The Ben Mulroney Show - Is Seattle a magnet for weird stories? / Why young men are suffering

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

GUEST:  Kenton Boston /  President CEO · Canadian Men's Health Foundation If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And so we end up coming up with good stories. But we generally have to scour far and wide. And you're always curious. We're curious. But we scour far and wide. If you are in talk radio in Seattle, you just got to throw a stone out your window and you're going to hit an interesting story these days. It is the place to be. Case in point, the ongoing drama around Sophie Cunningham and her position on women's sports, girls' sports being reserved for biological girls.

She made a statement. It was not disparaging towards anyone, but leave it to activists to find violence in someone's words, to find putting people at risk at whatever. How about this? I disagree with you. How do you respond? Let's debate it. Let's discuss it. You disagree with somebody from the extreme left.

Yeah. Yell and scream, violence, whatever it is, they just go nuts. Yeah. And that is what happened. And you'll remember yesterday, we were talking about two young 16-year-old fans of Sophie Cunningham and also basketball fans who showed up saying thanks with signs that said thanks for standing up for girls. And there was also somebody else who had a sign that said no hate in the United States against Sophie Cunningham. Well, one of the minority owner of the Seattle team walked up to these two young girls and essentially, tore them a new one.

In the worst of ways. In the worst of ways. I mean, screaming at little girls. Screaming at little girls who are fans of your sport, who paid tickets to be there. And they just had a sign saying to somebody they look up to in your league. And you thought it was appropriate to do that to them. And it kind of got worse.

I want you to hear, I want you to listen to a fully grown man. This is an adult male At least he presents his one It looks like one He certainly doesn't behave like one As far as I'm concerned With a mustache And this is

This is what he said to 16 year old girls What What What What What a pathetic little cuck? Yeah Let's uh

Just what did he say again? Yeah I played again please Security Garbage Take the shot Take the trash out to 16-year-old girls. And what was the offense? The offense was they want to play sports with girls,

with biological girls. And not even that. They just had a sign supportive of one of the WNBA players. Nothing. And this guy went. But when you are a self-righteous leftist, there is nothing that you will not say and nothing you will not do

that you cannot justify to yourself. You can you can scream at little girls and come out feeling like you did good in the world. You sir are a blight. You're a blight. I wonder if both of us have young daughters. You know, younger than these girls, but we have young daughters. I wonder if we're so offended by this because of that. Oh, no, I'm not offended.

I know this happens. I'm looking at this man saying I'm disappointed that a person, like a progressive person, did not surprise me in that moment and rise to the level of and a man let me just speak I'll just speak as a cisgendered man I'm disappointed

in someone of my biological ilk who behaved in such a way towards little girls I'm not I'm a big enough guy I don't have to be ever I'm never violent or no

don't get into fights or anything like that you can just impose your will exactly if I was there and this guy was I would have, I would open hand slapped him. I would have just slapped him. Yeah. I mean, he's a, he was such an idiot.

You know, he played his role. That's the role. I mean, it's so predictable too. So predictable. I already know. I know what his closet looks like. I know what his home looks like. I know what he eats.

This guy is straight out of central casting. It is as predictable as the tides. I know exactly who this guy is. We all know him because he's not even a fully formed person. He is, he's an archetype. He's a bit player in a pretty big struggle, but he's not a big man. He's not a big man.

No. So the WNBA, though, find the owner, this minority owner, Celeste Kedend, and then suspended her for five games. Yeah. And then Sophie Cunningham came out and said on Twitter, I truly believe there's a safe space in love for everybody. Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, trans men, everyone is welcome at my table. You can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to these girls. You'll be hearing from me soon.

yay for gifts, truly embarrassing of the co-owner, unfortunately shows the type of leader she is. So, like, yeah, to be continued, I knew it. There is a movement afoot because of this. This was a flashpoint, and there's a movement of foot for certain types

of people to boycott the WNBA. But as we've said, when you operate a business... The numbers aren't there, boycott. No, but if you, when you operate a business that is untethered from the, the forces of

business and you don't have to worry about, you know, staying in the black or avoiding being in the red because you are subsidized by another league. You get to do stupid stuff like this. You don't care. It doesn't matter. You're still going to be in business tomorrow. There's no competitor to the WNBA who's going to be nipping at their heels. So to be continued. So that's another story. That's a story from Seattle. But the one that everybody really wants to talk about is the worldwide love for Jimith. Jimith. Jimith is the oddest-looking raccoon you ever saw.

Look, I hate raccoons and even I love Jimith. Trash pandas. Jimothy was born with what they believe is something called short spine syndrome. And so he looks, as Intrepid pointed out, like he, like he's a cartoon trash panda who ran into a wall and got smushed. He also has no tail. No, no, he has a little tail. He looks like he's missing. He looks like he's missing his butt.

He looks like he's missing part of his torso. But because he's adorable and because despite what we've learned, his family did not shun him and instead kept him as part of their pack, we get to see someone we should never have seen. Like he's not supposed to exist. So I saw this video first when they first came out of this odd-looking raccoon. Yeah. Jimothy. And somebody just named it.

And they said, what's the reason? Oh, he just looked like a Jimithy. He does. Whatever that means. And they put out the videos and people thought it was layers. And then I started seeing it took no time at all for people to jump on this. And there's merchandise, there's T-shirts, paintings. People are jumping overboard to try to have use this thing.

Even at the WNBA game, when somebody hits a three, there's a cartoon. In Seattle, there's a cartoon version of Jimothy that comes out and he's holding a sign and says, Jim, a three. It's fantastic. pretty, that's good. And Seattle Mariners are doing the same thing?

They're doing some stuff too. But eventually market forces are going to take over. Jimothy has already been turned into a product. But somebody can get the trademark. Once it becomes a product,

then it's about who gets to control the product. And we've seen time and time again where people try to take ownership over something. Sometimes it's well deserved. Other times not. Like,

Paris Hilton trademarked that's hot because she wanted to She popularized the expression on the simple life But I mean those are words What else? Let's get ready to rumble That was trademarked in 92 by Michael Buffer Let's get rid of it.

Yeah so that's and I think rightly so That's his tagline There's bam By Emeril Lagassee the chef Taylor Swift trademarked this sick beat during her 1989 album era to protect the merchandising.

And Donald Trump, I don't know how he did this. He trademarked, you're fired. So what does HR say? No one ever says you're fired. You're being transitioned out. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the various things.

Yeah. But Jimothy is, listen, Jimothy is, he's hard not to fall in love with. And let's just hope that the purity of Jimothy is maintained. And no one, no one is able to convince a judge to give. anybody exclusive domain or that beautiful trash pan is hard. We are all Jimithy.

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Get started at Academyoflearning.com. Hi, I'm Jane Koston, former writer and podcaster for places like the New York Times, The Atlantic, and National Review. And now I'm here to hang out with you, five days a week on what a day, Crooked's Daily News podcast. That's right. Now who's respected on both sides? Okay, yeah, it's not me. It's probably still just Dolly Parton.

Moving on. These days, it's hard to separate what matters. from all the noise, especially when the noise somehow also feels like it's made out of knives? That's why every weekday, the team and I scour the headlines to bring you the stories that matter most to the way you live in just 20 minutes. Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Well, there's certain types of people in the world that don't like hearing it when we say things like men need help. Things are not always great for men. As much as others want to deny that reality, the fact is being a man can oftentimes present challenges.

And the world can be a little unforgiving. What do you have to complain about? You know, white supremacy, patriarchy and all that stuff. The numbers are telling us that Canadian men are experiencing some real challenges in here to talk about those challenges and perhaps some ways on how we can alleviate some of that stress. We're talking to the president and CEO of Canadian Men's Health Foundation, Kenton Boston. Kenton, well, great to talk to you again. Awesome. Thanks, Ben. Thanks for your time.

So a recent survey came out. What does it tell us? It's painting a picture that we're seeing over the last couple of years, specifically for all men, but specifically young men. And young, I mean 19 to 29-year-olds, anxiety rising, depression, higher, trouble anger, problem anger, rising. And the one that really sticks in the back of my mind, there are two of us right now talking one and two men socially isolated. All of us at a time when we're connected perhaps more than other through technology,

and yet we're seeing increases. The numbers are going in the wrong direction as the suicide rate increases. So it's a real challenge before all of us. Well, a few days ago we had on with us the president and CEO of Kids Help Phone who indicated that they found a very trucker. grubbling spike, massive spike year over year for the six months, first six months of this year versus the first six months of last year in terms of the number of kids who are reaching out via text to kids help phone. It went up 24%. And anxiety and isolation were definitely

some of the drivers behind them reaching out. So it's kind of scary that, you know, those numbers, I have to assume that kids help phone is up until a certain age. And now you're telling me that the men, 50% of the men are from 19 to 29, seem to be picking up the baton from the kids and extending that all the way to 29. What is, what does problem anger mean when 50% of men between 18 and 29 can be classified as being at risk of problem anger? What, what's that definition? So that's when anger becomes kind of your focal point or overtakes the other parts of what

you do in the day. So it's not just, you know, I'm upset. Gee whiz, I'm golly, I'm upset. It's the anger. takes over you and that becomes consuming leading to, well, who knows how that manifests itself at the end of the day. So that's problem anger. Yeah.

And that's the part that is really causing concern. And it's not just about men. You know, we view this often. Yes, we're here to support men and help men grow better and have better lives. Get rid of the whole toxic, masculine umbrella that is over a lot of men. But it's also about families, communities. It's about women. And it's kind of this idea, how do we collectively understand that women need help?

Well, listen, I challenge the very notion of toxic masculinity. I disputed entirely. I have seen the traits that I have been told define toxic masculinity I have seen in women. I think there are toxic people. I do not, I do not think it is isolated or specific to a gender. And I and I would not, I, my personal take is that that that the things that are definitionally male, these kids and some of these 29 year olds, I mean 10 years ago, they were 19 and they were told everything that makes you a man is a problem that needs to be overcome.

Everything that your dad was, that you grew up emulating about being strong and about being a provider and about all that stuff, no, we got to get rid of that because that's the patriarchy. So everything about you is a problem that needs to be overcome for us to become a better society. There's no way that that doesn't affect a man's perspective

and his mental health. Absolutely. We at Canadian Men's Health Foundation, I'm a sure we never shame or blame, but we talk and we listen. You know, social media drives a lot of these conversations right now, and it's interesting. I was talking to some researchers just yesterday, and the conversation went around the same area of toxicity and social media, and there was a perception that maybe society is starting to grow, that maybe that was a conversation from 12 months ago, 18 months ago, that maybe we're starting to transition. You know, we haven't done the research there yet, but I would say regardless of what's happening today, the legacy impact of those conversations lives on.

And we understand it lives on with men, but also we're finding kind of into young boys, kids. And that's another piece of what we're really trying to do is take their research and get ahead of the curve and the preventative side. That's a big part of our organization to make sure we're doing what we can to get ahead of the conversation and look for the future and try to mitigate what's happening today. so that tomorrow is a different picture. I'm speaking with Kenton Boston. He's the president and CEO of Canadian Men's Health Foundation. A survey shows that 50% of men, 50, age 15 to 29, are at risk of problem anger compared to 22% of all Canadian men.

I've been there, Kenton. I've been quick to anger. And I'm not an angry person. As Mike Droulet points out, he's like, he doesn't see me angry at work because I'm not. And I used to be really good at compartmentalizing stuff and just stuffing stuff in an emotional box. And at some point, you run out of place to keep that stuff. And I'm very happy to say that earlier this week I got back into therapy.

I wasn't prioritizing it. I wasn't able to get to my therapist. But I had my first session again this week. And you have it here in your survey that 67% of men are not seeking out professional mental health support services, despite a decades-long attempt to destigmatize the conversation around mental health, men still feel that their problems are theirs to solve, I guess. It's true, and congratulations for you for getting a whole of it. It's taking the small steps.

We've got a campaign that says, you're not alone. Sure, should we go and see psychologists and doctors? Should we talk to clinicians? Sure. Are we going to? Hands up right now. Hands up who's made the appointment? Yeah.

It's really about just starting the conversation. I can't we, you know, we're still, yeah, I don't believe that Instagram or social media is ever giving anyone the full story. But there is a narrative online that when a man, you know, women say they want men to be vulnerable. But when their men are vulnerable, they tell them that they're not masculine enough. And, and oftentimes, according to these things that I read and hear in these first person narratives, ultimately when, when that weakness is exposed, sometimes women will leverage. those to their emotional advantage. I'm not saying it's real. I'm not saying it's a trend,

but there are men anecdotally who tell that story. There's masculinity is a huge area, stigma, fear and embarrassment to what you just said. You know, are you in a safe space to what you just said on radio? You know, that may not be a safe space where you even say that to your friends, never mind your partner, your wife, your kids. And that's kind of what we're trying to get over that. It is okay.

It's okay to put your hand up to say, I need help. And sometimes that simple act is so difficult for the reasons you just said. And look, when we've got the numbers that we got from kids help phone, and we've got these numbers, and, you know, young boys grow up to be the young, grow up to be the men that they learn because of the fathers that they have, if these men who are 29, half of them are at risk of being of problem anger, and that gets passed down. and this becomes another generation of problems that we have to deal with.

Sure does. The number of conversations have had lately is a Canadian Men's Health Foundation are from women's group who are saying, can you help us? Women need more help. We're helping women, but who's helping that guy, that kid, that young man?

Who's helping him understand that that's not okay? And who's changing the conversation going forward? And that's a big part of what we are starting to really redefine of resorts just to get ahead of the curve and try and mitigate this for the future and teach. We've got a wonderful program that comes out in Nova Scotia guys work. And it's inside the public school system. We're trying to get across the country. And it talks to teachers about that boy over in the corner and why he's bouncing the ball and maybe he's disruptive.

And it's not so much about labeling the person. We're right now in a society where we were quick to label for all the good reasons. But there's always the negative side. So we have this program. And it's not just for kids. school we're putting in prisons right now. Oh, good. Focusing guys in particular to talk about the things that they're uncomfortable about.

We're doing so in a way that's not threatening. It's open and engaging. Really quickly, if any man has been listening and here's something that has resonated with him, how can they find the Canadian Men's Health Foundation? Website. We're also in social media. Website, men'shealthfoundation. com.

their network. We're growing all the time. We're working with groups in Toronto and Ontario and Alberta, BC, really expanding our footprint. It's about the best idea. And if it's not us, we'll connect you with someone that can help you. You're never alone. Really important. I want to leave you with that. Kenton, Boston, thank you so much.