[1:06] Speaker 2: dog on the operating table as he was having teeth
[1:08] Speaker 2: extraction years ago. And I'll spare you that story, but
[1:12] Speaker 2: every time we have to have a dog put under
[1:15] Speaker 2: for any procedure, it's a thing. And so I was
[1:18] Speaker 2: driving Linus in to get his teeth cleaned this morning
[1:21] Speaker 2: and I just was thinking. And because when I start thinking,
[1:28] Speaker 2: sometimes I start speaking, and I'm like, well, who can
[1:32] Speaker 2: I speak to when that person happens to be you.
[1:35] Speaker 2: Then I do a bonus release. Here, I do a
[1:38] Speaker 2: bonus podcast. I've done a lot of these this month.
[1:42] Speaker 2: I don't know how you feel about it. Maybe you're like,
[1:44] Speaker 2: dear God, I like the once a week shows. Why
[1:48] Speaker 2: do you keep releasing new stuff? And it's free? The
[1:50] Speaker 2: patrons aren't paying for them. It's just me blathering? But
[1:54] Speaker 2: who else am I gonna tell? So I'll tell you
[1:57] Speaker 2: this and I don't. I don't air dirty laundry like
[2:02] Speaker 2: this is not that kind of a story, but it relates.
[2:07] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just going to tell you.
[2:08] Speaker 1: So.
[2:08] Speaker 2: We were having dinner with a friend of ours. I've
[2:12] Speaker 2: known Valerie, she wouldn't mind me using her real name
[2:14] Speaker 2: Valerie for thirty five years. And Natalie and I were
[2:18] Speaker 2: having dinner with val and her husband, and we started
[2:23] Speaker 2: to talk about friendships, relationships, especially now in today's climate,
[2:32] Speaker 2: and Valerie mentioned a term that I've sort of grasp onto.
[2:36] Speaker 2: She was talking about root people. She's like, in your life,
[2:41] Speaker 2: you have those who are surface people. The roots are
[2:45] Speaker 2: shallow or they kind of drift by and it doesn't
[2:48] Speaker 2: take much. You know, it's either time or the elements.
[2:52] Speaker 2: A storm comes by. How a good wind can just
[2:55] Speaker 2: rip them out of the ground and then they tumble
[2:57] Speaker 2: off and they're gone. Their surface people. And there's a
[3:01] Speaker 2: ton of surface people in our lives. You're already thinking
[3:04] Speaker 2: about surface people. They've come and they've gone. This was
[3:08] Speaker 2: not lasting, but on a few occasions you find root people.
[3:17] Speaker 2: The roots go deep and you know, no matter what happens,
[3:22] Speaker 2: they will be there for you could be a family
[3:24] Speaker 2: member or a friend. Shit goes down and they're not leaving,
[3:31] Speaker 2: and they get you and they relate to you, and
[3:33] Speaker 2: they have your back, and they are loyal. They are
[3:37] Speaker 2: loyal root friends. And when you're young, you think you're
[3:43] Speaker 2: going to run into root people your whole life. You
[3:46] Speaker 2: think everybody's going to have a connection like that. Well,
[3:48] Speaker 2: I'm going to have a ton of people that I
[3:50] Speaker 2: can count on and trust. And that turns out in
[3:52] Speaker 2: so many cases not to be true. You just have
[3:56] Speaker 2: a few. I've got a few root people in my
[3:59] Speaker 2: inner circle. I will consider you to be loyal friends.
[4:04] Speaker 2: That that's a slightly different category. This is a little
[4:06] Speaker 2: bit of a parasocial relationship because you know, you know
[4:09] Speaker 2: all about me and Natalie, and whenever we meet out
[4:12] Speaker 2: on the road, you and me I'm catching up as
[4:14] Speaker 2: you tell me about all the things that are happening
[4:16] Speaker 2: in your life. I know you've got my back, or
[4:18] Speaker 2: you know, I'm guessing you've got my back. But I'm
[4:20] Speaker 2: talking about interpersonal relationships root people. Okay, so recent events,
[4:30] Speaker 2: I say recent the last ten years, but especially since
[4:34] Speaker 2: the November election. I've reflected on root people. And there's
[4:42] Speaker 2: this guy. I've known him for a decade and we've
[4:46] Speaker 2: hung out and we play a ton of tennis, and
[4:49] Speaker 2: we've had dinner and had him over and with just time.
[4:54] Speaker 2: You know, there's the kind of guy that when he's
[4:55] Speaker 2: on a commute or a road trip, he'll call and
[4:57] Speaker 2: we'll catch up on the phone, and he in many
[5:02] Speaker 2: ways has been there for me. But it was in
[5:08] Speaker 2: the spring and I had just come off of the
[5:13] Speaker 2: No Kings protest, and I know, I know that he
[5:19] Speaker 2: voted Trump. I also know that he is not really
[5:24] Speaker 2: well versed in what's happening in the world. I think
[5:27] Speaker 2: he grazes by maybe Fox News, but he's checked out.
[5:31] Speaker 2: He doesn't. He doesn't. I mean, if I was to
[5:33] Speaker 2: ask him name four of the Supreme Court justices, he
[5:37] Speaker 2: couldn't even do that. Tell me what happened in the
[5:40] Speaker 2: headlines yesterday. It's not really his thing. He lives his life.
[5:44] Speaker 2: He's off that particular frequency and he's doing his thing.
[5:49] Speaker 2: But he voted Trump because he's you know, he's a
[5:53] Speaker 2: conservative Republican and that's what he does. And we have
[5:56] Speaker 2: avoided politics in our conversations because he and I have
[6:00] Speaker 2: had so much history. And I had come off No
[6:03] Speaker 2: Kings in the spring and we were there on the
[6:05] Speaker 2: tennis court and I was watching my team and he
[6:09] Speaker 2: was there on the bleachers, and somehow it came up.
[6:13] Speaker 2: I don't know if I was sunburned from being out
[6:16] Speaker 2: all day, and it came up in conversation that I
[6:19] Speaker 2: had been at the event, the rally, and he said,
[6:26] Speaker 2: you know, I heard that a lot of those people
[6:28] Speaker 2: were got paid to be there. And I stopped. I
[6:35] Speaker 2: was like, I'm sorry, what, well, I mean, that's just
[6:38] Speaker 2: you know, there are reports that a lot of those
[6:40] Speaker 2: folks aren't real like they they're you know, they got paid,
[6:45] Speaker 2: they're actors. And I looked at him and I'm trying
[6:53] Speaker 2: to process that did this just come out of your mouth?
[6:58] Speaker 2: And I don't remember exactly what I said, except oh yeah,
[7:02] Speaker 2: you know, oh sure, we're all crisis actors. We're all
[7:05] Speaker 2: out there pretending for a paycheck. And essentially I was
[7:11] Speaker 2: trying to say, that's a bunch of crap. And then
[7:14] Speaker 2: the match ended and everybody goes their respective ways, and
[7:16] Speaker 2: I got a text from him and it was a
[7:21] Speaker 2: link to a Craigslist ad that said actors wanted or
[7:28] Speaker 2: you know, paid protesters wanted to infiltrate No Kings, And
[7:35] Speaker 2: you know, it was one of those things where it
[7:38] Speaker 2: was obviously bogus. My first thought was, Craigslist is still around.
[7:45] Speaker 2: Craigslist to me, is like the prodigy of the online
[7:49] Speaker 2: spec Like, Craigslist is still around and this is where
[7:54] Speaker 2: millions of people are going to sign up. I thought
[8:01] Speaker 2: Craigslist is where you find something listed for sale and
[8:06] Speaker 2: then you make the deal, drive to go pick up
[8:09] Speaker 2: the product, and then you get murdered. I thought that's
[8:12] Speaker 2: what Craigslist was. And we end up on the phone
[8:16] Speaker 2: and I know, I'm just like, are you kidding me?
[8:19] Speaker 2: But I really, really In that moment, it finally hit me.
[8:22] Speaker 2: I thought, this guy is on a different frequency. He
[8:27] Speaker 2: does not get it. He is in the closest of
[8:30] Speaker 2: proximities to someone of true conviction who spent the whole
[8:34] Speaker 2: goddamn day in the sun rallying against authoritarianism. And his
[8:40] Speaker 2: first thought was, eh, I hear, there's a ton of
[8:44] Speaker 2: paid actors. I mean, how much more close to it
[8:47] Speaker 2: could he be? I'm an example, I'm a refutation to
[8:50] Speaker 2: the claim. And I felt right then that was my
[8:55] Speaker 2: moment with him where I really started two step away.
[9:00] Speaker 2: But we remain. I mean, we're friends today. But you
[9:04] Speaker 2: know what I mean, you can feel, okay, maybe this
[9:08] Speaker 2: is really a surface thing because I don't feel roots.
[9:12] Speaker 2: I don't feel that he really he's not he doesn't
[9:14] Speaker 2: get me at all, after all of our history, He's
[9:17] Speaker 2: not there there. So this was a few weeks ago
[9:24] Speaker 2: when I was reading about Donald Trump, who had signed
[9:26] Speaker 2: this memo and this is in the wake of the
[9:28] Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk murder. But he had this edict, I guess
[9:33] Speaker 2: I will call it, which is supposed to combat domestic
[9:37] Speaker 2: terrorism and organized political violence, the National Security Presidential Memorandum
[9:44] Speaker 2: seven in SPM seven. And this was not reported by
[9:49] Speaker 2: a ton of outlets. It just sort of skated in
[9:53] Speaker 2: the media. But the memo itself is terrifying for people
[9:57] Speaker 2: like me and like you. Trump's memorandum calls on the
[10:02] Speaker 2: National Joint Terrorism Task Force and they work under the
[10:05] Speaker 2: FBI to go after what is considered threats to America. Now,
[10:10] Speaker 2: this is vague and conveniently nebulous language. You're a threat
[10:15] Speaker 2: to America, You're anti America. Now we've been hearing this
[10:19] Speaker 2: after the recent note Kings protest. The Fox newsers are
[10:22] Speaker 2: all like Antifa and crisis actors and hate America. It's
[10:27] Speaker 2: the hate America rally. Well, if you hate America, you're
[10:31] Speaker 2: probably a threat. In the language of NSPM seven quote.
[10:37] Speaker 2: There are common recurrent motivations and inditia uniting this pattern
[10:42] Speaker 2: of violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self
[10:46] Speaker 2: described anti fascism. These movements portray foundational American principles cg.
[10:53] Speaker 2: Support for law enforcement and border control as fascist to
[10:58] Speaker 2: justify and encourage acts of violence revolution. This anti fascist
[11:02] Speaker 2: lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic
[11:07] Speaker 2: terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights,
[11:13] Speaker 2: and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct
[11:20] Speaker 2: include anti Americanism, anti capitalism, and anti Christianity. Support for
[11:27] Speaker 2: the overthrow of the United States government extremism on migration,
[11:32] Speaker 2: race and gender, and hostility towards those who hold traditional
[11:37] Speaker 2: American views on family, religion, and morality. Now there's a
[11:43] Speaker 2: lot of loaded language in there. Anti Americanism. What does
[11:47] Speaker 2: that mean? You criticize America in that model? Who would
[11:51] Speaker 2: have been considered America? Pretty much anybody whoever protested an
[11:55] Speaker 2: injustice in this country. Anti capitalism? Aw oh, now you
[12:01] Speaker 2: think las a fair especially, you know, absolutely unfettered, unchecked
[12:05] Speaker 2: free market capitalism favors a tiny few oligarchs while the
[12:10] Speaker 2: rest of us get hosed. Well, that's anti American. I'm
[12:15] Speaker 2: guessing they would have thought Jesus Christ would have been
[12:17] Speaker 2: a capitalist right. And anti Christianity, which is different than
[12:23] Speaker 2: us showing bias or discrimination against someone because they are Christian.
[12:27] Speaker 2: And it's weird for some people when I tell them,
[12:29] Speaker 2: especially Christian, that I will fight for your right to
[12:32] Speaker 2: be religious because you have a constitutional right to have
[12:37] Speaker 2: and hold a Christian belief if you choose to. It's
[12:41] Speaker 2: when it crosses into my threshold. It's when you try
[12:44] Speaker 2: to theocritize the country. It's when it spills out of
[12:48] Speaker 2: your life and affects the rest of us that it
[12:50] Speaker 2: becomes a problem. The whole Christian nation thing is obviously
[12:53] Speaker 2: a problem. But you have a right to be a Christian. Now,
[12:58] Speaker 2: when I go hard and when you go hard Christianity,
[13:01] Speaker 2: we dismantle the Bible. We know it's cramp, we know
[13:04] Speaker 2: it's bogus, we know it's borrowed, we know it's false,
[13:07] Speaker 2: we know it's often immoral, And the right thing to
[13:10] Speaker 2: do is to go forward and say this is total bullshit.
[13:15] Speaker 2: And especially though so Pacific come ount of Christianity, I
[13:18] Speaker 2: think have enough equity to be able to do that.
[13:21] Speaker 2: But we can all say, you know, I don't buy it,
[13:24] Speaker 2: and I think it does a lot of harm, and
[13:27] Speaker 2: we are not a Christian nation. Blah blah blah. Well,
[13:29] Speaker 2: now we could be designated anti Christianity. That means that we,
[13:36] Speaker 2: potentially under the National Joint Terrorism Task Force seven, might
[13:42] Speaker 2: qualify as domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against
[13:47] Speaker 2: democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Well, what
[13:54] Speaker 2: does that mean? Trump is going to start in the government.
[13:57] Speaker 2: Obviously he's going through and he's like Christian by essentially
[14:01] Speaker 2: anybody who is not Christian or has ever criticized Christianity.
[14:05] Speaker 2: How dare they, and then he vacuums them out of
[14:08] Speaker 2: the administration, and then the target expands. And those of
[14:14] Speaker 2: us who have ever spoken about Christianity in a negative way,
[14:17] Speaker 2: and that includes you, that's all of us. Right now,
[14:20] Speaker 2: we are in the splash damage zone. Potentially we become
[14:24] Speaker 2: a primary target. So then the oligarchs get involved. You've
[14:29] Speaker 2: got Mark Zuckerberg, he's had his head up Trump's ass.
[14:32] Speaker 2: They've been over there in the cabinet room, you know.
[14:34] Speaker 2: And Elon Musk He's trying to regain Trump's favor after
[14:38] Speaker 2: he threw him under the bus with the Epstein files.
[14:41] Speaker 2: But Elon's got a shit a ton of government contracts
[14:44] Speaker 2: and he needs the government to favor him. These are
[14:48] Speaker 2: people who have near dictatorial control over huge platforms of
[14:53] Speaker 2: information X and Facebook. I'm trying to think of who
[14:58] Speaker 2: runs Google, but I'm guessing they're Silicon Valley oligarchs who
[15:02] Speaker 2: will benefit from unfettered capitalism, lack of regulation, and so
[15:08] Speaker 2: they might side on the Trump thing. Forgive me for
[15:10] Speaker 2: not knowing that I'm just vamping. This is unprepared. So
[15:15] Speaker 2: what happens. Then Let's say I am declared and my friends,
[15:21] Speaker 2: you know, Forest Valcai and Erica and Promise and Matt
[15:27] Speaker 2: and Arn and Paul and Shannon, and I mean, anybody,
[15:32] Speaker 2: you know, anybody out there who was ever anybody we
[15:36] Speaker 2: are declared terrorists. At the very least, what can happen
[15:41] Speaker 2: is they can shadow Bannis, so the algorithm make sure
[15:43] Speaker 2: that nobody sees anything that we post online, and the
[15:47] Speaker 2: oligarchs have the power to do that. They demonetize us,
[15:51] Speaker 2: so now we can't do what we do full time.
[15:54] Speaker 2: At least they ban the channel. Now we're really looking
[16:00] Speaker 2: at a shutdown. And I would have never thought that
[16:03] Speaker 2: any of us could be prosecuted, fined or worse for
[16:08] Speaker 2: having the opinions that we have, But holy shit, how
[16:11] Speaker 2: can it not be on the table after all that
[16:14] Speaker 2: we have seen. Jesus, they're zip tying children in the streets.
[16:21] Speaker 2: They've declared that seven million marchers from October the eighteenth
[16:26] Speaker 2: are apparently either crisis actors or pro Hamas Antifa agents. Yeah, yeah,
[16:33] Speaker 2: we're all in the crosshairs. And so Natalie and I
[16:36] Speaker 2: were sitting in our living room. We're just sitting on
[16:38] Speaker 2: the couch and we're talking very candidly. And now I'm
[16:41] Speaker 2: not a spring chicken, fifty seven year old guy with
[16:46] Speaker 2: how many years sixteen years of being an activist, eleven years,
[16:51] Speaker 2: ten years, full time activist for ten years. And let's
[16:57] Speaker 2: say that they come in and they shut me down
[17:00] Speaker 2: and they say no more. That's tens of thousands of
[17:03] Speaker 2: hours of content, creation, of perspectives, of free speech, of
[17:07] Speaker 2: production that are just gone, just wiped off the map.
[17:12] Speaker 2: And then one, I mean, Natalie works. But who's how
[17:18] Speaker 2: are we going to How are we going to sustain
[17:20] Speaker 2: ourselves long term? Will we have to sell the house?
[17:23] Speaker 2: And what would we buy? And where? At what interest rates? God,
[17:27] Speaker 2: we got in how many years ago we got in
[17:31] Speaker 2: at three percent? We got in at three percent on
[17:34] Speaker 2: the house, and now I think the interest rate is double.
[17:37] Speaker 2: So that's going to cost a ton more. And if
[17:40] Speaker 2: we want to get out of this state, you know,
[17:42] Speaker 2: white bread, corn fed, strawberry red Oklahoma, we want to
[17:46] Speaker 2: move to more enlightened waters than the cost of living skyrockets.
[17:51] Speaker 2: Do we have to deplete our savings our retirement account,
[17:55] Speaker 2: which isn't that big in the first place. Do we
[17:57] Speaker 2: have to bleed that dry? Just to survey? What do
[18:00] Speaker 2: I do for a living? Imagine somebody googling my name
[18:06] Speaker 2: on an employee search. You know, the HR department is like, oh, lookie,
[18:13] Speaker 2: look at this guy. I don't know. My skills are
[18:17] Speaker 2: as a producer, as a writer, as a content creator,
[18:20] Speaker 2: as a public speaker. How does that fit into the
[18:22] Speaker 2: marketplace today? How does one essentially start over when they're
[18:27] Speaker 2: pushing fifty eight and pushing it kind of hard. These
[18:31] Speaker 2: are really really serious conversations that we've been having. What if,
[18:36] Speaker 2: what if I'd become targeted as a domestic terrorist. I
[18:41] Speaker 2: cannot believe I have to say these words out lot.
[18:43] Speaker 2: So we're sitting there in the living room and we
[18:45] Speaker 2: had that conversation. My phone rings and it's that guy.
[18:48] Speaker 2: It's my friend, and he dials me up and he
[18:52] Speaker 2: was talking about a tennis matcher. I think we'd come
[18:55] Speaker 2: off a tournament and we played over here at a
[18:57] Speaker 2: club called the Fortune, and he's like, how you doing?
[19:02] Speaker 2: And I just was very candid and I said, well,
[19:05] Speaker 2: I said, Natalie, and I've been sitting here discussing what
[19:08] Speaker 2: in the world my life would look like, because you know,
[19:12] Speaker 2: Trump just had this memorandum, this NSPM seven, which says
[19:20] Speaker 2: that anybody who is quote unquote anti Christian might be
[19:25] Speaker 2: a domestic terrorist and there could be consequences, penalties, like,
[19:29] Speaker 2: you know, if I'm shut down. We're trying to figure
[19:33] Speaker 2: out how we'll survive. Very seriously, I said this, and
[19:40] Speaker 2: his first response was, well, you know, you know what,
[19:45] Speaker 2: I promise, I won't turn you in. I won't turn
[19:48] Speaker 2: you you know, unless the money's really good, and then
[19:51] Speaker 2: I'll split it with Natalie. Ha ha ha. And I
[20:01] Speaker 2: I got off the phone pretty quickly and I told
[20:05] Speaker 2: Natalie I'm like, I mean, the obvious would hit me.
[20:10] Speaker 2: He's not my people. He's a surface person. You and I, Honey,
[20:19] Speaker 2: we're at a point where we need root people. How
[20:24] Speaker 2: could I be confident that this person that I've known
[20:28] Speaker 2: for so long would have my back out there if
[20:34] Speaker 2: this came up. P'd either maybe maybe he doesn't buy it.
[20:38] Speaker 2: I would wager that's the reason he was sort of
[20:41] Speaker 2: ha ha, you know, maybe he just didn't get it. Oh,
[20:43] Speaker 2: come on, they're not going to shut you down this America.
[20:47] Speaker 2: We're a free country. He's not really an enemy of
[20:49] Speaker 2: free speech. This is just you know, everybody's everybody's ramped up.
[20:54] Speaker 2: You probably read it on the internet, right, I mean,
[20:56] Speaker 2: I don't think he ever thinks that I would be
[20:58] Speaker 2: shut down. I don't think his brain clocked it in
[21:00] Speaker 2: that way. But the fact that I was expressing it
[21:05] Speaker 2: so seriously and his first response was to just blow
[21:08] Speaker 2: it off and make it a joke really really set
[21:12] Speaker 2: the bile in my mouth. And I just I don't
[21:18] Speaker 2: know what to do with it. I mean, I'm not
[21:21] Speaker 2: calling him and he we have not been hanging. I'm
[21:26] Speaker 2: sure he's probably realized, Hey, you know, we're not really
[21:29] Speaker 2: seeing each other much anymore unless we bomb elbows on
[21:33] Speaker 2: the tennis court surface. People root people, and there are
[21:46] Speaker 2: so very few of them. Think about your own life.
[21:54] Speaker 2: I'll bet you can maybe kind of them on one hand,
[21:58] Speaker 2: maybe two hands. If your lucky route people hell or
[22:02] Speaker 2: high water, I understand, or if I don't always understand,
[22:06] Speaker 2: at least I have empathy and feeling and I care
[22:10] Speaker 2: and tell me about it. Imagine that conversation if I
[22:13] Speaker 2: had been like, what happens if I am shot down
[22:17] Speaker 2: by the government in a country that's supposed to allow
[22:23] Speaker 2: me to speak and express myself freely, what happens? Imagine
[22:29] Speaker 2: if his response had been, well, is that really happening?
[22:34] Speaker 2: And tell me more about that? Because it's not what
[22:37] Speaker 2: I've heard. But you know you're my friend and I'm
[22:40] Speaker 2: concerned about you, and you know I support your right
[22:43] Speaker 2: to speak, So can you give me some more information here?
[22:48] Speaker 2: I mean, I if this is real, it's something I
[22:51] Speaker 2: would want to know. And I support you, man, I
[22:55] Speaker 2: support your right to I support you. I think you
[22:59] Speaker 2: know we disagree, but you have the right to disagree,
[23:01] Speaker 2: and I think that's part of who we are as America.
[23:04] Speaker 2: And if anything ever happens, you know we're going to
[23:07] Speaker 2: be here for you. We're going to be here whatever
[23:10] Speaker 2: you need. And that's to me a relatively reasonable response.
[23:15] Speaker 2: I think that would be a root person response, don't
[23:19] Speaker 2: you The last months, the last years have been a revelation.
[23:28] Speaker 2: They've been a black light. They've been a spotlight. They've
[23:31] Speaker 2: been a white light on so many of the relationships
[23:35] Speaker 2: that you and I used to just sort of not
[23:37] Speaker 2: examine that deeply. You really get to know people when
[23:41] Speaker 2: the shit hits the fan. You really get to know
[23:44] Speaker 2: people when crisis happen. I don't know, crisis. Is that
[23:51] Speaker 2: the word crisis? I guess I'm sure it is crisis
[23:55] Speaker 2: right now. Right now, they're ripping down the East wall
[23:58] Speaker 2: of the White House so that Trump can add on
[24:01] Speaker 2: his ballroom, and millions of magas probably my friend, are like, oh,
[24:09] Speaker 2: you know, the place probably needed a facelift anyway. They
[24:13] Speaker 2: don't see the destruction of history. They don't see the
[24:16] Speaker 2: people's house being shredded. They don't see a guy who
[24:19] Speaker 2: doesn't act like he's moving out anytime soon. They don't
[24:23] Speaker 2: see that. They're like, uh, it's wood, it's wood and
[24:27] Speaker 2: concrete and mortar whatever. You know, ballroom's going to be amazing.
[24:31] Speaker 2: I mean, look at what he's done with the Oval Office.
[24:34] Speaker 2: Have you seen all the gold, like the cheap ass
[24:37] Speaker 2: gold stuff that he has decorated the Oval Office with.
[24:41] Speaker 2: It looks like a bad televangelist TV set. You ever
[24:44] Speaker 2: watched TBN. I think TBN's still on the air. Trinity
[24:49] Speaker 2: Broadcasting Network was really big in the eighties and nineties,
[24:52] Speaker 2: and I think they're still around. But a lot of
[24:55] Speaker 2: these evangelist television shows would have an hour a day,
[25:00] Speaker 2: even if people these sort of hair sprayed preachers. He
[25:04] Speaker 2: would sit in these really ornate gilded chairs and on
[25:08] Speaker 2: these big Fufi couches and they would essentially talk about
[25:12] Speaker 2: Jesush and they would quote the Bible to you, and
[25:16] Speaker 2: then they would of course say, support the ministry. Send
[25:19] Speaker 2: us your faith seed, and the Lord will return it
[25:22] Speaker 2: unto the casht your bread upon the water, and it
[25:25] Speaker 2: shall return unto you tenfold. Just give you your money,
[25:29] Speaker 2: We take visa MasterCard, discover an American Express. Yes we do, right,
[25:34] Speaker 2: what's that, George Carlin Lyne. God loves you and he
[25:37] Speaker 2: needs money. But all around them was the most gaudy, ugly,
[25:46] Speaker 2: gold spray painted ugliness you have ever seen. A friend
[25:51] Speaker 2: of mine said, it is what a great many poor
[25:54] Speaker 2: people think wealth might look like. It's the equivalent of
[25:58] Speaker 2: Donald Trump's golden bear baby carriage. Did you see that
[26:01] Speaker 2: photo from I don't know, years ago. It's him and
[26:04] Speaker 2: Milania and the kids, and they're in this room and
[26:06] Speaker 2: it's got like stuffed lions and tigers and everything's gold
[26:09] Speaker 2: in the background, and there's a golden baby carriage. It's
[26:12] Speaker 2: just obscene. It's not classy, it's not elegant, it's not luxurious.
[26:18] Speaker 2: It's just tacky. It's like Vegas vomited all over the
[26:23] Speaker 2: Trump family. And that's what he's done through the Oval Office,
[26:25] Speaker 2: and that's what he's going to do to the ballroom.
[26:27] Speaker 2: It's obscene. It's obscene, and people like my friend, I
[26:32] Speaker 2: don't hear a peep about it. I don't hear any protests.
[26:36] Speaker 2: I don't hear any concern Jesus. You know, as you
[26:42] Speaker 2: get older. I think as you get older, you get
[26:45] Speaker 2: less patient with dumb stuff and stupid people. And I
[26:52] Speaker 2: don't think I'm supposed to say some people are stupid. Seth,
[26:56] Speaker 2: why are you using the word stupid. Well, there's stupid
[27:01] Speaker 2: in this world. There's an epidemic. I'm not talking about ignorance,
[27:04] Speaker 2: which can be fixed. We've all been ignorant, and we've
[27:08] Speaker 2: all been stupid. Right, we had the knowledge and we
[27:11] Speaker 2: did you know, we knew what was right. We did
[27:14] Speaker 2: the wrong thing. Anyway, that's stupid. You are just as
[27:18] Speaker 2: thick as a post and you get yourself into real
[27:21] Speaker 2: trouble because you acted stupidly. We've had stupid thoughts. I
[27:25] Speaker 2: don't have a problem saying the word. You know, when
[27:27] Speaker 2: we were growing up, they used to say, there's no
[27:29] Speaker 2: such thing as a stupid question. Oh hell no, there's
[27:33] Speaker 2: a shit ton of stupid questions in this world. I'm
[27:36] Speaker 2: sorry anyway, And then you look around and You're like,
[27:40] Speaker 2: there's an epidemic. There's a cancer stupid, the cancer of
[27:44] Speaker 2: cruel there's a cancer of short sightedness, of myopia, of bigotry,
[27:49] Speaker 2: of just being lazy. It's like when you and I
[27:54] Speaker 2: talk about the Bible, do you know the Bible's true? Yep?
[28:00] Speaker 2: What do you think about this story? Well? I haven't
[28:03] Speaker 2: read it. Do you know who wrote this book? Well? No,
[28:08] Speaker 2: I can't tell you that. How often do you read
[28:11] Speaker 2: the Bible?
[28:11] Speaker 1: Eh?
[28:12] Speaker 2: You know, we not really? I got a few. They're
[28:15] Speaker 2: on the nightstand. I got one in the drawer in
[28:17] Speaker 2: the you know, in the built in cabinets in the
[28:20] Speaker 2: living room.
[28:20] Speaker 1: You know.
[28:21] Speaker 2: I mean I should read the Bible more. I should
[28:23] Speaker 2: have more quiet time with Jesus. Yeah. You want to
[28:28] Speaker 2: know who knows the Bible, You got to talk to
[28:30] Speaker 2: an atheist or a Jewish person. Statistically, atheists and Jews
[28:36] Speaker 2: are more Bible knowledgeable than everybody else. Well, how's that,
[28:40] Speaker 2: even jib they're not. In many cases, it's not just ignorance,
[28:45] Speaker 2: it's that you've got the whole thing. You've got all
[28:47] Speaker 2: sixty six books, You've got all the letters of the
[28:51] Speaker 2: Christian scriptures front and center in multiple copies and you
[28:56] Speaker 2: don't read it. Now, we're not just ignorant. This is
[29:00] Speaker 2: just stupid to say, well, it's true, I wonder what
[29:03] Speaker 2: it says. It's the same with evolution. I don't understand it,
[29:09] Speaker 2: and I never read on the origin of species. I've
[29:12] Speaker 2: never taken a true biology class that wasn't taught by
[29:14] Speaker 2: a pastor or something. But I know evolution is bogus
[29:18] Speaker 2: and false. And that's just the stand I'm going to take.
[29:20] Speaker 2: We've gone past ignorance. Now we're just stupid. How do
[29:23] Speaker 2: I respect that? When I talked to this guy and
[29:26] Speaker 2: he's like, oh, you know what, ah ah, they could
[29:29] Speaker 2: all be paid actors. Here's a Craigslist dad. Somebody posted
[29:34] Speaker 2: was it fox News? Who had said? You know what,
[29:37] Speaker 2: it's suspected that George Soros and George Soros is a
[29:42] Speaker 2: favorite target of the right, which is weird because I
[29:46] Speaker 2: thought they loved billionaires. The guy was born in Hungary
[29:50] Speaker 2: and he immigrated to the United States. He is a
[29:54] Speaker 2: big wig with a lot of money. He's written books.
[29:57] Speaker 2: He's a philanthropist. He is chairman of the Open Society Foundations,
[30:03] Speaker 2: which does a lot of charity work. He has donated
[30:06] Speaker 2: to Democratic political candidates. Oh okay, now the dots are
[30:11] Speaker 2: starting to line up, right. He has a background in economics,
[30:16] Speaker 2: and he's lived here since nineteen fifty six. And yet,
[30:19] Speaker 2: for some reason, in the Fox News Newsmax Oan you
[30:25] Speaker 2: know Magas story, George Soros is part of this shadow network.
[30:29] Speaker 2: He's you know, he's out there doing all this stuff.
[30:32] Speaker 2: And so Fox News says, you know what, it has
[30:35] Speaker 2: been claimed, George Soros paid five hundred dollars to the
[30:39] Speaker 2: protesters on October the eighteenth, the seven million people. Wait
[30:44] Speaker 2: a minute, hang on, let me do the math on
[30:46] Speaker 2: that calculator. Five hundred times seven? Oh oh and another
[30:57] Speaker 2: or zero? You ever do that? Zero? Both work? Uh?
[31:03] Speaker 2: Go on to three billion. George Sorow's paid three billion,
[31:18] Speaker 2: five hundred million dollars to people that he apparently found
[31:22] Speaker 2: on Craigslist. You know, Fox News doesn't think their audience
[31:32] Speaker 2: is stupid. They know they're stupid. They the ignorance can
[31:39] Speaker 2: be fixed, but stupid maybe forever. Who says, Okay, there
[31:46] Speaker 2: were seven million individual private transactions between George Soros and
[31:54] Speaker 2: American citizen actors, and each of those transactions has been
[31:59] Speaker 2: said successfully covered up, and the conspiracy has not been
[32:04] Speaker 2: revealed or proven. You got to be shitting me. What's
[32:07] Speaker 2: that line from The Irishman with Robert de Niro? He said,
[32:11] Speaker 2: you know three people can keep a secret, but only
[32:13] Speaker 2: if two of them are dead. How stupid do you
[32:19] Speaker 2: have to be? Sean Hannity, I swear to you, Sean Hannity,
[32:25] Speaker 2: Megan Kelly, right, the Fox and Friends crew, Brian kill Me,
[32:31] Speaker 2: who by the way, still hasn't been held the task
[32:34] Speaker 2: for his little zinger on the Morning show on Fox
[32:37] Speaker 2: News where he said we ought to just execute the homeless. God,
[32:44] Speaker 2: they ban Jimmy Kimmel, right, they ban him for being offensive,
[32:50] Speaker 2: and Brian kill Me. They pat him on the knuckle
[32:53] Speaker 2: and say, you have been a bad boy. You should
[32:56] Speaker 2: probably come forward and say just a tiny apology. And
[33:00] Speaker 2: then we're going to have a cultural amnesia where nobody
[33:04] Speaker 2: even remembers it happened. The guys said we should execute
[33:07] Speaker 2: the homeless, and so if somebody is a Fox News
[33:12] Speaker 2: viewer and they're like, ah uh, yeah, that's not ignorance,
[33:18] Speaker 2: that's just stupid. These are people who couldn't tell you
[33:23] Speaker 2: if an elevator was going up or down, even if
[33:26] Speaker 2: they had two guesses. They should carry plants to make
[33:33] Speaker 2: up for the oxygen they're wasting. If they somehow get
[33:38] Speaker 2: lost in thought, they never return. What's that line, if
[33:46] Speaker 2: they ever had a clever thought, that thought went out
[33:48] Speaker 2: and died alone and afraid. You know what I'm saying.
[33:53] Speaker 2: How many people have diarrhea of the mouth, but constipation
[33:58] Speaker 2: on the brain. And they vote, and they influence, and
[34:05] Speaker 2: they graze our lives. They tumble weed across the surface
[34:12] Speaker 2: surface people. Maybe not even that. Maybe we just see
[34:18] Speaker 2: each other from afar and you and I look and say,
[34:21] Speaker 2: I want nothing to do with that. I want I
[34:25] Speaker 2: want nothing to do with that. Then I get it.
[34:27] Speaker 2: I feel the same way. I have reduced my social circle.
[34:32] Speaker 2: I'm thankful for this community. I'm going to Albuquerque this weekend.
[34:37] Speaker 2: I'm going to be speaking on Saturday morning to the
[34:39] Speaker 2: Humanist Society of New Mexico. I'm looking forward to being
[34:42] Speaker 2: among my people, humanists good for goodness sake, who are
[34:48] Speaker 2: grieved by the crazy shit that's going on around us.
[34:52] Speaker 2: And we can come together and we can be reminded
[34:55] Speaker 2: of the good and we can say we're going to
[34:58] Speaker 2: work together and do what we can try to fix
[35:00] Speaker 2: what is broken. But the arsonists have gone crazy, So
[35:05] Speaker 2: you know, to we can vent about our despair and
[35:09] Speaker 2: our fears. We can talk about the things that matter
[35:13] Speaker 2: on a root level, not a surface level. Roots people.
[35:18] Speaker 2: I don't know. That's just what I was thinking about today.
[35:21] Speaker 2: I don't have a destination for this little diatribe of mine,
[35:25] Speaker 2: Like I don't have a satisfying place to take you.
[35:29] Speaker 2: I'm not going to take calls.
[35:31] Speaker 1: I just.
[35:34] Speaker 2: On my drive back, I had so much that was
[35:38] Speaker 2: just spinning around in my skull, and so I thought, okay, fine,
[35:43] Speaker 2: I just I just hit start, you know podcast, start
[35:50] Speaker 2: wondering if maybe you can relate, if you've gone through
[35:55] Speaker 2: it in your own life. We've had people who have
[35:57] Speaker 2: not just fallen by the wayside. Maybe you have taken
[36:00] Speaker 2: them and you have removed them. I've had there have
[36:05] Speaker 2: been spouses who have divorced each other because this was
[36:08] Speaker 2: a black light on the relationship. Is this really what
[36:11] Speaker 2: you think? Is this really how you feel? Is this
[36:14] Speaker 2: really what your values are? I can't live with that.
[36:17] Speaker 2: I don't want to be under the same roof as that.
[36:19] Speaker 2: I don't have to abide that. And they just signed
[36:22] Speaker 2: the divorce paper and draw that boom you're gone. You know,
[36:26] Speaker 2: life's too short. That's happened. There have been news reports
[36:32] Speaker 2: about all these marriages that have ended in the time
[36:34] Speaker 2: of Trump. Friendships have gone by the wayside. People are
[36:37] Speaker 2: not going to go to the holiday events with their family. Jesus,
[36:41] Speaker 2: I'm having my own conversation. Do I really want to
[36:44] Speaker 2: be in the room with a mother I haven't spoken
[36:46] Speaker 2: to in I don't know, it's been well over a year,
[36:50] Speaker 2: because of boundaries, because of disrespect. How in the world
[36:54] Speaker 2: do we even have family time when she and I
[36:57] Speaker 2: are in close proximity and boundaries have been violated. We're estranged,
[37:04] Speaker 2: we're separated. What are we going to talk about? Hey?
[37:08] Speaker 2: How you been? You know? Wow, nice weather we're having.
[37:12] Speaker 2: By the way, do you still support the White House
[37:16] Speaker 2: demolishing democracy, demolishing pussy grabbing, grifting, sociopathic, cruel, childish, petulant
[37:24] Speaker 2: piece of garbage that is in the White House today?
[37:27] Speaker 2: I'm just scarious just making conversation. I mean, because that's
[37:31] Speaker 2: what I'm going to want to say, That's what past
[37:34] Speaker 2: the gravy. No, I'm not making this up. When I
[37:42] Speaker 2: say that it does feel good to have you, I
[37:46] Speaker 2: am fully aware that we don't know each other in
[37:52] Speaker 2: many ways on a peer to peer one on one
[37:55] Speaker 2: we live our lives every day in close proximity level.
[37:58] Speaker 2: But I will say, whenever you and I meet each other,
[38:02] Speaker 2: and when you call into the shows, and when you're
[38:04] Speaker 2: part of this community, I do I feel of a
[38:07] Speaker 2: version a version of root people. You know what I mean?
[38:14] Speaker 2: Like if something was to go down, or if you
[38:18] Speaker 2: were to express the angster or the concern or the
[38:22] Speaker 2: anger that you were feeling, that you wouldn't abandon me
[38:26] Speaker 2: and I wouldn't abandon you. And your first response would be, WHOA,
[38:32] Speaker 2: tell me more about it? How are you feeling? What
[38:34] Speaker 2: can I do? You know? That's root people type stuff?
[38:38] Speaker 2: I mean, it's not. It's I think it's a different
[38:40] Speaker 2: version of it. Maybe there's a different term for it.
[38:44] Speaker 2: But I guess I'll finish here by thanking you, thank you,
[38:50] Speaker 2: thank you, good medicine. Isn't it to know that when
[38:57] Speaker 2: there were so many people who drift by, tumble by,
[39:00] Speaker 2: or just leave or maybe you kick them out, there
[39:04] Speaker 2: are many others who have not lost their fucking minds
[39:09] Speaker 2: or their moral center or their reason centers, or their
[39:15] Speaker 2: compassion and their empathy and perspective and desire to make
[39:19] Speaker 2: this country, in the world and each other better. Those
[39:22] Speaker 2: people are still there and you, to me, are a
[39:26] Speaker 2: reminder of that. Forgive me for sounding like a Hallmark movie,
[39:30] Speaker 2: but that's how I'm going to wrap it up today.
[39:33] Speaker 2: Thanks for being so patient as I I don't know
[39:37] Speaker 2: do what I did, as I just did what I did.
[39:42] Speaker 2: All right. We'll see you back here on the next
[39:45] Speaker 2: one for the official podcast, and until then, take care.
[39:49] Speaker 1: Follow The Thinking Atheist on Facebook and Twitter for a
[39:53] Speaker 1: complete archive of podcasts and videos, products like mugs and
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