Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 145 | Lauren Chen

Episode Date: August 2, 2019

"Pseudo-Intellectual" Podcaster and fellow BlazeTV host Lauren Chen and I discuss the disturbing trend of sexualizing children and how we can combat this as conservatives. 

Hey guys, welcome to relatable. Today I am talking to my friend Lauren Chen, who is also a host at Blaze TV with me. We're going to be talking about a whole host of things, specifically this disturbing trend of sections of the left sexualizing kids and sexualizing young girls and what that looks like from a mainstream media perspective and how we combat that as conservatives. I just want to warn you. that this might not be a conversation that you want your kids to listen into. So if you are in the car with your kids, I would suggest maybe listening to this at a different time. Some of the stuff that we're talking about, unfortunately, is disturbing, but it's very important. So I hope that you guys enjoy the conversation. Lauren, thank you so much for joining me. No problem. Thank you so much for having me, big fan of your show. Oh, thanks. Well, first, will you tell everyone about your show and where they can find it? Sure. I have a show called Sudo Intellectual, and yes, I know what it means. That's the joke, everybody. Always get questions about the name. And I'm on Blaze TV like you, where we have a YouTube channel that's just under Lauren Chen. If you search that, you'll be able to find every episode we do. Aside from that, if you're a Blaze TV subscriber, of course our episodes are on the site. And we're also on Google, like Google Play, iTunes, and Spotify. I think that's everywhere we are. Okay, first, how did you come up with the name pseudo-intellectual?

Because I never thought to ask you about that. I thought that it kind of worked perfectly. I thought it was funny tongue-in-cheek. What kind of questions do you get about it? So the name was actually, we kind of, we rebranded with a new show with Blaze TV, and the name was actually my fiancé slash producer's idea. Because, I mean, as people who started out on YouTube in the whole commentary, seeing that's something you get a lot from people, that you're just a pseudo-intellectual.

You know, you're a nobody who, like, what's, your opinion matter. It's not like you're some big shot journalist or politician and stuff like that. Right. And we just kind of leaned into that perception of ourselves because it's like, you know what? You're right. We're, we are just some people spouting off our opinions. We're not with the establishment media. We're not with establishment politics or anything like that. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. We're not a part of academia. We're just, I think, regular people who care about these issues and want to talk about it. So yeah, that was the kind of tongue and cheek approach we took to it, but then sometimes we do get these people like,

wait, are you calling yourself that? Don't you know it's not a good thing? And I say, don't worry. Like, we're proud of it. I don't think it necessarily needs to be a bad thing. And it's kind of like fat Amy from pitch perfect. If we call ourselves that, then it kind of takes away any power that anyone else has to call us that. Exactly. I never even thought twice about it. So it's funny that people had questions. But one thing I think that people don't, don't think about is that the thing that gives credibility is the fact that you have people listening to you. If you didn't have people listening to you, then I think people would have maybe a right to question, well, why are you speaking into this void? No one cares what you think, but people obviously care what you think.

So why does it matter if we have some kind of degree or title or background on Capitol Hill? If you have people that care about your opinion, then your opinion is at least somewhat credible or worth listening to. Yeah, and I feel like for a lot of people, that is a scary thing because they like having those gatekeepers around, whether it's the establishment media or academia or politics, who are there to tell them what sort of the acceptable opinions are or are not. And now, so the idea that people can just with social media, start their own platforms and get audiences that are as big as, if not bigger than a lot of these establishment figures, that's scary for a lot of people because I think they feel as if they're losing control.

of the narrative, which quite frankly, they are. Yeah, I think it scares a lot of people that are in the media. When we saw that whole debacle with Stephen Crowder, there were some people that were saying, okay, this isn't really a right versus left thing. This is traditional media versus YouTube or versus non-traditional media. They don't like to lose control. They don't like that someone like you or someone like Stephen Crowder has arguably a bigger influence on at least a section of public opinion than they do. And they want so badly to be able to

navigate that the way they want it to go. And it frustrates them, I think, to no end that there are people that subscribe to your channel and aren't listening to what they're saying. No, for sure. And I think it's a losing battle for them, quite frankly, because if we look at, break it down by age demographic and look at where people get, not just their news, but their entertainment in general, independent media is. growing and there's really nothing they can do to stop it. So like with the whole Vox thing, I think they kind of found out that when you go after the YouTube ecosystem, which is so fragile, you're not just making, I guess, independent right-wing commentary creators angry.

You're kind of, you're bringing the whole YouTube community in this because there are so many creators like gamers, makeup channels or whatever, that are all affected by this. So the bottom line is, is that people like you who have been a popular YouTuber for a long time, you have extreme sway, at least on one section of the internet, and a lot of people don't like that. But I think what we've seen is that the ridiculousness that's coming from some of the mainstream outlets in the media, they create the necessity for people like you, for people like me to give a voice to those who look at some of those narratives and say, oh my gosh, this doesn't relate to me at all.

This doesn't reflect what I think. And one of the most ridiculous things that I've seen that I think that we both are probably appalled by is this whole narrative that we're seeing, especially from outlets like Teen Vogue saying, you know, sex work is real work. If you are young, 12, 13, 14 years old and you're thinking about certain types of sex, that's totally fine. We're going to be here to be your guide to all of these things. It's just the sexualization of young people and young girls that most people are taken aback by. And I think you and me, especially we have something to say about that. What's your opinion on it? Well, I think, I mean, I have a lot to say about what teen Vogue is doing. I mean, first off, obviously with opinions like, you know, sex work is real work, yada, yada, yada. Of course, I'm going to want to push back on that. But I think what kind of sets them apart from any other left-wing hypersexualized magazine

is the fact that they are actually aimed at teens, right? Yeah, that's true. Teen Vogue, not regular Vogue. So not only do I disagree with their opinion, but I also am just morally outraged is the best way I could think of putting it, that they're trying to market this to children. And I know it's kind of a meme now, oh, won't someone please think of the children? But, I mean, actually, I think as a society, we've kind of maybe stopped paying attention to what these outlets, and it's not just Teen Vogue, it's places like MTV or whatever,

it is, are feeding young people. And look, I'm for freedom of speech. I think that's important. But I think as parents and as a society, we need to have this conversation because it's just, it's not okay to expose young people to these ideas that they, I think, are maybe not emotionally or mentally or perhaps even physically capable of dealing with and expect them to come out as well-adjusted adults. I think we are failing these children by saying, you, Yeah, whatever, whatever you want to read, just have at it. Internet is a big, dark void, but just go for it. Whatever you want to explore, that's fine and not really giving them any guidance.

So why do you think magazines like Ting Vogue have gotten the idea that this is where society is and this is where society needs to go? Because I think even people that lean to the left look at something like this and they're like, this is a bit too far. Yeah, I think you're right. And, you know, on YouTube, I have an audience that leans mainly right. definitely not exclusively right wing. And I made a video about teen vogue and I had a ton of people saying, look, I'm, I think sex positive is the word that a lot of progressives use, but I'm still

not okay with this being taught to children. I think that can kind of be a unifying factor across the political spectrum is that whatever you want to do in your bedroom, what, like, that's one thing. But when we're talking about sharing it with kids, it begins, it begins to be a different issue. And I think when I've looked at the, I guess, the author profiles of the women who have written all of these articles, what I see is that they're all very, very far left-leaning, progressive feminist. And I think they come from an ideology where, you know, sexuality is just like this open thing that's all good all the time. There's, I mean, you know, as a Christian, we can appreciate that sexuality within the marriage is important. but I think they kind of come from the approach that, hey, you know, if it's there, use it at will. And I think that maybe that mentality has actually gotten them to a point where they don't

understand the fact that there is something to be said for an issue being for adults versus children, right? It's become so normalized to them where even the idea of an age barrier doesn't make sense anymore. I guess that's true. When you think about where they get their moral compass or where they derive their values, It's really this whole mentality of the God of self. And if the only God that you have or the only moral arbiter that you have is yourself, then I guess it does kind of stop making sense to have these,

what seem like maybe to you, these arbitrary boundaries of age. And so if all that matters is autonomy, if all that matters is authenticity, if all that matters, if the only standard for right and wrong within sexuality is consent, then it does become more difficult to make a moral case from their perspective that, okay, children shouldn't be involved in that. So how do we, because you're right, we're coming from two totally different fundamental

perspectives on right and wrong. How do you reconcile that? How do you have a conversation with someone who is so far the other direction and just refuses to even see the world the same way you do about something like this? that is that is something that is very hard to do frankly and you know i've encountered um people who support this kind of thing being shared with kids on social media and comment section and um the approach that they often take is just that you're prude you hate sex you're an authoritarian and you're trying to tell people what to do and what not to do um and i think it's they've

they've kind of conditioned themselves to see sex the same way some people might see i don't know watching TV. Like it's very hard for them to like sex is fun. How could it be a bad thing? I think the best thing we can do is show them studies because this this actually is something that, you know, science and secularism and research support that promiscuity is not just this this neutral factor that doesn't have any influence on our lives. Like we see that there are actual things like STIs, you know, teen pregnancies, people who are promiscuous tend to report things like higher incidences of, I guess, like, low self-esteem, maybe even depression and anxiety. Like, these actions have measurable consequences on people's lives. And so, like, this is for adults

we're talking about. You can only imagine how any, any negativities might be compounded if we introduce them, like, this behavior to children. This is an issue that unfortunately has become, like, politicized. It's seen now if you speak out against this, then you're probably somehow like a sexist, some right-wing extremist, which is too bad because I think at the end of day, if we're talking about kids, we should all have the children's best interests at heart. And I think a lot of the people pushing these articles about, you know, how to get an abortion without your parents knowing, you know, how to prepare for anal sex. These are actual articles that were in Teen Vogue.

And I feel bad, like even saying that kind of thing. And I don't mean to bring smut onto your podcast. But keep in mind, as uncomfortable as it makes us, this is what's being. fed to children. Yeah, they just want it to be so normalized. I don't know if it's because they are trying to, I guess, rationalize their own behavior. Yeah.

But it is, I admit, hard to talk to those people. I think that you're right, that they separate the emotional consequences or the emotions that are involved with sex, even as we know, the spiritual aspect of sex. They want to deny that that exists and just say, well, you know, it's no different. than doing anything else, any other physical act. It's exactly the same.

And so from that kind of construct, it would be more difficult to argue, well, maybe kids shouldn't really learn about this. Because if you really think of it as just something casual, like having a meal or something like that, rather than an intimate act that you share within marriage as we believe, or at least between with someone that you love, then it becomes this,

thing that's just like, well, yeah, sure. Why shouldn't we talk about it? Why shouldn't kids know about it? Why shouldn't kids know how to get an abortion? It's all just part of life. But like you said, to our children's detriment. So I just wonder, as someone who is about to have a child myself, as we're recording this, I just wonder, am I going to have to kind of like take my child basically out of the world? I mean, I cannot trust Snapchat. I certainly can't trust these magazines. I feel like I can't trust most of the celebrities that are going to be influencing her. I can't trust television. It scares me for the future.

And I know that you don't have kids, but you're engaged. Is that something that you think about? Absolutely. My fiancé and I have discussions about this all the time. Because we, like, politically, we're not exactly aligned on every single issue. But I think in terms of how we view the importance of marriage and family and raising our kids, we are 100% on the same page. And it's very scary.

for both of us. Like we're, we're at the point now where we're trying to figure out, okay, how can we make homeschool work even just because we see and we report on these stories of things like the gender unicorn being taught to five-year-old sex ed. You know, it's getting younger and younger. They're trying to introduce these ideas to kids. As a parent, I don't know how you can look at something like what's happening with Teen Vogue and not be worried. And I don't want to be like alarmist or anything like that. needlessly scare people, but I just think you cannot be too vigilant when it comes to this kind of thing. And I do think that, you know, if you do a good job instilling good values into your kid when they're younger,

then hopefully as they get older, even though the temptations are there and all of this material is available to them, they will have the moral compass to say, you know what, this isn't how I was raised and I don't want to be a part of this. because, you know, when hopefully by the time they're 14 or 15, they're able to make those kinds of decisions. It's just, I feel like it has become a lot harder to raise kids, especially in a Christian household or lifestyle nowadays, than it used to be, just because you're kind of, you're being assaulted from, it seems like, everywhere with all of these messages that sex is good, sex everywhere, abortion, no problem. It becomes hard to say, okay, what is safe for kids to watch? like what is child appropriate nowadays? Yeah. Two things.

What's a gender unicorn? That's my first question. I don't know. A gender unicorn is something that they were found to be teaching in Canadian. I don't want to get, I forget the exact grade, but it was young. It was definitely elementary school and it was before grade four. I remember that. And it was their way of trying to introduce kids to the concept of gender flu,

fluidity and different sexual orientations. So like the gender unicorn could kind of be whatever you wanted it to be. And depending on what other genders it was attracted to, it changed its description. And it's funny because now the gender unicorn, not funny, sad. Now the gender unicorn was actually found to be transphobic because it relied on the idea that biological sex is real, which of course we know is just crazyness now. So now there's actually the some people are proposing the gender elephant, which is more inclusive because it sees biological sex as a spectrum. And it's just, yeah, stories like this

are why we talk so much about homeschool, my fiancee, and I, because we're just, we're terrified. And look, I don't want to raise my kid up in a bubble by any means. I don't want to shield them from different ideas or indoctrinate them with my own beliefs, you know, on the other end of that. But it's just I don't want my, you know, my 12-year-old girls are reading about how to get abortions without my consent. And if that makes me, you know, some sort of like crazy right-wing extremists, then I have a lot of worries for the future of our society. Totally. And something, I know that you guys live in Canada, but we have, I know that you know about the Equality Act, something that scares me, even though, you know, we're totally on the same page with you guys. We've talked about

that. We obviously talk about Christian schooling and just all the ways that we can protect our child's mind as they're growing up. But you read something like the Equality Act and you see the trajectory and the desire of many people, not all, but many people, it seems like, on the left, they really want to encroach upon a parent's right to raise their child how the parent sees fit. Because, for example, like, I think this happened in Canada. Like, a dad was charged for not calling his daughter by her preferred gender pronoun. We see the same thing in the UK. You see that in part of the Equality Act that really a child should be able to make autonomous decisions about sexuality and gender from a young age.

Parents shouldn't be able to interfere. We see the same thing with them trying to have some kind of control over Christian schools and what Christian schools can teach and who they can hire, who they can't hire, no matter their motivations. And it just worries you. Am I even going to have freedom as a mom to be able to teach my child the things that I want to teach my child? And I don't mean to, you know, be, you know, say that the world is ending and that everything is going to be terrible because I do think that there's hope.

There's a lot of people like you and me who feel this way and who are going to push back against that. But it is, I don't know, it is scary to think about. And I just, I just wonder how long we're going to be able to hold on. You know, I feel the same way. I don't want to scare people, but at the same time I want them to understand sort of how serious this is and the fact that this is happening. look, I've been making videos about these issues for around three years, and I think the first time I talked about the issue of gender and sort of sexualizing or the attempt to sexualize kids. I had people saying, why are you focusing on this? This is just a few crazy people on Tumblr. Let's talk about the real issues. Well, three years later, you're absolutely right. There are parents who are being charged for not using their child's preferred pronouns.

We've even seen cases taken to court where a parent is. is getting in trouble because they do not want their underage child going on hormones to change their gender and things like that. It's like we were complacent, I think, for far too long about this sort of thing, and we've let it get too far as a society. So I do think we need to take a really hard stand now and say, uh-uh, this is not acceptable. And it's funny because anytime I talk about anything to do with Christianity,

I always get a bunch of leftists or like fedora-tipping atheists saying, you're just trying to indoctrinate kids, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, look, the Christians now aren't the ones who are imposing their ideology on the government and trying to make sure everyone lives by our moral code, right? That's not what's happening nowadays, but that is exactly what the far left and feminists are doing. And it's funny because, you know,

if a Christian were to try anything remotely like this, there would be protests in the streets, people dressing up as like the handmaids from that TV show. but if the far left manages to shoehorn their ideology into law, like all of a sudden now, oh, no, this is good, this is equality. It's like, wow, I think we really need to take a step back and kind of get back to reality because I do think if you were to talk to the average everyday person, they wouldn't support this.

They don't believe that this is the best thing for society or for children. But unfortunately, a lot of people I think don't know this is happening. And the people who support these kind of measures, like they've done a very good job inserting themselves into positions of authority, where even if this isn't something that people want or support, they're able to, because of their positions and because of their full-time activism, get these measures implemented. And one of their techniques, one of their strategies, I think, is doing what you have been told since you started talking about this is you're an extremist. You are exaggerating this. Gosh, calm down, as Taylor Swift would say in a different

context, just calm down about all of this. And that's why I think some people, especially those who aren't in the public eye, would say, okay, you're right. Like, I don't want to be crazy. I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist. Like, I don't want to be one of those weird crazy Christians that talks about things that aren't really happening. And they're convinced that you don't really need to worry about this until, like you said, it's too late. So I think that your message is spot on that, yes, we do need to be worrying about this because where this leads, as people have talked about many times, is to the normalization of pedophilia, which is something that we already see. We already see people calling for the decriminalization of child porn, the decriminalization of pedophilia. And I think

that if you are a parent, you have every right to be worried about that, don't you think? Oh, for sure. And as someone who's for a long time been keeping an eye on this, but the whole cultural cultural issues, but not necessarily weighing in until recently. People make fun of the idea of a slippery slope, but I think that's exactly what we've been seeing. I mean, it used to be that marriage was reserved between man and wife, and then there was a sexual revolution, and we kind of saw like, okay, now people are a little bit more open with the fact that they're having sex outside of marriage. And we kind of saw this, I guess, slow but general decrease in the value of sex. And within the past, I would say two decades, like the speed at which things are getting worse is it's just increased so rapidly.

You know, now we see that not only is like sex okay, you can have it anywhere. Now we actually have hookup culture where it's not just for serious relationships. Now it's just for strangers. And I think, unfortunately, if we look at the whole LGBT movement, we do see that there are attempts to bring in pedophilia into the fold and to normalize what they now try to call it minor attracted persons. because apparently the pedophile label has too much baggage, so they're trying to rebrand. We saw people in the mainstream media doing articles on virtuous pedophiles who would never, ever dream of actually harming a kid. It's just like this condition that they live with and they're open about it and they don't think they should be demonized. We did a video about that.

I was called an extremist, an alarmist and all these things. Fast forward a year, and now we have child drag queens performing at gay bars with men giving them money. Like this is real. This is happening. This is why I think it's important that we talk about it and use real life examples because this isn't some like crazy conspiracy theory that we're just pulling out of thin air. This is what we see. And actually, we just did a show not too long ago where we were talking about the idea

of people bringing kids to pride parades. And it's like, look, if you want to as an adult go to a gay pride parade, that's one thing. But there's nudity. there's like BDSM displays and all of these kinds of things that I don't even feel comfortable looking at. And to bring a kid there and people are actually saying it, yeah, it's a good thing for the kid. Not only is it okay, but they should be brought to see these displays. And it's, I, it gets me really angry because it feels like, honestly, it does feel like a losing battle sometimes. Totally. I've seen videos. I mean, I've seen videos of kids dancing and adults surrounding the kids.

So it's not just, it's a lie to say that these kids are even just going as observers, which I agree with you. Never in a million years, do I think that that's appropriate? But it's not just that. It's that they want kids some. I won't say everyone, of course, but some want kids to be participants in this parade. They want them to even be the center of attention at these kind of things because they say, oh, it's cute, it's free.

But again, when the goddess self and when your only values are autonomy and authenticity, it becomes really logically and morally difficult, I think, to make the case that kids shouldn't be involved in this. And I know people say whenever I bring this up, oh, no, that's not the solution. God's not the solution. Scripture's not the solution. It's just common sense. But look, this is what happens. And C.S. Lewis makes this point, of course, in a totally different context in mere Christianity, when you decide there is no moral lawgiver. There is no supreme authority that says what right and wrong is, what good and bad is, what we should or shouldn't do. When you get rid of that idea, then everything is permissible.

I think there is actually a quote that says, if God doesn't exist, everything is permissible, and that's absolutely true. And we can try to rationalize all we want. No, no, no. It has nothing to do with God. But I haven't heard a good argument for someone to say, oh, yeah, good and bad exist, even if God doesn't. Why? How?

So I personally think this is the secularization of society. This is what happens when we all become. our own gods when we all have my truth and your truth, no truth exists, there becomes no standard whatsoever from which we can argue that pedophilia is wrong. And you're so right. And, you know, I have friends and family members who are atheists and I love them. But I think, you know, realistically, if we look at what the push for secularism has brought upon society, it is really hard to not see the connections happening between, you know, an increase of people leaving Christianity and the prevalence of things like this. And I've, I've had conversations with atheists who

insist that, you know, they could still have the same moral standing and moral surety as a Christian would without the concept of God. But I think when you try to push them on that, all right, do you think, for example, let's say pedophilia is wrong? Like, yes, okay, why? You know, you try to get them to rationalize the why. Yeah, where would this sense of objective wrong come from? Right. Frankly, it's not there. And I think a lot of atheists who say that they can still be moral without Christianity, there's still very much, even though they don't believe in God, relying on Christian thinking and morality in order to kind of live a lot of their life or make a lot of moral decisions. They just don't realize it. So I think the people who are just

kind of up front and outright saying like, yeah, kids at Pride Parade, pedophilia is just another sexual orientation, they are unfortunately living the secularist ideology to its fullest extent. This is where the road leads us, unfortunately. And I have spoken to people to different commentators who are under the impression, or they're hoping that the people, these atheists who who say that they don't need God to have morals, the more that they look at what the secularism gets society, perhaps they may be inclined to re-examine that belief and turn back to God.

I actually have seen that with a couple people myself. I don't know if it's happening enough to call it anything close to a revival, but that is my hope right now because I don't know how else we can correct ourselves as a society. Totally. And a lot of people, when they hear this portion of the conversation, they just automatically comment separation of church and state, which I think is a concept. We know it's not in the Constitution,

but it's a concept, it's a doctrine that we both agree with. Of course, we don't believe that the state should establish a church. We don't believe that the state should compel religion. But something I heard someone say that I thought was very profound and correct is separation of church and state, the prohibition from the state actually establishing a particular church is not the same thing as the separation of God and morality, or the separation of God in law.

Because again, if you don't believe that there is a source of morality, if there's a transcendent source of truth that is bigger than a man-made government, then you really have no place to say what should be illegal and what shouldn't be illegal outside of maybe harm, I guess, physical harm towards another person. You have no place to say what is right and what is wrong. So I want people to know that as we're talking about this, I'm not talking about the state compelling people to be Christians

or compelling people to believe in a certain way. But I am saying that, okay, if we have had a biblical foundation for laws that have led to human flourishing for a long time, then maybe, maybe just taking a lesson from your postmodern studies professor from 2016 that you think is incredibly new and woke, maybe that's not necessarily the direction to go because it doesn't seem to be helping us very much. No, for sure. And I think if you look at actually the history of the Constitution and the concept of separation between church and state, you'll find it was actually talked about originally to protect the church from state interference, not the other way around.

And the founding fathers were also, I think, very clear that a small government works when you have a godly people, right? People who fear God and who are trying to live by his commandments. Dennis Prager says it all the time. If you want small government, you have to have big God. And I think the way that the American Constitution was written, it was under the assumption that people would have this sort of Christian morality guiding their everyday lives, and which is why it was successful. So, you know, I don't want a theocracy either. It's weird that we have to like mention that nowadays. But yeah, we'll say don't want a theocracy.

But at the same time, like there are people now who anytime you mention something like abortion will automatically say something like, oh, separation of church instead of. church and state and it's like, well, I mean, do we need to have a theocracy to say murder is bad? Like, is that what your argument is? It confuses me, frankly. And also the idea that we can't legislate morality if we're looking at the idea of, you know, a completely secular government that has, I guess, no moral foundation, then why are things like incest illegal? These are questions that are hard for someone who is fully committed to secularism to answer, frankly. And all legislation has a piece of morality in it. That doesn't mean that we legislate every part of someone's moral life.

But every legislation does speak to something moral because even if you're a standard for what should be a law and what shouldn't be is harm. It's like, okay, I believe only things that should be illegal or something that harms someone else, you still have to account for why. Why? Why is harming someone else who maybe doesn't matter to society or whatever? Why is that a moral standard? So there's always going to be a section of morale or a part of every piece of legislation that is inherently moral, which is why I think, like you said, it's dishonest for people to say, this has nothing to do with morality, this has nothing to do with God whatsoever. Actually, it has a lot to do with both of those things.

But it makes sense because like you said, the founding fathers knew that there had to be some kind of belief in God or a higher power that constrained people. and allowed them to self-govern. I mean, that was the whole point of the American experiment is this crazy idea of self-governance, that we didn't have to look to the government to tell us, you know, every which way to live our lives, but that we actually were beholden to a higher power than the government.

That's what it means to have inherent rights, to have personal responsibility and all of these things. But it makes sense because the left doesn't believe that. The left actually does believe that the government should be our moral arbiter. The left actually does believe that the government should be our caretaker, our provider, and all of these things. And they don't believe in self-governance at all, which is why I always say it's really difficult to be a conservative and be an atheist at the

same time. That's my personal opinion. No, I would agree too. And actually, it's funny, like I've, I kind of alluded to, I've, I have some conservative channels that I follow on YouTube who started out as atheist, but the more they sort of explore their own beliefs and, I guess the general foundation of things like small government and Christianity, the more that they can, you know, came to see that they really go hand in hand. And actually, the whole idea about the left not understanding maybe a difference between personal morality and government fiat, that is so completely true. And I don't know if you found this, but I found that any time I make any sort of commentary about something that is or is not a moral making a judgment there, I agree with this decision or I

disagree with it, I always get people saying, well, they should have the right to do it. And it's like, I'm not talking about the right to do it. I'm talking about whether it should be done. But for some people, that concept is really, really hard between what should be socially permissible and what should be illegal. Because I think for a lot of people, like, they've lost a personal sense of more responsibility, and we've become more reliant on what the government tells us we can or cannot do. And the example I always bring up to explain this difference to people is the concept of adultery or infidelity, especially within a marriage. I think it is, absolutely morally repugnant and unbiblical to cheat on your spouse, but at the same time,

I don't think it should be illegal. I think it should be morally stigmatized and socially stigmatized as much as possible, but I don't think it should land someone in jail. That concept between something being morally and socially wrong and taboo, but not illegal, that's something we're losing as society as I think we've almost at this point gotten rid of any concept of like, I don't know if it's shame or moral responsibility that we used to have, but I feel like our self-control is gone. Yeah, I wonder too, because I couldn't agree more with everything you just said, I just wonder too, like where all of this came from, because if you look at various studies,

and this is the last question that we'll wrap up, if you look at the various studies that just show how far left our country is gone or America has gone and how far left the left in America has gone. It's very dramatic and the majority of that, even though it's been happening for probably a couple decades, the majority of that really happened over the past 10 years, specifically when Barack Obama was president. If you look at views on race, if you look at views on welfare and socialism, on immigration, on health care, people got way more left during that time. And what also happened, I was looking at this really interesting thread of someone who found, I don't know how exactly they made these graphs, but they looked at the frequency with which the media used particular terms

from like, you know, 1970 to 2019. So terms like privilege, terms like, you know, white privilege, bigotry, reparations, all of these very woke terms that it seems like we're just now hearing about. And the reality is, is that, yes, we are just now using these words, intersectionality, you know, gender fluid. All of these things have only been used in the media really since like 2010 and we're acting like, okay, this is the new way we need to go. This is the, these are the new established rules when all of this really just came to be like 10 years ago. So I don't know if you have any insight into how the heck we got to this place that seems

like we've really never been before. Well, I think you're right that we have never been before. And I've wondered that too sometimes. Am I just because I'm so like plugged into things like Twitter and and like what the left is doing, am I making this out to be worse than it is? Actually, no, they've done studies about they've kind of tracked people's average positions on different political issues. And we can see that, like you said, the left has gotten dramatically more far left,

whereas it's interesting, if you look at the right, we've stayed pretty, pretty constant, pretty consistent. Someone who identifies is right now probably has most of their beliefs in common with someone who identified as right 30, 40 years ago. the same is not the true for the left. They really have gone off the rails. And I think it's, if you look at the institutions that the left has control of and not just the general left, but the progressive left, places like Hollywood, our media, you know, our news, it's something like 90% of journalists identify as left wing or a Democrat. If we look at the school systems,

unfortunately, any place that has any cultural power, institutional power, the left has taken control of, right? So if you're a kid who grew up in the 90s, like I did, you've grown up going to school being taught by leftists watching TV shows that push a leftist message. When you got a little bit older and started watching the news, you were watching news anchors who pretended that they were on biased journalists but were in fact leftists. And then you went to college to be taught by more leftists. It's not really any wonder that things have gone as far left as they have because these people have been allowed to operate these spheres of influence without any pushback. Hopefully with the advent and kind of growth of independent media, we can kind

of start to push back a little bit on that just homogenous control they've had. But I would say that that's probably what's responsible for it. It's not like we as a society all of a sudden agreed that left-wing principles were the correct ones because that absolutely didn't happen. and they just kind of inserted themselves into roles of power. And I think right-wing people, by virtue of us, like, maybe being a little bit distrustful of government or relying more on things like personal entrepreneurialism, entrepreneurialism, we are less likely to go into things like media and academia.

Unfortunately, it's meant that the left has just free reign over all of those places. Yeah, and the censorship and the difficulty that just comes along with being someone, being on the conservative side when you are in the mainstream media, unless you work for a place like Fox News or being in academia, if you are that sole conservative voice, I think it's really difficult. If you're that I get messages all the time from public school teachers that are like, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm a conservative,

but I feel like I can't say anything because I'm going to get in trouble or parents of students are going to get mad at me. And so they might exist in there, but, you know, understandably, they're like, well, I need to keep my job. Like, I can't risk my family's well-being by speaking out about the things that I believe in. So I think that's scary. But I do want to try to end on, like, if we can, a positive and hopeful note. So if you have any just, I don't know, words of encouragement and motivation for, there's a lot of young moms that listen to this podcast, but also college students.

Like, if you have any words of encouragement and optimism or maybe not optimism, but just motivation for them, then that would be great. Well, I think if you're either a young mom or a college student who feels overwhelmed by the culture that you see around, you just know that you're not alone. And I think that may sound like a really obvious and simple message, but I know for me when I was going to college, surrounded by liberals, just being able to log on and watch a show like yours or listen to it, Allie, and just know that I wasn't crazy. You know, it's not like I'm this person all alone and to see if people who don't think like me or maybe even would. potentially say they hate me if they found out what I actually believe. Just know that there are a lot of people who support you and who appreciate anything you can do to stand up for your values and who value and treasure what, you know, the changes you might be trying to make in your life, whether that's, you know, getting an education so that you're able to do more for the world or

raising your kids, you know, in a Christian way so that they can go on to do more good for the planet. That matters. And we appreciate it. it even though it may sometimes feel like a thankless job or like you're all alone. You're not and it does matter. Yes. So one, you're not alone. And two, what you do matters and the fight matters. And even though it's scary and even though you might feel lonely, know that there are a lot of other people in the fight with you and that it's something that we all care about. It's something that's worthwhile. I think that you're right. A lot of times the most disheartening part of it is feeling like you're the only one that thinks these things are concerned in the way that you are.

and for everyone listening, they should know that they're absolutely not alone. So thank you for that. And if you could just remind everyone where they can find you. Sure. If you're on YouTube, you can search me at Lauren Chen. Our channel should pop up. We publish all episodes there. If you prefer audio-only podcasts, we're on Google Play, iTunes, and Spotify.

And if you're on Twitter or Instagram, you can also follow me there at the Lauren Chen. I unfortunately am on Twitter way too often, but at the very least, you'll be up to date with what I'm doing. Okay, thank you so much, Lauren. Thanks again for having me. Thanks so much, guys, for listening, and we will be back here on Monday.