The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 1208 - Why The Media Is So Eager To Smear The 'Blind Side' Family

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

Today on the Matt Walsh Show, the media has been very excited this week by the supposed revelation that the family from The Blind Side are really villains who exploited a black kid for their own gain.... But this narrative is almost certainly false. We'll talk about the latest in the Michael Oher saga, and what the Left's hatred of so-called "white saviorism" says about them and the culture. Also, a day after being attacked by a Republican congressman for declaring her faith in Christ, the same woman has now been fired from her position at Ohio Right To Life. What's going on there? And a mother brags about having her minor daughter mutilated for the sake of "gender affirmation." But I thought we were told that sort of thing never happens?   Ep.1208   - - -    Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEm    - - -    DailyWire+:   Get 20% Off Select Jeremy’s Items: https://bit.ly/3ObQOqg   Represent the Sweet Baby Gang by shopping my merch here: https://bit.ly/3EbNwyj    - - -    Today’s Sponsors:   Hallow - Try Hallow for 3 months FREE: https://hallow.com/mattwalsh   Ruff Greens - Get a FREE Jumpstart Trial Bag http://www.RuffGreens.com/Matt Or call 844-RUFF-700   Cynch - Download the Cynch app and get your first tank exchange for just $10 with promo code WALSH. Visit http://cynch.com/offer for details.   - - -   Socials:    Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Rv1VeF   Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3KZC3oA   Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3eBKjiA   Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RQp4rs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Today in the Matt Wall Show, the media has been very excited this week by the supposed revelation at the family from the blind side, are really villains who exploited a black kid for their own gain. But this narrative is almost certainly false. We'll talk about the latest in the Michael Orr saga and what the left's hatred of so-called white saviorism says about them and the culture. Also, the day after being attacked by a Republican congressman for declaring her faith in Christ, the same woman has now been fired from her position at Ohio right to life. What's going on there? And a mother brags about having her minor daughter mutilated for the sake of, quote, gender affirmation. but I thought we were told that this sort of thing never happens. Well, we'll talk about that and much more today on the Matt Walsh. Well, it's clear that the left is giving up their morals in any common sense. There's no better time than to build a daily habit of prayer and meditation. Building a habit of prayer can help you cultivate an attitude of gratitude, focusing on what you're thankful for can increase positive emotions and improve overall well-being. Hallow is the number one Christian prayer app in the U.S.
Starting point is 00:00:59 It's helped me maintain a daily prayer routine. It can help you do the same. Download the app for free at hallow.com slash Matt Walsh. You can set prayer reminders, track your progress along the way. Not sure where to start. We'll check out Father Mike Schmitz's Bible in a year podcast, available on the Hallow app. And you can also pray alongside Mark Wahlberg, Jim Cadheasel, even some world-class athletes. With Hallow, you can customize a personal prayer plan that works for you.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Listen, wherever you are with downloadable offline sessions, using Hallow to connect with others who share your beliefs and values can provide a sense of belonging, support, and foster a sense of community. Ultimately, we'll learn how we can become better individuals in spite of today's broken world as we strive to become more like Christ in our daily lives through prayer, fasting, and giving. Download hallow at hallow.com slash Matt Walsh. That's exclusive three months free. That's three months absolutely free at hallow.com slash Matt Walsh. In the final seconds of the 2009 film The Blindside, Leanne Toey, played by Sandra Bullock, reflects on the murder of a 21-year-old black athlete in a local housing project.
Starting point is 00:01:54 The young man had dropped out of school, fallen in with the wrong crowd, and had died in a gang-related shooting. That could have been my son Michael, Leanne says, right before the credits roll. I suppose I have God to thank for that. A decade later, it's hard to imagine a film from a major studio ending that way. The film began with Leanne Toey seeing a homeless teenager named Michael Orr walking down the street in the cold. She and her husband, Sean, decided to take care of the kid. And finally, after years of sacrifice, Or goes to college, it eventually goes on to become a successful NFL player. In 2009, when audiences weren't lobotomized by a person,
Starting point is 00:02:30 procedurally generated marvel slop, that plotline resonated. And the blindside made over $300 million on a relatively small budget. Sandra Bullock won an Oscar, although she herself admitted during filming that her acting wasn't even that good. Leigh Antooie used the film's success to help children find foster homes on social media. And outside of a few whiny articles on NPR or The Daily Beast, people basically love the movie. The media loved the movie for the most part. In the years that followed the film's release, though, the tone changed. As Barack Obama set race relations in this country backwards by 50 years, academics, who are the source of most bad ideas and cynicism in the world, for some reason, began obsessing
Starting point is 00:03:13 over the blind side. They kept writing about it years after everyone else had moved on. In 2015, for example, a Clemson professor wrote this article in the journal Studies in Popular Culture. Here's the title, Racial Discourse in the Blind Side, the economics and ideology behind the white savior format. That same year, a University of New Mexico professor authored a piece entitled The White Cinematic Lens, Decoding the Racial Messages in the Blind Side. As the years progressed, so did the left's obsession with the blind side. Their fixation continued after the Obama years. In 2019, a professor at Texas State University somehow attempted to connect Donald Trump with the blind side, with a piece entitled Colorblind Racism, the Trump effect, and the blind side.
Starting point is 00:03:55 And if you want to lose 50 IQ points, you can read the abstract online, but I'm not going to bother reading it to you. That same year in 2019, the popular YouTube channel Be Kind Rewind, released this video explaining that the movie has a white savior problem. Watch. This movie could have included the black families that united to support Michael before he lived with the Tewy's full time. It could have been about organizing pickup football games as a kid with his friends, fostering a love of the game that he honed in high school. But John Lee Hancock chose not to do that. Instead, he canonizes a singular white family and de-platforms the supportive black community that Orr did have. That decision empowered Sandra Bullock with ample opportunities to demonstrate wit, vulnerability, self-confidence, and kindness in the process.
Starting point is 00:04:41 To be the spitfire the critics noticed. In other words, it gave her an Oscar-bate role. That's what white savior films do. They shift, focus, and blame. They implicitly tell audiences that white stories are more interesting or worth of your time than the stories of people of color. So you got it. The film should have been about all the people who didn't house or educate or care for Michael Orr. It should have been about the kids who played basketball with him. I mean, why? Like, what kind of movie would that even be? What's the story there?
Starting point is 00:05:13 Well, just because they're black and the family that took care of Michael Orr is white. That's the level of analysis. All of these articles and videos and plenty more examples I could have used demonstrate that the blind side triggered a deep underlying pathology that tortures the supposedly intellectual left. They simply can't tolerate the film's message. To this day, they just can't get over it. And they definitely can't allow any other major studio to make a film like it. I mean, that's never going to happen. In the past few days, predictably, this effort has entered a new, somehow even more demented and tragic stage. Michael Orr filed a illegal complaint complaint against the Tewis, as we talked about a few days ago. The media is promoting it relentlessly.
Starting point is 00:05:56 They could not be more thrilled by this development. Watch. We all remember the 2009 Sandra Bullock movie, The Blind Side, the true story of NFL star Michael Orr, who was adopted out of poverty by a wealthy family. But new court docs filed by Orr paint a far different picture. I was just enthralled by her. I didn't think I could play her. It was just such a beautiful story. Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for. for portraying Michael Orr's adoptive mother, Leanne Tuey. The Southern mother of two took in the six-foot-four, then homeless and traumatized teenager when no one else would.
Starting point is 00:06:29 Michael was portrayed by Quentin Aaron. Do you want to stay here, Michael? I don't want to go anyplace else. But now the former NFL star alleges Leanne and her husband Sean never officially adopted him, but instead allegedly deceived him into making them his conservators just after his 18th birthday. An illegal petition filed today in Tennessee, Michael claims that Tewy's used the conservatorship to make themselves and their birth children millions of dollars in royalties from the blindside.
Starting point is 00:06:58 The Tewis haven't responded to our request for comment. Back when the movie came out, Leanne told us Michael was proud of the film. I sent him a letter yesterday. I got him from someone in Atlanta, and I forwarded it to him, and I got back the sweetest text, and he said, I'm really proud this is making a difference. And so he knows it is. Well, I'm glad we're past that. I'm glad we found a way to take this heartwarming tale and it turned it into a problem.
Starting point is 00:07:22 It said, thank God. But you certainly can't have a story. You can't have a story, especially of one race of people helping another race of people. We can't have that. We can't allow it. Now, the crux of the illegal complaint is that the Tui's tricked Michael Orr into thinking that he was adopted when, in fact, the Tewy simply had a conservatorship over him, allowing them to take most of his money.
Starting point is 00:07:42 So they're not good-hearted white people helping out a black kid. They are evil white supremacist thieves. That's the idea. But before we get into the actual complaint, there's a couple of points. First of all, that report you just saw implies that the Tui's defrauded Oar because they wanted money. And what they don't mention is that the Tewis are extraordinarily wealthy, independently wealthy. In fact, they're far wealthier than Orr has ever been, even after his NFL career. But we're expected to believe that this family, which is a lot of the family,
Starting point is 00:08:12 was worth well over $200 million, schemed to rip off Michael Orr. Is that plausible? I mean, right away, it doesn't pass the smell test, as I said a few days ago. It sounds a lot like a washed-up athlete who burned through the cash he made in the league, and now he's looking for a payday and some relevance.
Starting point is 00:08:30 And indeed, Orr's claim is especially suspicious since, according to the two, he's, Orr has been shaking them down for $15 million for a long time now. Allegedly, he filed this lawsuit only after trying to get the quick cash from a family he knows is rich, which still loves him. But there are more problems with this complaint beyond the ones that I just mentioned.
Starting point is 00:08:49 For this accusation to make sense, for one thing, the Tewis would have had to see this homeless teenager walking on the side of the road and say to themselves, this kid's going to make us rich. His grades are terrible. No college program is interested in him. His father abandoned him. His mother's a drug addict. But he's going to make us a lot of money someday.
Starting point is 00:09:09 And then there's going to be a movie about him, and we'll get royalties. from that. And then through all this, as they raised him and sent him to college, Orr would be blissfully unaware of this dastardly scheme for more than a decade. And then it hits him somehow. Quoting from Orr's legal complaint, quote, the lie of Michael's adoption is one upon which co-conservators Leanne Tuey and Sean Toey have enriched themselves at the expense of their ward to the undersigned Michael Orr. Michael Orr discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023. When he learned that the conservatorship, to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the toy family,
Starting point is 00:09:45 in fact, provided him with no familiar relations with the Tewis. So the claim is that Michael Orr realized only in February of 2023 that he hadn't been legally adopted. It took him until this year to figure that out. Is that possible? Well, corporate media is certainly buying it, with no skepticism whatsoever. NBC wrote up the allegations without applying any form of scrutiny at all. MSNBC wants you to know that this is all your. fault, actually. Quote, Fours lawsuit is an indictment of movie audiences that over and over again
Starting point is 00:10:17 lap up stories about white people saving some downtrodden black person. Now, you might listen to that quote from the MSNBC article and wonder what universe MSNBC is living in. In fact, if you read any MSNBC article, you're going to wonder that, but especially this, because in this universe, movies about white people saving black people are extremely rare. And at this point, basically, non-existent. I mean, can you name the last one besides the blindside? Go ahead. What's the last major Hollywood film where the good guy, the protagonist, is a white person who is helping out a black person. That's really none come immediately to mind. Now, for its part, the Guardian brought out the big guns. They report that, quote,
Starting point is 00:11:07 the blindside's white savior tale was always built on shaky ground. According to the piece, the movie version of The Blind Side has come to represent a low point for the white savior trope, the unlikely story of the rich white lady who turns a downtrodden black teen Hulk into an improbable Sunday pro. Jeffrey Montez de Oka, the founding director of the Center for Critical Study of Sport at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, took aim at the film's framing of adoption as a signifying act of whiteness that obscures the social relations of domination that not only make charity possible but also create an urban underclass in need of charity. In her seminal tone, white fragility, Robin DiAngelo excoriates the film as fundamentally and insidiously anti-black.
Starting point is 00:11:51 What all these stories have in common, though, is that they don't interrogate the claims in Orr's lawsuit at all. They don't spend any time looking at it. The media is so giddy that the blindside is under attack that they don't care to actually do any journalism. They just trot out the usual fake experts to call it racist, as they've been doing for a decade now. Inside Edition even got in touch with the actor who portrays Michael Orr in the film to ask him whether Sandra Bullock should surrender her Oscar, which is a question so stupid that the actor should respond by just laughing hysterically at it. But that's not exactly what happens. Watch.
Starting point is 00:12:28 Michael Orr is now saying the Tui family never adopted him as everyone thought. He claims in his lawsuit that the Tui's tricked him into becoming his conservators, meaning they have control over his money. What is your reaction to what he's alleging? I wasn't expecting that. I think a lot of people, myself included again, had such high hopes for the family and that union that we felt they had put together.
Starting point is 00:12:56 Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for playing Leanne Tuey. But now some people on social media are actually calling for Bullock to return her Oscar. Can you tell me what you think about this call by some for Sandra Bullock to return her Oscar. She was an actress who did her part and was recognized for it. Michael Orr, who went on to become an NFL star, also says he resented how the movie made him appear less intelligent.
Starting point is 00:13:25 I didn't know who Michael was before the blindside. It wasn't my intention to make him look that way, and I'm sorry that he took it that way. Lawyers for the family say they are stunned by Orr's actions, which they say are designed to drum up publicity for his new book. The Toohey's treated him like a son. They loved him. They don't need his money. They didn't, they've never needed his money.
Starting point is 00:13:52 Mr. Toey sold his company for $220 million. The Blindside movie grossed $309 million. Mm. Got them at the end there, right? Notice the snark at the end. The movie grossed over $300 million, the anchor notes. that the Tui has somehow received all that money or even a significant amount of it. Like if you, if someone writes a book about you and that's turned into a movie, if you're the
Starting point is 00:14:19 subject of the movie, you get 100% of the profits because that's the way it works. No, in reality, they received less than 3% of the proceeds, which is nothing compared to the $200 million they sold their company for. So this is the level of reporting we're seeing on this, with one exception. Over at the blaze, Jason Whitlock decided not to simply rewrite Orr's complaint to push a narrative. He's written some fantastic articles on this topic you should read, and he motivated me to personally go and read some of the many pieces of documented evidence contradicting Michael Orr's claims. These are pieces of evidence that every major media outlet is ignoring. For example, here's what Orr himself wrote in his own memoir in 2012.
Starting point is 00:14:58 Quote, since I was already over the age of 18 and considered an adult by the state of Tennessee, Sean and Leanne would be named as my legal conservators. They explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as adoptive parents, but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account. Honestly, I didn't care what it was called. My mother was going to be at the hearing to agree that she supported the decision to have the two he's listed as my next of kin and legal conservators. So that was more than a decade ago. Michael Orr, an adult in his mid-20s at the time, when the memoir was published,
Starting point is 00:15:29 clearly acknowledges the distinction between being adopted and being a legal conservator. clearly acknowledges that he was not adopted. He uses the term conservators several times in the book. But we're told to believe that more than 10 years later, he finally decided to look into it and realized he had been tricked. We're supposed to believe that he just realized some truth that he himself had already publicly acknowledged in a book he published over 10 years ago. So how was Michael Orr supposedly not aware of this?
Starting point is 00:16:00 Did he not read his own memoir? did he not watch the movie The Blind Side? There's a scene in the film where Leanne establishes legal guardianship over Michael Orr. There is no scene where she says that she's legally adopting him. That claim was never made by anyone, ever. Now, to be clear, I can't say for sure who's right or wrong in this case, though I have my very strong suspicions. I wouldn't be surprised if all party's concerned, or at least partially in the wrong to some extent. It's usually how these kinds of conflicts go. And if the media wants to tell us that the Tewis aren't really saviors, I'd certainly agree with that.
Starting point is 00:16:35 There's only one savior. His name isn't Tui. But then again, the Tuis, to my knowledge, have never claimed to be saviors. They also never claimed to be saints or martyrs. They did a nice thing for a kid who needed help. That's a fact, and that's all. Does this conflict stem from the fact that although the Tui's became Orr's guardians and treated him like a son, they didn't attend to actually pass their fortune down to him
Starting point is 00:16:58 because they wanted to go to their actual kids? Is Michael Orr upset that he's not now today as a 30. seven-year-old man reaping the financial benefits of being a blood relation to the tuis? I mean, these are purely speculations, but I think reasonable ones. But I don't know. The key point is that the media's complete lack of curiosity on all of these obvious red flags tells you everything you need to know about the left's perspective on race. A decade ago, only a handful of insufferable outlets complained about the blind side,
Starting point is 00:17:27 and now all of academia and the major media outlets are doing it. You know, they're united to smear a family that helped save a young black teenager's life without any regard for facts or contrary evidence. They're just running in and running with the narrative. After eight years of Barack Obama and all those BLM riots and George Floyd funerals, we've arrived basically at this moral guidance. Let the black teenager on the side of the road freeze to death. Don't help them.
Starting point is 00:17:54 Or you're a racist. Well, at least we now have some clarity from the party of Black Lives Matter and from the corporate media, somehow a sports movie from 2009 has led them all to admit what they really think, which is better to leave the black kid languishing in the gutter than reach out and help him. Better to look the other way than be a white savior. That's the message coming in, loud and clear. And I suspect that a lot of white people who have watched this Michael Orr's saga play out, who have seen everything that's happened over the past decade or so, are going to
Starting point is 00:18:32 to take that message to heart and respond accordingly. The next Michael Orr, the next disadvantaged black kid who needs a helping hand, might not get it. You might end up suffering the fate that Orr likely would have suffered had the two he's not stepped in. That's apparently what the left wants. And now, tragically, that's what they'll get. Now let's get to our five headlines. You know, before giving our dog Rough Greens, he was so sad and late. and now he's still lazy like all dogs are. He doesn't participate at all, doesn't contribute anything to the family. But he actually enjoys his squeaky toys playing fetch with his frisbee. Our pup's days are filled with laughter, exercise, and endless fun. As I always say,
Starting point is 00:19:23 naturopathic Dr. Dennis Black, the founder of Rough Greens, is focused on improving the health of every dog in America. Little did I know before I got Rough Greens. Dog food is dead food. Everyone knows that nutrition isn't brown, it's green. Well, rough greens boost your dog's food back to life. Rough greens is a supplement. It contains all the necessary vitamins, minerals, probiotics, omega oils, digestive enzymes, and antioxidants that your dog needs. You don't have to go out and buy a new dog. You just, you don't need to buy a new dog or new dog food. You just sprinkle rough greens on their food every day. Dog owners everywhere are raving about rough greens. It supports healthy joints, improves bad breath, boost energy levels, and so much more.
Starting point is 00:19:58 We are weed, and that goes for dogs too. Naturalopathic Dr. Dr. Dennis Black is so confident Rough Greens will improve your dog's health. He's offering my listeners a free jumpstart trial bag so your dog can try it. A free jumpstart trial bag can be at your door in just a few business days. Go to roughgreens.com slash Matt or call 8444 rough 700. That's RUFFFF greens.com slash Matt or 844 Rough 700 today. So we told you yesterday about the story of the GOP congressman who attacked a woman because she posted about her Christian faith on Twitter. She said that there is no hope but in Jesus Christ, which is a very standard Christian belief and sentiment statement. And this guy, Representative Max Miller,
Starting point is 00:20:35 told her it was bigoted and she needs to delete it. Miller is Jewish, not Christian, so he found her statement of her Christian faith to be somehow offensive and excluding to him. Now, he did apologize later, but, you know, as I said yesterday, the apology only goes so far because he still expressed something he truly believes, which is that it's bigoted to Professor Christian faith. He said that. And my suspicion was that the, the, the apology wasn't exactly sincere, and that has now been lended some extra credence after this development. This is from the post-millennial. A woman who worked at Ohio Right to Life has been fired after posting the gospel on social media. Lizzie Marbach was given the opportunity to resign or to receive
Starting point is 00:21:23 a transition period before her official dismissal, but reportedly declined both per the Sentinel. There's no hope but for any of us outside having faith in Jesus Christ alone. Marbach wrote on August 15th, stating that a tenet of Christianity that Jesus Christ is a savior, son of God and one true God. In response, Ohio Republican Representative Max Miller quoted the post with a statement, this is one of the most bigoted tweets I've ever seen, delete it, Lizzie. Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion. You've gone too far. So somehow, that was also putting aside how outrageous it is to have a congressman,
Starting point is 00:21:59 especially a Republican congressman telling someone not to express their Christian faith, but to suggest that her tweet was somehow an infringement on his religious freedom. So you hear someone else, not even here, you see them expressing their religious faith on Twitter, and that infringes on your freedom somehow to practice your own religion. That's what he said. Sorry, Congressman Marbach replied, but these are the words of Jesus himself. Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth in life. No one comes to the father but through me.
Starting point is 00:22:30 No one has hope outside of Jesus Christ, and every knee will bow one day to be. declaring Jesus Christ is Lord. Miller's wife, who sits on the board of the organization from which Marbach has now been terminated, also said that she should delete the post. And now she's been fired. So that's what happened. Ohio Rights to Life, who she worked for, fired her the day after all this. And it just so happens that Miller's wife is on the board of this organization.
Starting point is 00:23:00 Now, the organization did put out a statement saying this, quote, Ohio right to life can confirm that Elizabeth Lizzie Marbach is no longer employed at Ohio right to life. This decision was not based on any single event, as some social media claim. We appreciate Lizzie's service and wish her the best in future endeavors. Okay. Well, notice what they don't say. They don't say that the Post had nothing to do with her termination. They just say that it's not one single event. So I don't know what's going on here.
Starting point is 00:23:29 I can tell you I am very familiar with the Right to Life organization on the national level, not as much with the Ohio chapter, although I'm sure I've worked with them in the past at some point as I have with Right to Life across the country. And the organization nationally has done great work for many years. I've been to many right to life events. I've given speeches at many of them. And the Christian faith is central to what they do. I mean, they've always been extremely open about it. In my experience, you go to one of their events. There's going to be a prayer before. know, a banquet, and I've spoken many of their banquets, and open with a prayer. You know, in my speeches, I always talk very openly about my faith. It's never been a problem. So the idea that they would fire someone for expressing their faith is like, I mean, it's shocking to me. It's not remotely consistent with the organization as I have known it. Now, I have been told behind the scenes, their claim is that this parting of ways was in works in the works for months. So that's what I was told. And the timing of the tweet is just really bad. But if it was in the works for months and then this happens with the tweet, you don't pull
Starting point is 00:24:39 the trigger on the firing the very next day after this. You just don't do that. So it's been in the works for months. Then like what's what's another month? You might as well wait another month. You just don't fire a woman a day after she was publicly rebuked for her faith by a congressman whose wife is on the board of your organization. You just don't do that. And at a minimum, if you do fire her, and it's all just bad timing, quote unquote, you would unequivocally state publicly that it wasn't because of the tweet
Starting point is 00:25:13 where she professed her faith. You would say that explicitly. You would come out, your statement would be, is that absolutely nothing to do with that tweet at all? We are very, you know, many of our members are open Christians, and we think it's a wonderful thing, had nothing to do with that. You would just be very clear about it.
Starting point is 00:25:31 But they weren't. So it just doesn't make any sense. And like I said, I like these people. I like the organization. I've heard their version behind the scenes from people who've reached out to me, but I got to call balls and strikes as I see them. And I have to be honest about it.
Starting point is 00:25:48 And this story from Ohio right to life doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't. I'm sorry. I mean, you call it bad timing. that's a real bad timing. Every part of this. Like if Max Miller's wife was not on the board,
Starting point is 00:26:06 that would make it a little less suspicious, but she is apparently. So this woman, Lizzie Marbach, is attacked by a Republican congressman and by the wife who's on the board, and a day later, she's gone. I don't know what's really going on behind the scenes,
Starting point is 00:26:25 but the story doesn't make sense to me at all. But it also doesn't make sense that they would fire someone for expressing their Christian faith. Because like I said, this is something like everyone in right to, pretty much. I mean, it's very hard to find someone who works in right to life who is not an open Christian. I mean, there are some, but it's, there are not many. The vast majority are open to profess Christians. So the whole thing, it just doesn't make sense and it's very bad. And this, for me, still goes back to Max Miller, who is the public.
Starting point is 00:26:59 who is the representative here, who's a government official. And he's the one, first and foremost, who owes an explanation. Like, what did you mean by the original tweet? I don't care about the apology. I mean, you know how I feel about public apologies and all the rest of it. I don't care about that. What did you mean by it? See, the other problem with public apologies, aside from the fact, you know all my issues with that genre, the public apology genre.
Starting point is 00:27:29 But they could also be sort of a dodge sometimes, a way of changing the subject. And so to just come out and say, oh, I'm sorry I said that. Well, okay, you're sorry, but what did you mean by it? What you said was that this expression of, this standard expression of Christian faith is bigoted. That's what you said. What do you mean? So you said it because you believed it. Did you not believe it?
Starting point is 00:28:03 Was this like a personal grudge where you were just trying to attack this woman? That's not good either. Is that what you want to tell us? So either you said something, either you attacked a woman personally by saying something you don't even believe, which makes you a hypocrite and a pretty bad person. Or you did believe it, and that's why you said it. which means that you, that's how you feel about the Christian faith. You feel that it's fundamentally bigoted. Right?
Starting point is 00:28:36 Max, I mean, it's one of those two. I don't know, what's the third option here? And I think we need, you need to flesh that out a little bit more. Because you are a government, you are, you represent the voters in your district in Ohio, and I think that they probably want to know. And I'm going to guess that the majority of them are Christian. So which is it? Are you saying things you don't believe because you have a problem with this particular woman and you just wanted to send the hounds after her by calling her a bigot? Or do you really believe this? That anyone who believes that, you know, Christianity is the way, Christ is the way the truth in the life is a bigot. So we're going to need a lot more.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Jen Pesaki is an MSNBC contributor now or host. I don't know what she is, but she works for them. And here's the level of analysis that we get from her. Watch this. If you take a step back from all the developments of the legal trials and tribulations of Donald Trump is that the Republican Party has moved in a direction that's out of touch with the American electorate. And you gave a number of examples there.
Starting point is 00:29:47 But if any party, a political party, is trying to make it hard, and more difficult to vote, which is something we've seen the Republican Party doing a number of states across the country over the last couple of years. It's because they don't want more people to go out there and voice their view and voice who they want to support. That means fundamentally you're scared of more people being out there voting because they're going to vote for your opponent. And the Ohio example you gave is such a good one. And unfortunately, there's a number of other cases in states across the country where there have been efforts to make it harder for people in red states and purple states and lavender, whatever states,
Starting point is 00:30:24 color states they are, to express their support for abortion rights and the ability of women to make choices about their own health care because there's a fear that women will do exactly that, that men will do exactly that because those positions are popular in the country. So even as we're working through navigating, litigating, explaining every detail of Trump's legal issues, The challenge here is that the positions that the core candidates and leaders of the Republican Party have on issues people care about, whether it's access to voting, choices about your own health care, all of these crazy wackadoo cultural debates about gay marriage. First of all, gay marriage is the law of the land.
Starting point is 00:31:06 It's out of touch with the public, and that is a core problem for the party. So I think that it's important to see that because, I mean, they're in the process of talking about Trump's indictment and his supposed efforts to overturn the election and, you know, calling our elections into question and claiming that they're rigged. But what she's describing here, what she's advocating for, is in fact the primary way that the Democrats go about rigging elections, which is by opposing any effort to ensure any kind of election integrity whatsoever. And there's a reason why they don't want that.
Starting point is 00:31:51 When she says, oh, they want to make it more difficult to vote. They can never explain that. They can never explain what they mean by that. In what way? You know, I don't want to, we don't need generalities here. Give me specific examples of people who, because of some Republican law or policy this past, are now having a difficult time voting. And in what way is it difficult for them?
Starting point is 00:32:16 because voting is it is intentionally made to be idiot proof. And it is that way all across the country. And as you know how I feel about it, I don't think it should be. I don't think we should idiot proof voting. I should go the other way. We should put things in place intentionally that would make it difficult for idiots to vote. We should have filters. in place to try to filter out the idiots because we don't want them voting.
Starting point is 00:32:53 I mean, that's how you really undermine our democracy and our way of life is by having a bunch of oblivious idiots flooding the voting booth and basically negating the votes of all of the people who are actually contributing members of society who know what's going on. And that is precisely the plan. That's what the Democrats want to do. That is their whole strategy. And it's been incredibly effective on a political level. You know, they're worried about people like you, people like us.
Starting point is 00:33:23 People who just, we don't have to be geniuses, okay? People who pay attention and know what's going on. And you go to vote and you are a sentient, conscious human being, and you go to vote and you have a basic idea of what's going on in the world. They don't want that. They don't want us to vote, but they can't really stop us at this point. And so instead, the plan is to just send, like, for every vote, made by a sentient, aware human being, they want to have a busload of morons to cancel it out. Literal busloads.
Starting point is 00:34:06 Which means making voting as effortless and easy as possible. And it's important to understand this. It's not all about, you know, the early voting, a mail-in voting. You know, we'll give you seven and a... half months to vote and we'll send ballots to your house and we'll have, you know, we'll have someone come and fill it out for you. We'll have someone come and pick you up and carry you to your own mailbox so that you don't have to make any effort whatsoever, right? And when conservatives criticize these kinds of policies, usually what we're worried about
Starting point is 00:34:43 is fraud, which is something that we should worry about because it does happen. It's a considerable problem. But what I'm trying to say is the problem is bigger than that because, you know, when they, when they go out of their way to get people to vote who have no idea what's going on in the world and are not interested in exerting any effort towards voting at all. Yeah, those are actual votes. That's not fraud. But it is a way of rigging the system. When if we actually cared about our precious democratic system, what we would do is we would have a system in place that tries to weed out, that actually tries to weed out fraud, make sure that you're, make sure that you're, you know, you're voting, you're a, of legal voting age, you're an American
Starting point is 00:35:37 citizen, you've, this is, you've only voted once, this is not your third time. All of that. But then we would also have a system to make sure that on top of, like, that's just bare minimum, that's entry level. And then as well, we would make sure that you. are a contributing and aware member of society. So if you really care about the democratic system, that's what you would do. If you really want to protect it, if you actually cherish it as some sacred thing, then that is what you would want. But that's not what they want, very clearly.
Starting point is 00:36:19 All right. This is from Yahoo. Posting to TikTok, a mother named Jana shared her reasons for allowing her 17-year-old son, Cody, to undergo top surgery. And she couldn't be more proud to be his mother. And, of course, when Yahoo says son and he, they mean daughter and she, you know, we understand that.
Starting point is 00:36:44 Top surgery, also known as chest surgery, and masculinizing chest surgery, is a type of gender-affirming medical procedure that alters the chest area that requires the removal of breast tissue and is typically performed for transgender men or non-binary people who are assigned female at birth. So this is what this woman does
Starting point is 00:37:02 and she's got a big following on TikTok and she talks all about her daughter who she's abusing and who has been mutilated with her help and her funding. And let's just watch one of these. Let's just clip six. Let's watch one of these videos. Why would I ever allow my 17-year-old to have top surgery?
Starting point is 00:37:23 Why would I do that? That's insane. That's crazy. It's child abuse. Until you look at the really, really happy kid who walked out of the doctor's office today, feeling really great about himself for the first time, and I don't even know how long. His chest looks great. It looks absolutely great.
Starting point is 00:37:38 And here's how my kid feels. Here it is from the horse's mouth. Enjoy. So how are you feeling? Really good. What did it feel like? like when you saw your chest for the first time. No.
Starting point is 00:37:52 I'm super excited for you. I'm really happy. Wow. This is, this is amazing, isn't it? Yeah. You look so amazing. You look so good. It finally feels right for the first time.
Starting point is 00:38:08 Right? That's just it. It feels right for the first time. You look so good. I'm so pro to you. I love you so much. Thank you. There's one other clip that we were going to play,
Starting point is 00:38:19 can't. I just can't watch clips like this. I can't. I don't. We've seen enough of this, of, of, of, of, of, of, Chowell's and mommy here. And you get the idea, it's always the same, you know, and once again, and I don't know where the dad is in this, in this, I assume he's nowhere, but it's like, it's always the, almost always the mom. With the exception of Dwayne Wade, it's almost always the mom. And when you see these videos, we've seen a million of them, it's always the same video, it's the same. It's like, the moms even look the same. They're interchangeable, everything about them. Telling her daughter, oh, you look amazing.
Starting point is 00:38:56 She doesn't, though. I mean, she looks mutilated, butchered, and confused. It's not amazing at all. And you just have to, let me ask you this. This mom, what was their name again? Jana. Okay, Jana. if you
Starting point is 00:39:17 walked into your daughter's room and she was cutting herself you know mutilating herself cutting herself cutting her wrists let's say with a razor blade and you said oh my God what are you doing don't do that and she said well it makes me feel good to do this
Starting point is 00:39:35 would you then say oh well okay if it makes you feel good and then would you pull out your phone and do an inspirational TikTok video with the inspirational piano music in the background. You know, many people say that my daughter shouldn't cut her wrists with a razor blade. But, you know, what they don't understand is that she feels good when she does it. Would you do that? Now, I might not be making the point I'm trying to make here,
Starting point is 00:40:03 because when you hear that question, you, because you're a psychotic barbarian, you might, yeah, for all I know, that it might be exactly how you respond. Because you're a monster. but any parent who actually loves their child, and you don't love your child at all, any parent who actually loves their child would not respond that way. You walk into your child, hurting herself,
Starting point is 00:40:30 the fact that it makes her feel good, that it gives her some kind of release because she's confused and lashing out, and this is the way that she's looking for this release. you know, you would not be okay with that. You wouldn't say, well, as long as it makes you feel good. In fact, if you are a even halfway decent and competent parent, and again, you love your child,
Starting point is 00:40:57 you're never going to think, because it feels good, is, you know, a good enough justification for anything that your child does. Instead, as the parent, what you say to your child is, yeah, you might think that this makes you feel better in the moment, but this is not the right way. You know, you're not making anything better. You're hurting yourself. You can't do this. And you would try to get your child the help that she desperately needs. And this is no different. You know, every video or image we see of a girl who's had, quote, unquote, top surgery, it is no different in kind to a girl who cuts herself. And in fact,
Starting point is 00:41:43 it's not a coincidence. Also, by the way, there's a lot of crossover here. Very often the girl who goes on to get the top surgery also has a history of cutting and self-mutilation. Because it's the same kind of thing. She's confused. She's in despair. She hates herself. She hates her body. What she needs is someone to help her accept herself for who she is. And because she doesn't get that, in your case, because she has a terrible mother who has a terrible mother who hates her, she just ends up looking for even more ways to harm herself. So it's a very similar kind of thing. The only difference, top surgery and cutting, very similar.
Starting point is 00:42:28 Only difference is that top surgery is so much worse, obviously, because it's a permanent damage. And this, again, is something that any decent parent understands. But what we've learned time and time again is that there are a lot of very not decent parents out there. Let's get to the comment section. As many of you know, I don't know why you would know this, but I am a true grill master. I love grilling up just about anything. Thanks to my friends at Cinch, my grill is never empty with propane. Because of this, I can have whatever I want, whenever I want on the grill. Cinch is a propane grill tank home delivery service. They deliver
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Starting point is 00:43:55 visit cinch.com slash offer for details. Okay, so this is an interesting comment section today because I'm going to pull all these comments from the video we posted from a segment, I guess it was two days ago now, where I was responding to a woman on TikTok who was a childless woman who was giving her rules for where you as a parent are allowed to bring your kids in public. And she was taking a special exception to parents who bring their kids to bars and breweries, but then she went on to explain that you really can't bring your kid to anywhere
Starting point is 00:44:31 that has quote-unquote age-restricted items. She said you're an a-hole if you do, and she doesn't want to be around your kids because she wants to be able to be vulgar and crass and talk about sex really loudly, and she can't do that when your kid is there. So I disagreed. I obviously, well, I thought was obvious that I would disagree with that position. I explain why. and I'm getting killed in the comments by it by a bunch of people that are completely wrong.
Starting point is 00:45:00 You know, it happens sometimes with the SPG. It doesn't happen very often. Every once in a while with the SPG, you guys are all just wrong. And as the cult leader, I need to be here to let you know that. That's one of my sacred, solemn responsibilities. So let me just read a couple of these comments. Swiftie says, as a father, I agree with her. Not sure why you'd want to take your child to a place where drunk adults are likely to be.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Porter Wake says, A, you made a mountain out of a lot of, of a molehill here, Matt. Don't take your kids to taverns, drinking, or weed smoking places. Latch says, I don't think it's good for children to be surrounded by a bunch of intoxicated adults, so I'm siding with her. Lera says, I'm sorry, but kids absolutely do not belong in bars, and a restaurant is not a bar. Bars are for drinking. What parents bring a child to a bar while on a night out of drinking in a place filled with drunks? Carfdy says, nah, she's right for this. Children shouldn't be in bars. Mary says, I'm shocked that people glare at Matt's family in restaurants. It's just weird. But I'm also shocked at his response to this
Starting point is 00:45:54 woman. The bar is a place where there is bound to be raunchy talk. For instance, dirty jokes. It's also a place where hostilities could break out. Bars are an adult venue just like drag shows should be. I don't know where you guys are going to bars or what or where are you getting your, where are you getting your perception of a bar from like Pirates of the Caribbean or something. But you're all missing the point by a country mile. First of all, the woman says in the video, you should not bring your kid to any place that sells, quote, age-restricted items. She includes cigarettes on that list, okay? So I have to assume you all didn't hear that part of the video, even though I specifically
Starting point is 00:46:28 highlighted and sent her my entire argument around it, but somehow you didn't hear. To exclude children from all places with, quote, age-restricted items, which is what she was talking about, is to exclude them from all restaurants, all gas stations, basically all of society, okay? That's my point. Okay, it's the whole point of the video. I don't know how else to put it. Also, obviously, you know, obviously you shouldn't bring your kid to a rowdy bar with a bunch of drunken pirates.
Starting point is 00:46:54 You shouldn't bring them to like a college bar at 2 a.m. The reason you don't bring them to places like that is that it's not appropriate for them. It's inappropriate for them. And I also say at the beginning of my video that there are places you don't bring your kids because of the effect it would have on them. Okay. Obviously. But there are like thousands of bars, you know, bars and restaurants, sports bars, beach bars, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, that serve food that are perfectly family friendly. You can go there at lunchtime and nobody is drunk.
Starting point is 00:47:27 You know, where we used to live right down the street, there was a sports bar. I'd take my kids there all the time. I would get them chicken tenders from the kids menu. It's a sports bar. Nobody was drunk. Everything was fine. It was a good. There's lots of families there.
Starting point is 00:47:39 I don't know. Are people not aware that this exists? It's like, it's not just that there are some bars that are this way. It's like most of them. And if I say to someone, hey, I've got to meet you at the bar down the street, it's like almost always a bar and restaurant. Now, there are some bars that are just bars where it's like you literally just sit at the bar and all they have is liquor and beer. And yeah, obviously you're not going to bring a kid to a place like that. But it's also clear I would think that I'm not talking about that.
Starting point is 00:48:03 And to drive the point home. And so that's what you want to exclude kids from, those places. You know, like a bar in restaurant. Buffalo Wild Wings is a bar. Okay. And to drive the point home, her video starts by showing one of those places that she wants to keep kids away from. The video starts by it.
Starting point is 00:48:23 It shows one of the places that she thinks kids shouldn't be allowed out. And it's an outdoor spot with sand and picnic tables and families. And it's the middle of the day. Clearly a family-friendly place. Clearly a place where they want families. to come. And she's saying, I don't want kids there, that place specifically. And what's her reason? See, that's the third point. The third point is the reason. Her reason for not wanting kids is not that it's bad for them to be at these places, but that she wants to be able to curse loudly
Starting point is 00:48:58 and talk about her sex life. That's her reason. And that's also why she doesn't just want to exclude them from the kinds of places that everyone agrees kids should be excluded from. She wants to exclude them from anywhere that she likes to hang out. That's what she says. That's her whole reasoning. So I don't know how else to put this. And, you know, there is no one, or almost no one, who thinks that you should actually bring a kid to, for example, to a college bar at 1 a.m. Or bring them to the kind of bar where there are a bunch of drunk, rowdy adult.
Starting point is 00:49:39 and fights are breaking out. Like, if you've ever been to a bar like that, you've probably never seen a kid there. So that's not an issue. Of course you don't break a kid in a place like that. So that's not a viewpoint that exists. Okay, so that's one of the reasons we know her video wasn't targeting those kinds of parents
Starting point is 00:49:55 because those parents don't exist. You ever been to a bar at 1 a.m.? I have. Have you ever seen a kid at one? Never, ever, ever. It doesn't happen. So that's not something that exists. So she wasn't targeting this thing that doesn't exist.
Starting point is 00:50:08 what she was targeting is when you just bring your kids to any place that like she wants to hang out. And and, but that mentality on her part does exist. That's a common thing. And that's why I talked about in that segment that I know, you know, bringing my kids when I go out as a family and we got six kids and we go to a place, we go to a restaurant. It's a perfectly appropriate environment for kids. And, you know, we get the dirty looks and all that. And the reason is people like her who just like, no, I just don't want your kid here because to me it's, I consider it annoying just to have them in my presence. That's a very common mentality that people have as evidenced by that.
Starting point is 00:50:50 Now, I talked about this on Twitter and I talked about the dirty looks that big families get. And of course, I heard from a lot of people, none of them actually have big families, but a lot of people who just denied that. Is it all you're making that up? That never happens. Okay. Yeah, it doesn't. I don't know. It's just what I've. I grew up in a big family. I have a big family. I've experienced it countless times my entire life. And you talk to any parent who actually has a lot of kids and they will tell you.
Starting point is 00:51:16 This is a very common thing. As I said, I don't care. It's not a big deal. It doesn't bother me. But one of the ways you know that that does happen is because of people like this one. And in fact, even though there were those denying, no one has that attitude. No one shoots dirty looks. At the same time, even under the comments on those.
Starting point is 00:51:36 tweets, you had a bunch of adults saying things like, well, your kid shouldn't go to any restaurant where there's not a kid menu, like that kind of thing. Okay, so, which is crazy, by the way, and I don't abide by that. Yeah, one guy tell me, just bring your kid to chilies. Okay, yeah, so that's, so if you have a family, you have to relegate yourself to bad restaurants with crappy food. That's where the family should go as a second-class citizen. Stick with apple bees and chilies.
Starting point is 00:52:04 Don't go to the actual good restaurants because he's. doesn't want to be around your kids. Again, this is an actual common attitude in society that people have, and it's worth explaining why that attitude is wrong. All right, good. So you're all wrong. We'll do better next time. Give your son and his values a fighting chance with Jeremy's back-to-college deals. Get up to 20% off select razors and men's care bundles. Get Jeremy's shampoo, body wash and conditioner, all paraben-free sulfate. woke free and made in the USA. Get him a precision five razor with welded steel blades,
Starting point is 00:52:41 a sturdy tungsten handle and flipback trimmer. So go to jeremy's razors.com and take advantage of that last day of this sale. Now let's get to our daily cancellation. A few years ago, the author Ross Douthit wrote a book called The Decadent Society. And in the book, he argues that we're not headed for any kind of catastrophic civilizational collapse, but rather we are on our way to, and in fact already in, a period of stasis, of cultural paralysis, what he calls decadence. A decadence society is one that treads water,
Starting point is 00:53:14 that goes nowhere in particular, and kind of drifts along to various dead ends. One of the hallmarks of the decadent society is that it has no new ideas. Instead, it simply repeats itself, repeats itself and repeats old ideas over and over again. Constantly recycled and remade movies and lifeless movie franchises
Starting point is 00:53:32 that never end are the perfect example of this kind of thing. Another is the endless invention of new sexualities and genders, which are all just different. versions of being gay. A slightly less noticeable, but for me, even more annoying example, is this insistence on taking normal things and making them into trends. Every week there's another trend taking social media and Gen Z by storm. But when you investigate, you discover that this is something people have always been doing. It's just that they never felt the need to make it into a hashtag. I've just been made aware of a particularly egregious variation on this theme. For example,
Starting point is 00:54:06 This is a new trend that's been written about in many media publications. It's called Girl Dinner. And here's the National Geographic Report, because this is the kind of thing the National Geographic now concerns itself with. Long gone are the days when you, you know, go to National Geographic to learn about a lost tribe and South American jungle somewhere. Now you learn about the eating habits of 23-year-old women on TikTok. So here's what they say. Quote, picture this. You're home alone, and it's nearing dinner time.
Starting point is 00:54:34 You grab a box of crackers from the cabinet, some olive, baby carrots, and leftover falafel from the fridge. You can take your masterpiece to the table, but why bother? There's something satisfyingly deviant about eating it right off the kitchen counter with your fingers. All told, the meal takes five minutes, one plate, no utensils. You, my friend, have just made yourself a girl dinner. But once may have been a sheepish solitary tradition has recently attained viral internet status, thanks to Olivia Marr, a TV show runner's assistant who first chrissed the phenomenon and a TikTok posted in May. a sort of choose-your-own-adventure tasting platter.
Starting point is 00:55:06 Girl dinner can include anything and often includes everything, from applesauce and salami to cheos and guacamole. The trend has since amassed nearly one billion views on TikTok, where users have started sharing their own smorgas-board creations and absurdist parodies. Social media hype aside, might the girl-dinner girls and their fellow partakers be on to something? Food experts weigh in on the potential merits and pitfalls
Starting point is 00:55:28 of this low-effort snack-forward meal in what it reveals about a relationship to food and each other. Now, first of all, this is not an innovative trend. You haven't discovered anything new. You're eating, okay? You're consuming food. That's what it's called. People have been doing that for as long as people have existed.
Starting point is 00:55:44 And second, to the extent that there is a particular method or approach here, it's not fair to call it girl dinner. In fact, I would go so far as to label this a form of cultural appropriation. Single men have been doing this forever. Maybe not with falafels and olives, but the general strategy is very familiar. When I was a single man, I don't think I ate a dinner on a plate with an entree and a side dish even one time. If I was hungry, I went to my kitchen, opened up the fridge, I stood facing the fridge with the door still open, and I ate whatever random items happened to have in there, which wasn't much. Never heat anything up.
Starting point is 00:56:24 You know, I didn't put it on a plate and sit by myself at the dining room table, mostly because I didn't have a dining room table or plates or a dining room table or a plates or a dining room. dining room, or really any furniture at all except for a couch and a mattress and box spring with no bed frame. The point is that the girl dinner trend directly steals from ancient bachelor tradition. Our culture is not your TikTok trend, you're damned plagiarous. But when it comes to doing something that people have been doing forever and pretending that you invented a hot new trend, nowhere is this more common than in the workplace. We've discussed several times in the past these alleged new workplace trends that are not new at all and are almost always just a version, of being lazy. Quiet quitting is one we've discussed. There have been others in that same vein,
Starting point is 00:57:07 and now Business Insider has compiled, for whatever reason, the whole list. So we now have all of the workplace trends, quote unquote, that Gen Z has invented this year in one handy list. Headline, from lazy girl jobs to loud quitting, here are the biggest workplace buzzwords of 2023 and what they mean. The article begins, Fed Up employees are starting new workplace trends that push back on exploitative employers. Enter lazy girl jobs, allowed quitting, and bare minimum Mondays. Check out these and other big workplace buzzwords of 2023 and what experts have to say about them. Now, a few of these buzzwords actually have the effect of taking a healthy and productive thing and making it sound worse than it really is. So here's one, rage applying. Business Insider
Starting point is 00:57:52 says, rage applying is the practice of mass applying to jobs fueled by feelings of unhappiness at work. And it seems it has the potential to pay off. After being passed over for a promotion, Jordan Smith, a 28-year-old working in the music industry in L.A., rage applied for five jobs and landed a better paying role within a week. However, rage applying might not be the best approach for everyone. Career coach Kelsey Watt advises against conducting a job search from an emotional place of fear, resentment, or burnout. Okay. Well, this is not rage applying. This is just applying. This is the standard application process. If you're looking for a new job, if you're looking for an entry-level job, it's a good idea to fill out multiple applications
Starting point is 00:58:33 or send in multiple resumes. Applying for five jobs is not anything excessive or impressive. It's what you do if you're serious about finding a job. You probably don't want to be in a state of rage while you're filling out the application, but I don't think that's happening anyway. I'm not even sure what that would look like. Like a guy sitting at his computer faces red, frothing at the mouth, trembling with rage while filling out his employment history and contact information,
Starting point is 00:58:59 it just seems somewhat incongruent. You can't maintain actual rage while filling out a form. It's more of a feeling of numbness and quiet despair, if anything. But now we get to the fancy workplace buzzwords that all describe the same kind of laziness and incompetence. Now, read it from the article, it says, quote, as major tech companies continue laying off significant numbers of workers, another workplace trend has emerged.
Starting point is 00:59:23 Resenteism. It describes the act of staying in an unsanationality. satisfying job due to a perceived lack of options, even as resentment grows. After resenteism came the synonymous loud quitters and grumpy stayers. Gallup's 2023 state of the global workplace report found that roughly one in five workers are loud quitting at their jobs, which means just that they're actively disengaged at work as opposed to quiet kidders, quitters who are simply not engaged. Wait what? So on one hand, you are disengaged. On the other hand, you are not engaged. Wow, that's quite a distinction.
Starting point is 00:59:59 Now, just as a quick note, though it goes without saying, if you have ever referred to yourself as a grumpy stayer, you should not only be fired from your job, but you should also be deported to Venus. But there's a lot more in this vein. There's also bare minimum Monday, which we're told is a way to ease into work at the start of the week. TikToker Marissa Joe popularized the term,
Starting point is 01:00:20 which describes a way to resist the Sunday scleries and the pressure many people feel to hit the ground running full speed when they returned to work again on Monday. Quote, the second I got rid of the pressure and allowed myself to have whatever kind of day unfolded, I was able to do stuff, she said. In a video documenting one of her bare minimum Mondays, Joe goes through activities like journaling,
Starting point is 01:00:38 her skincare routine, making progress on a creative project before beginning work, which she notes doesn't start until noon on bare minimum Mondays. Yes, you know, it's important to ward off the Sunday scaries by having a bare minimum Monday so you don't become a grumpy stayer who is quiet, quitting. And if you've not already overdosed and died of cringe just from hearing that sentence, don't forget about chaotic working. Business Insider explains, chaotic working, aka malicious
Starting point is 01:01:05 compliance, involves employees using their position at work to help customers or clients at the employer's expense. Though it often entails breaking some rules, workers may do it without fear of repercussion because they're simply fed up with their job, their employer, or their general state of work. Anti-work sentiments have helped the trend grow. Now that last sentence, is really the key here. Putting aside how unfathomably cringy all this is and how it's all just trying to make trends out of simply being a garden variety loser with no work ethic. The real point is that it grows from, as Business Insider says, anti-work sentiment. Now, to a certain extent, everybody has experienced anti-work sentiment. Everyone who, you know, everyone who among us has not had the alarm go off in the
Starting point is 01:01:46 morning and thought to themselves, damn, I don't feel like going to work today. We will all have. And everyone has lapsed into laziness, some more often than others. So that isn't new. But these days, thanks in part to the trend-defying of everyday life, if I can coin my own dumb and clunky term, being lazy and anti-work is now presented as a legitimate lifestyle choice. It's one thing to have lazy moments. That's everyone does. It's another to declare your laziness proudly, to participate in laziness like it's a valid life strategy. And that's where we are now, especially with the younger generations. I mean, you can feel anti-work sometimes.
Starting point is 01:02:27 Everyone does. But to make that into your motto, to march under that banner, is to embrace failure and misery and mediocrity. And this is the part that gets me. Because, look, if you want to be mediocre, unimpressive, unproductive, achieve nothing of value with your life, that's your choice. It's a bad choice, but it's yours to make. The problem, though, is that the people who openly admit that they do the bare minimum and that they walk around at work with open resentment and hostility to their own employer, they put in no effort, et cetera, these people will still complain.
Starting point is 01:03:05 In fact, they will complain the loudest about their financial hardships and their lack of opportunities and so on. You know, if you want to work little and you want to have little and you want to live a humble life without much luxury or comfort. If you want to go, you know, live in a one-bedroom cottage in the woods somewhere with no streaming services or designer clothes or anything else, if you want to embrace a very modest life so that you can devote more of your time to your hobbies or your art
Starting point is 01:03:35 or simply to contemplating the mysteries of the universe, that I can more than respect. That's a respectable choice. If you want to leave, quote, hustle culture behind and go full monastic or close to it, Great. That is an absolutely respectable approach to life, and you can find plenty of joy and fulfillment living that way. But that is not what most of the quiet quitters and bare minimum Monday participants are doing, not even close. Because they still want to live a fully modern life with all the trappings, all the luxuries, all the streaming services, all the nice clothes and gadgets. But without putting in any of the effort to obtain and maintain that kind of lifestyle.
Starting point is 01:04:14 So they are the worst of all worlds. That's the point. It's materialistic and lazy. Okay, it's one thing to choose one of those. So if you've got it, if you have to be like, at least choose one, okay? If you want to be lazy but not materialistic, that's, that's what's something we can say, oh yeah, they're lazy, but they're not materialistic at all. They don't care about, you know, they don't need to own anything and they don't care about it. or you could be materialistic but ambitious. And people could say about you, yeah, he's real materialistic, but man, he's ambitious. He's a real goal getter.
Starting point is 01:04:49 That's something. I mean, you could work with that. And you could be a successful person in your own way that way. You could be happy, too, that way. The problem is that modern people, many modern people, want both of those vices. You can't have both of them. You've got to choose one. You can't be materialistic and lazy.
Starting point is 01:05:09 because that's where it all breaks down. That's a recipe for being eternally frustrated and unfulfilled. And that is the fate of so many people in our culture today. Which is why all the people participating in these trends that are not really trends are today canceled. That'll do it for the show today and this week. Have a great weekend. Talk to you on Monday. Godspeed.

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