The Michael Knowles Show - "Are You In A Cult?" YES or NO: Mary Morgan

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

In this episode of YES or NO, Michael Knowles and Mary Morgan tackle the toughest, most controversial questions over stiff drinks and sharp debates. From woke ideology and political movements to modern-day cult behaviors, nothing is off-limits.   Is blind allegiance to political parties, social causes, or even fandoms turning people into cult followers? Michael and Mary break it all down—no dodging, just YES or NO!   - - -   Today’s Sponsor:   Helix - Visit https://helixsleep.com/knowles to get 20% off sitewide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Start selling on Deepop, where Taste recognizes taste. Are men who refuse to physically work out their bodies, by definition, lazy, butter soft lives? I feel like a lot of the men who are really into working out are pretty gay. Oh, yes or no, the bibulous battle to discover who knows whom better. My guest today is Mary Morgan, host of Pop Culture Crisis. We will see a clip of her show later. How do we play? I will ask Mary a yes or no question.

She will select her answer away from my prime. eyes. Then, I will guess how she answered. If I guess correctly, I get a point. If I guess incorrectly, I lose a point. No matter how I guess, I probably will drink. Then it's Mary's turn. Neither of us has seen the questions beforehand. The questions cover various and sundry topics, from the philosophical to the anatomical and everything in between. Whoever has the most points wins. The stakes could be higher. Mary Morgan, thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I'm really just here to day drink. I understand. In fact, I matched your drink. I never matched the drink from my guest. But we got this fancy botanical gin for your G&T. It's delicious. I already pre-gamed. You did. That's good. We haven't even picked a card yet. I like it. I'm channeling my inner Anglo for a G&T today. Shall we have a wager? I think we should. Okay. Whoever loses

has to send any tweet of the winner's choosing. Is that a high stake? It's high enough. It's high enough. I would say it's kind of a middle tier. I want to hack your account. Okay, great. All right, you got it. Let me know if you find the password. I have no answer. Mary Morgan, even though you're a lady, I have been demanded by the producers that I go first.

I find it very wrong and uncivilrous, but so be it. Is hentai so popular? What is, who writes this disgusting film? Is hentai so popular on adult websites because anime is inherently gay? So the question is, is hentai popular because anime is gay? Hentai is anime, I take it from this question? Yes, Michael.

Okay. Yes, Michael. Is hentai so popular on adult websites because anime is inherently gay? All right. You would say no. I see. And you know, both parts of that question just made sense to me, right? Hentai is popular, anime is gay, both of those things are true.

Is hentai popular? Yeah, unfortunately. Why would someone want to look at a cartoon? If you're going to do that anyway, why not look at a real person? It's just about as real as other people. on glittering images. Yeah. I guess certainly is gay because it's, you know, it's just you in a room looking at an image

and whatever ensues, that would be a same-sex thing because it's only you. Right. Right. And usually, I don't want to get graphic, but you're watching a woman with another man, which is cuckoldry. Right, but that's not gay. But that's not inherently gay. Still humiliating. Yes. But anime. brought it like Pokemon is gay? I am very anti-anim. People don't know this about me, and when I bring it up, they get very angry.

But are you anti-animate because of your homophobia or because of something else? It's a Venn diagram that's almost a circle, okay? Yeah, I am emphatically anti-animate. Why? In the same way that Matt Walsh is anti-animay. Like, it's just satanic. And I don't need to explain myself. Like, it just is.

Is there not, is there not, like, a wholesome kind of anime, or are the Japanese just a totally... There's something... There is a genre of anime that pretends to be wholesome, like these slice of life shows. But when you think about it, these are shows about little school girls, and there are grown men watching it. And they're like, oh, how cute. That's not wholesome. But it's not gay. I want my point back, because what I'm saying.

No, I don't mean it's... homosexual. I mean, it's gay. I think we've been talking past each other this entire time. There's a difference between something being homosexual and something being gay. So gay, but it doesn't have in the pejorative sense of the word. Okay, fine. All right, I lose my point. You're up. Are men who refuse to physically work out their bodies by definition, lazy butter soft lives? Lazy butter soft lives. You're so right, Mary, because you've got an example of virility right in front of you. Yeah, that's so true. I already knew that about you, though, so I'm just staying in your good grace.

But you might have thought that I would say, no, you're a lazy, butter soft lib. But I feel like a lot of the men who are really into working out are pretty gay. Yes, yeah, for sure. Like, there's something pretty gay about it. We're talking a lot about gayness. But they're like flexing in the mirror with each other. Like, yeah, you look so good, bro. Yeah.

It's like the YMCA. Weird, yeah. Which is great now. I've been reliably informed. No, I mean, that guy can sue me. That's a gay anthem. You think of a guy like old school men. Think of Gary Cooper, John Wayne. Did these guys work out? You think they were gym rats on an elliptical?

Just like, oh, I've got to look good for, no. They were just men, you know. What were they doing instead? They were riding horses and stuff. Running horses, farm work. Slaughtering Indians in the movies. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I don't do much of that.

Where should I put this? Put that card right here. Oh, okay. Okay. We need to watch this video first. Oh, okay. Thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award. Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you.

I'm going to let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time. Did Kanye actually save Taylor from Beyonce? It was emphatic and quick. I thought about this. You were correct. How did he save her?

Well, the rumor. has it that all of these artists at the Grammys are obligated to pay their fealty to Beyonce. Every time that they win an award over her, they have to give her all the credit. Queen B. Yeah, she's the Queen B. And if they don't, well, I'm not going to say out loud what happens next. But that's the rumor that her and Jay-Z pretty much. pressure the rest of the music industry to worship them.

Because they're involved in the Illuminati and the occult. But for the record, Kanye actually was right. Her music video was better than Taylor Swift. Was it? I don't remember either of them. I think it was for single ladies. Compared to love story? Yeah, that was a way better music video. Not a better song, in my opinion, but a better music video.

But overall, Beyonce is quite... Technically, he was correct. Wow. It's not like he needed to point it out. What else do you think he was correct about? It's a sensitive time. Okay, you're up. All right.

Michael, was this an appropriate answer? We have another video. Mr. Buckley, do you think miniskirts are in good taste? Do I think what? Miniskirts are in good taste. On you, I think they are. Good legs are in good taste. Good legs, I never would have figured you for that kind.

Good legs are in good taste. Is that an appropriate answer? He was a married man at that time. Oh, was he? Hmm. Give me my point, let's go. You see how I got in her head? You see that little?

It was so obvious, too. Yeah, I let you trip me. That was nice because now, you know, now in our modern culture, the response to that is he would like pounce on her or something or they'd go get, they'd join like a pollicule of, you know, orgies and things. But back in the day, that was really, edgy to just like kind of be a little flirtatious in a joking way with a woman. I think that's, getting back to that is better than now. Everyone takes all of these things so seriously.

On the one hand, you know, if you look at, if Justin Baldoni looks at Blake lively, that's this big sexual harassment case. But then on the other hand, everyone's encouraged to like cheat on their spouses and do all sorts of weird stuff. So getting back to that, that's appropriate. I agree with your take. But also, what do you think of? her question. Do you think miniskirts are in good taste? There's a table here. I can't tell if you're wearing a miniskirt. You would never wear these. I actually am. Are you really? Yes, I actually am. Wow. But you can be honest if you think they're in bad taste. I'm not saying women need to go full burqa. I don't encourage that. A nice tasteful niqab or an abaya, I think. But the eyes are so seductive.

You're right. You're right. You're right. They have to go full burqa. Okay, that's my answer. I mean, we live in a more... Burned out with sunglasses? Maybe. Even, yeah, or the full one, you don't even see it yet because there's like the veil in between the eyes, yeah. I think back in those days, look, it was the swing in 60s, and people were experimenting with the sexual revolution, but we realized sexual revolution's gone very wrong.

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Helixleep. dot com slash knolls. Mary, since you're a believer, are you technically in a cult? Did you say believer? A believer. A believer? A believer. Oh, oh. Focus features in Blumhouse present. Obsession.

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No. This is not a cult. I didn't know that I was going to get exposed for being a believer. I had no idea. He's good, though. He's talented. He is. And there's been no one else to do it like him. He seems kind of mainstream, though. Because you have like a cool, edgy aesthetic. Like, you're like a cool girl. But Bieber is so vanilla. He's so mainstream. Well, okay, full transparency. Before I was emo, I was obsessed with Justin Bieber, like, crazy. I had multiple life-size cardboard cutouts of Justin Bieber in my childhood bedroom, posters everywhere.

Why do you need multiple cardboard cutouts? Wouldn't one suffice? One is not enough. He has to be staring at me from all angles. Wow. What was it about him? It was his white boy swag. Really. And there's no one else who has that these days. Like, name one other other than you. Who else has white boy swag?

When I think of white boy swag, I think of like Vineyard Vineyard Vineyard Vineyard's and a barber jacket. It seems to me his white boy swag was more of a black guy swag. Like he was a white guy doing kind of black guy stuff. No, but it's not like he was, he wasn't like larping as something he wasn't. He was a, you're saying he was. He was a kind of a trans-urban. On the inside, he was truly that person.

That was his authentic self. I think you're getting white boy swag confused with Wigger. Two different things. No, that's what I'm saying. Yes, you're right. I guess the way that you're using it, I assume you're complaining the two of those. Well, what's the difference? I think you can compare Justin Bieber back then to Travis Kelsey now.

and see the difference between white boy swag and wigger. Okay. Travis Kelsey definitely white boy swag. No. He does not have white boy swag. No, Travis Kelsey is the wigger. Really? Yeah. Justin Bieber has the white boy swag. Wow. I need to.

But also incredible vocalist is naturally a star. Do I have white boy swag? I think you do. I do. Even though you're Italian. Yeah, it's a little smarthy. It's a little liminal case. Yeah, okay, all right. Okay. You're up. All right. Should women ever be firefighters or police? Wow. They should not be. They should not. Yeah, that was easy. Obviously not. That was easy. That'd be crazy.

Oh, but if they meet the standard, though. What if they meet the standard? Then, what if they meet the standard, then... It's like, yeah. Then it's meritocratic. Yeah, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. I know. It's so crazy when they say, because what if it's the standard? It's like, well, what if they're, like, much smaller and physically, weaker as a just in principle. Okay. They're not going to meet the standards. Let's think about the edge case, like this woman who fits the physical strength and endurance standards of, of the average like male firefighter. Yeah. Maybe she's out there somewhere. She's mentally insane for wanting to be a firefighter. Yes. So she shouldn't be one. And also, you just don't want to compromise, like, team fitness. If you're with a bunch of dudes and you're going to go fight a fire or go chase bad guys or wherever,

you're going to operate in a certain way. The minute you introduce a lady into that mix and you're sending a lady into a burning building or to catch bullets from some gangster or something, men are going to just react differently to protect women, which is good. You want that reaction. But even if the woman really wants to, and even if in some world, we pretend that she met the standards or something, like, still, too bad. This is about public service, and that doesn't serve the common good and the purpose

of these units. It's funny. This whole, like, DEI firefighter discourse is what revealed to me. There are so many people on the right who are also mad that men and women are different. I know. The thing is... They can't get over it. Everyone's a real tough guy when it comes to like, we shouldn't. Trans the kids are whatever. Right. But there are many feminists, practical feminists on the right. And there are many people who deny biological differences and think that men and women, should behave like each other, just don't put on a dress or something. I know. It's not good.

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Dailywire.com slash shop today. Are you ready? So ready. This is the rapid fire round. Okay. Very intense. That's the point of it. Get you sweating a little bit.

I'm going to run through three prompts. and you're going to answer, and I'm going to give your answer, but we're not going to discuss it, we're just going to fly through them 30 seconds. Are you prepared? Okay, I think I'm prepared. Would you be okay with an arranged marriage? Yes. Correct.

There we go, let's go. Right now is Elon Musk probably the second most important man in America? Yes. No. First, most important? Yeah. Wow. On Halloween, do you just dress normally?

Who wrote that? That's outrageous. Because you three all the black and everything. No. You're right. Okay, all right. Wow. Try to sneak that one in there, huh?

So how many points did I get? That was a drive-by right there. All right, so I'm somehow still losing. It's actually zero, me, one, you. Okay. Now, you go, same thing. Does that just mean that we know each other too well? We're so close we can almost finish each other's sandwiches.

No one ever picks up on them. I'm not doing that. All right. Should women be permitted to speak at church? Yes, they can sing along in the pew. Nisa cantata. Singing. It was a little.

It was cheating a little bit, but I'll take it. All right. If an animal the size of a house cat got loose in your house, would you call someone else to get rid of it? Would I? Yeah. The size of a house cat? You say yes, because I'm not the handiest.

But I'm also cheap, so no, I would not call someone to take care of it. All right. If you had to give up either booze or cigars, you would give up booze and keep the cigars. Let's go. Don't call it a comeback, baby. No question. Yeah. I mean, I like a nice tipple every now and again, but I'm way more into the Stogeys than I am into booze. All right. So, sober, mine. All right. Here we go. So Michael Zero, Mary Morgan, negative two. This is the final round. Messed up. These points are worth double. We're going to answer at the same time, Mary. Do you understand? So I'm going to state the prompt. You're going to put down your answer. I'm going to put down my answer. Then we're going to look at each other. We're going to move our cups based on how we think the other would answer.

Most of America's problems can be solved with political action. Let's go. Oh, I got it. Culture is downstream of politics, you know? So when you have a political order that encourages certain good behaviors and discourages bad behaviors, that's going to start to push people toward the right things. because the law is a tutor. However, most people think it's the opposite these days,

which is why we have this order where we encourage bad things and discourage good things. I'm losing so badly right now. You're getting destroyed with facts and logic. I thought of everybody coveting about the birth rate right now. They're thinking about,

like, how much money can we throw at people to make them have babies? And that's not a political... No, but you know what is political? Solution. You... Well, that's... You need a...

cultural solution to that. But how do you change culture? I'll tell you what, before November, all these companies were big into DEI and LGBT and all this anti-open borders and stuff. Trump wins. There go the DEI departments. There goes the funding for all of the radical left-wing activism through USAID. I think you can flex our muscles a little bit politically. And on the birth rate thing, you could just say, all right, well, I'll get this birth rate problem. See what we're going to do? we're going to cut it out with the fake definitions of marriage. We're going to discourage contraception. We're going to ban abortion.

We're going to reshore American manufacturing, rebuild the American family. I bet that would go a long way. Discourage contraception by doing what? By, you know, maybe revisiting Eisenstad v. Baird or Griswold v. Connecticut or some of these kind of crazy 1960s, 70s school court decision. Just a thought. I'm just suggesting it. It's not a bad thought.

It's not a bad thought. Okay. We're on the last one. Last one. I've seen something supernatural. I'm playing with the house's money. Yeah. You have.

Yes. What have you seen, Mary? I thought you were going to answer as well. Oh, you got mine right. And I said yes. Oh, you said yes, too. Okay. The transfiguration.

Or sorry, transomstantiation. Oh. But, you know, if we're talking about... Wow, that's good. That's a good answer. If we're talking about paranormal stuff, like ghosts, haven't seen that. No. Have not seen that.

Entertained Angels unawares? But anytime you're at mass, I think you're witnessing something supernatural, right? That is such a good, basic answer that is obviously true. Yes, when the bread and the wine Yeah, but I'm just being a smart ass, aren't I? Or a trend substantiated. No, you're not. You're, that's a, you're being smart is what you're being. You're being smart as usual. That was very good. Mary Morgan's show, pop culture crisis, is your source of sanity while navigating the insane world of pop culture. by Brett Dazovich and Mary Morgan. Check out this clip from their show.

You went on a reality show where you have to marry someone after a week. I'm picturing the CIA like, yes, yes, we could learn from this. He got taken off the show because he didn't find someone to marry. This doesn't make sense to me because, like, I, after reading this article, would totally go on Love is Blind. It does not sound bad at all. I get paid $1,000 a week to do.

just sit around and, like, chat with strangers through a screen and drink wine? Well, he does. Like, that sounds fun. How come Mary gets the plug? Brett gets the plug. But there's Ian there. He doesn't get any plug. I just, I only said two names.

Doesn't get the credit he deserves. He does. He never does. But that was one of my many famous zingers. You'd go on Love is Blind, huh? I totally would. For sure, who would? And then they complain about having a drink.

Here I am with a free drink. I know, a delicious. A lot of a free drink. Although I've had a little bit more than you. I don't know, maybe. And I'm the one losing. I know. That's great.

I think I found my secret. So, Mary, since we made a little wager at the top, I think the tweet you need to send out. All right. It needs to be a multimedia tweet. And it needs to be you smoking a Mayflower cigar with your endorsement of it. But it's got to be, I need the picture, though. I need you smoking the cigar because the visual is what's really going to grab people. You know, just a tweet like, oh, I like this.

the cigar, it doesn't do it. Sales are going to skyrocket. They're going to skyrocket. I'll get you a cigar before the end of this show. Totally. Before you walk out of this building, before I stumble out of this building. I had such a good idea for what to tweet on your hotel. What were you going to tweet? I was going to tweet Mary Morgan Ghost Rote Speechless. Send all royalties to, wow, man, that would have been more lucrative than selling cigars. Mary Morgan, wonderful to see you, as always. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for having me.