Reality Redemption
Hosts MJ & Snow and friends give their take on current events, sports, entertainment and lifestyle. They also discuss subjects such as relationships and mental health. Subscribe and follow them on Facebook, Instagram
TikTok and Threads
Reality Redemption
261. Empaths Anonymous
Ever felt like the world just needs a big, comforting hug? Sandra McFarland from Free Mom Hugs joins us to talk about the power of connection in overwhelming times. She shares the inspiration behind her new podcast, "The Weirdest Effing Story Ever Told," where she brings humor and honesty to her incredible life experiences. Sandra opens up about her journey from battling stage fright to mastering podcast tech, sharing laughs and insights along the way. Together, we explore the art of podcasting as a tool for authentic storytelling beyond the constraints of traditional media.
Empathy and understanding are more crucial than ever in today's divided political climate. We unravel the complexities of political divides, advocating for unity and compassion as antidotes to societal challenges. Through our conversation about political figures like Gavin Newsom and the influence of social media, we spotlight the importance of engaging in open dialogue and resisting censorship. We and Sandra emphasize the necessity of standing up for democratic values and fostering a society that embraces all voices, especially in the face of controversial policies and media dynamics.
Amidst the noise and negativity, we find hope in the resilience of good people. Reflecting on the COVID pandemic, we recount how communities rallied together, reinforcing the power of kindness and support. Mental health becomes a focal point, especially for empaths who feel the world's weight intensely. We stress the importance of gratitude and positivity in navigating turbulent times. Through humor, activism, and love, we express our determination to support marginalized communities, embracing the challenge of navigating political divides with a commitment to inclusion and justice. Learn more about Free Mom Hugs at Freemomhugs.org Listen to The Weirdest F$%ing Story Ever Told here https://rss.com/podcasts/wfset #DonaldTrump #ElonMusk #JoeBiden #WeirdKingman #Jan6 #Covid #ICE #BishopMariannBudde
Follow us at Reality Redemption on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky and Tik Tok
snow, mj god, it's only been three, four days when? When was our last podcast? Uh, was it last sunday yeah sunday or saturday sunday well and just, it was just overwhelming it was monday, it was monday and I was yeah.
Speaker 2:It was just overwhelming. It was Monday. It was Monday, it was Monday and I was yeah it was overwhelming and I just feel like God.
Speaker 1:I just wish my mom was around to give me a hug.
Speaker 2:But we got the next best thing. We can use a mom hug.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have from Free Mom. Hugs Sandra McFarland, hello everybody.
Speaker 3:I am here giving hugs, air hugs, air hugs, air hugs Absolutely Air hugs sent in to you, but I could use one right along with you right now. So I am glad to be here, glad to be able to talk to you again and glad to be able to kind of process some of this through with you, and because that's all we have right now is is together and getting through this together. And so, um, I am looking forward to being able to kind of unpack some stuff with you yeah, and host of a new podcast.
Speaker 1:The weirdest effing story ever told. Where can they find this podcast? Uh, that is on um it's rss.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna really suck at self-promoting because it's RSS. I'm going to really suck at self promoting because it's the first time I've ever done it. So this is kind of cool. It's on RSS dot and then it's the acronym of the weirdest effing story ever told. So T, w, f, s, e, t. So what I'll do is I'll send you the link and we'll have that information in there.
Speaker 3:But yes, it is my crazy little story and I am looking forward to taking a journey of sharing some weird ass stuff that happened to me and my struggle to deal with it all, because when I start telling what happened to me, it also sounds like I am completely delusional and insane.
Speaker 3:So it's a really kind of playful romp through trauma and humor and education and mental health and you name it. I'm discussing it and doing so by just simply telling my story, and so it's going to be. I've just started it. It's less than two months old, I'm on the third episode and what's really cool is the entire thing got pretty much dropped in, downloaded into my consciousness after some really, really sad news and, you know, over 30 episodes. I couldn't write it down fast enough and so it wasn't the journey I was looking for or searching for or you know, really kind of comfortable doing. But here I am, you know, sharing it all and bearing it all and with nothing to hide, because I think it's the only way, especially in this time and day where nobody knows what the truth is. The only way that I can tell a story is by complete transparency, because that is all that we need to find the truth right now, because there's been a lot of work to make it money.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to listen.
Speaker 1:Well, from experience, you do have stage fright for the first few episodes, and then it gets really easy after that.
Speaker 3:Thank you. You know, the interesting thing was is when all of this happened, I knew nothing about podcasting, or, you know, I knew how to do a text message and I figured out how to do it via voice, and I was proud of myself. And so this journey was I've got to figure this stuff out and then trying to just, yeah, feel comfortable sitting talking to myself about you know, all of the skeletons that you know no longer hide in my closet. There they're out helping other people with theirs.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's an exciting journey okay, can't wait to listen and I'll hit you up off-air on how to promote it more to Spotify and the other platforms.
Speaker 3:That would be fantastic, and then also any editing with sound and things like that, because I know that I'm dealing with sound qualities and I'm sure it's an easy fix, and I'm just really ignorant right now. Oh believe me.
Speaker 1:Any suggestions would be wonderful. It's a learning process and we went through it. Exactly exactly, and I respect you guys greatly, so any wisdom you can pass down to a newbie would be fantastic and I'll share this file, so maybe you can cross promote and we can put it on yours.
Speaker 3:I would love that absolutely, Because we need more sentient voices who aren't afraid to talk about what needs to be talked about right now.
Speaker 1:So absolutely Well. I mean, we don't work for any corporation, so we're not being censored right now, except on Facebook. Facebook did censor us.
Speaker 3:Should we?
Speaker 1:say yet yeah, yeah, hey, well, I mean Elon could pay us off and we'll, you know, make.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it might be bought, so I would not mind being bought. Well you know, would that like? What would that be Like? Would that be a sugar cast?
Speaker 1:Like in the whole sugar baby, sugar daddy no, I equate it more to. Do you remember during the first Iraq war and they had the propaganda guy who would come on While they're getting the bomb the shit out of them? He would be like resistance is futile, we are turning back the American scum. You know, I forget what they called that guy, but I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:Yes, there's nothing to see here, you know that's the frightening thing is and I don't like having that my brain automatically jumps there and you're going to go over how much has happened, but I jump into, okay, everything that we're looking at right now. What is it that's really going on that we're not supposed to be looking at? And I don't like feeling like that. I feel like we're living in a kind of a John Clancy West Wing meets Five Nights at Freddy's hybrid type of, you know, season finale of America.
Speaker 1:You know that's a very sobering thought. While we're all sitting here drinking, you're on gummies and we're sitting here going. Oh wait, if this is the distraction, holy shit.
Speaker 2:Right, what are they really?
Speaker 1:up to man, yeah, Okay. So what's the agenda? Okay, so just, we'll unpack this after, and we've got, you know, four of us. We've got, of course, me Snow, We've got Kat Rare, you know, to my left and right.
Speaker 4:Author of Weird Kingman while we're doing plugs, and Katarabica Lounge on Spotify.
Speaker 1:There you go. All right, we're getting good at plugs, alright. So in the last five days we've got Elon does a Nazi salute. He pardoned the January Sixers. You want to ban Pride and BLM flags? Fired all the Inspector Generals well, 12 of them last night. Uh, pete hegs with peg sith. However you sign it hogs breath hogs breath. Uh, he got confirmed a fox news host is gonna be the secretary of defense I feel safer already race um, there's ice raids.
Speaker 1:There's ice raids in schools. They're going to eliminate FEMA. They're going to cut federal funding to California unless you bend the knee. We pissed off Denmark because he demanded to buy Greenland. We're going to have 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico in the next February 1st. Got immigrants not showing up to you know, showing up to work because they're afraid to get deported. You got the bird flu and you're silencing the health department at the same time. So we don't know how bad the bird flu is going to be. And you had the wonderful I'm going to butcher her name Bishop Marianne Buddy or Bud Beauty, gave this wonderful sermon to just say, hey, there's a lot of people that are scared, especially the transgender community. Can you just please use grace and be kind? And it was a wonderful sermon and actually it made me cry. And the rite immediately comes out and attacks her.
Speaker 2:Isn't it funny too, like she was saying things that Jesus would say, and then these so-called Christians are all pissed off at her and giving her death threats.
Speaker 3:I'm like, wow, they're buying the Bible from the Antichrist. I mean it's beautiful.
Speaker 4:Right yeah.
Speaker 2:It's amazing.
Speaker 1:And just as I just rattled all that off, I'm like I feel suddenly overwhelmed. I'm like that was the last five days.
Speaker 3:You know, guys, I remember being a little kid and this was, of course, before the internet. So the bizarre news that we used to get was standing in the grocery store aisle when your mom is checking out, and it would take forever because there was no debit cards and everyone wrote a check, and you would sit and read the National Inquirer and talk about these headlines that were just so bizarre. And you know we're living in a national inquirer civilization. Right now it is, you know, listening to you reading it.
Speaker 3:It's at the same time, my brain is going this can't be happening. And it's also going OK, this is too much. I can't do this right now, you know, and have to be happening. And it's also going okay, this is too much. I can't do this right now, you know, and have to be selective. But yeah, it's, it's, this is insane and it's everybody's feeling in it. And the thing is that I have to keep remembering is it's not just a one-sided thing here. You know, I have to remember that people are hurting everywhere, regardless of how they voted, and that the more uncomfortable that we get, the more our humanity and our, our divinity starts to come out and the more we start to reach for each other, and it's not going to be very long until you know these agendas and and what he's doing starts to impact real people, and that's going to happen, regardless of how you voted and well, I mean, hasn't that already happened, though?
Speaker 1:because you had the story of the guy that was pleading with trump because he was moving his, his family, across texas, because his wife accepted a job at a VA hospital, but then, after they already paid for the move, they did a hiring freeze on it, and this was a Trump supporter going hey, please, trump, I know this was a mistake, and no, no, this isn't a mistake.
Speaker 2:They're in the fuck around and find out. Folks are in the finding out stage of this. I mean, unfortunately, all of us have to find out. Are in?
Speaker 1:the finding out stage of this. I mean, unfortunately, they fucked around true story and with the one of the biggest things that really bothered me is is the transgender? You're either this or this, absolutely you're, you're, you're a or b. And my roommate's conservative and related to his grandchild and I was like how do you feel about this, how do you think your grandchild feels about this? And he goes oh, I'm sure they're hurting. And I'm like how do you think they feel that you voted for this? Well, if I would have known, I would have you knew, you knew we were shouting it out that this is what was going to happen.
Speaker 2:I'm tired of them sitting there saying, oh, I wouldn't, this isn't what I voted for. No, you have to own it. You have to own it. You did this. These policies are not just Trump's policies. These are Republican policies.
Speaker 3:Right, right, but I, you know, and I hate to say, devil's advocate here, but I'm also going to say we're talking about a demographic that operates at a deficit, financially, educationally, opportunistically. The odds are stacked against me and I can't get ahead because as soon as I get, you know, breathing room, I get smacked down again and I know that kind of desperation. And when someone has been or speaks my language, I can't say has been. But when someone says, hey, I get your pain, I understand your frustration, I understand how filthy this game is and how you guys are getting shit on and hey, I can fix this because I get it, and someone's promising to relieve pain, and it's the first time they've heard it in their vernacular, in their anger level, in their you know depth and breadth of understanding, and you know so, yes, this is gonna be this kind of transition of whatever you know, whatever we don't know about yet. And this you know, psychologically we don't want control and power taken away from us. You know it's.
Speaker 3:We are hardwired to say you know, you can't tell me what to do, and we're living in such a different age of being able to share information and communication with each other and support each other that this, you know that, just like this, this amazing, you know spiritual leader that got up and was brave enough to speak, this needs to just be the beginning, and because we are the people, we are the population and we're on the side of love, and guess what?
Speaker 3:That shit wins every damn time, and it's, but it's gonna. It's gonna have to be a little uncomfortable for a while, but we've got to start speaking up and we've got to start talking about it, and not out of fear, but out of you know. No, this is not the country we're going to live in, and last time I checked we're still a freaking democracy. You know, when I read somewhere in the Declaration of Independence is, if we don't have faith in our leaders anymore, we have the right and power to build something new that does serve us. So you know, maybe that's what we're starting to go through, and you know, I've never been to a civil war. What do you?
Speaker 2:wear. Do we need?
Speaker 3:uniforms. Like should we start ordering T-shirts? Like I don't know it's, you know it's. To quote Hamilton you know how lucky we are to be alive right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but they have a lot more guns than we do.
Speaker 3:I don't know if I want to take them on that.
Speaker 1:You know, when we're tested and love is put on the line and we're facing hate, you'll be surprised what we can do. Yeah, did you see the video of Gavin Newsom and Trump? Went to LA with the wildfires and everything else to address that and Gavin Newsom wasn't invited. But Gavin Newsom met him on the tarmac and Alpha mailed him. He did the thing where he would not let go of Trump's hand, pulled him close. It looked like he was saying, hey, this is my state, this is how we're going to do this, and then he kissed Melania.
Speaker 2:And she leaned in for it. It wasn't. She's like oh, I'll take my hat off for you, man.
Speaker 3:From a journalistic perspective. Man, you guys are like at the queen's buffet here you I mean you'll be, you'll have fodder for days well, I mean 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:The only thing that that I'm fearful of is, you know, when he starts coming after the media because anderson cooper's kind of bent down to it, because cnn told him so bill maher was surprisingly easy on him. I don't think they know who we are. Oh, facebook certainly does what really? They banned yeah, they censored our podcast, the algorithms.
Speaker 4:I didn't know that well, I'm not. I think it will be triaged through the lens of his ego.
Speaker 3:So whatever is going to bruise it or damage it or or get in his way first, is what he'll go after. Um, I don't think we matter yet and until it gets big enough and our voices get loud enough. But you know, every true grassroots beginning of anything worthwhile starts there. But I mean, the idea of controlling the media and controlling the information is, you know, really, really scary. And so there's. You know, I believe in manifesting, I believe in putting things out there, and the time has come for some new technology. And so I'm manifesting someone out there that looks at Google or, you know, amazon, and goes, yeah, I know how to set that up. So I'm throwing it out there Because we need something new, something we can rely on and truth-based, but all the tech companies are in bed with it now, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yikes.
Speaker 3:Some scary changes but, with chaos comes a lot of new.
Speaker 1:Some scary changes, but with chaos comes a lot of new. So one thing, like I think all five of us are pretty empathetic people and I was thinking about this this week it all just feels so heavy because empathetic people, you know you can meet somebody and you either can tell you have a connection or, if they don't like you, you can meet somebody and you either tell you have a connection or, if they don't like you, you can sense it. You know you're just like all right, this person you got. It's a vibe, it's this feeling that empathetic people have, yes, and and like you're watching the news about the wildfires, I had to shut it off because I was just feeling so sad about it. You know, yes, and I think that's just. I don't know how we cope with that, with this Like it seems like he's doing this to be intentionally cruel, just to beat us down and overwhelm us.
Speaker 3:I honestly think that it is a distraction. It is meant to shake us up. It is a distraction. It is meant to shake us up. It's meant to to. You know kind of, you know that that, what is the the animals do that? The puffing, you know sticking out your chest and like, you know that that, uh, the, the, the man behind the curtain, you know roaring the big Oz head, you know type of of bravado.
Speaker 3:But I have to, I have to rely, and I and I, I know, I know for a fact, because I can look around and prove it that there are good people that believe in love and diversity and tolerance and love their babies for whoever they define themselves to be, that are not going to just sit back and let this define them. You know these are some very loud, boisterous and wrong voices and it just wakes up all of the good people that you know we sit around going, hey, we don't want to start anything because we're good people. That's what good people do, and you know the time is coming where it's time to speak up and balance that. There are good people up there that have been planning for the possibility of you know the, the, the daycare, returning to the white house and um, and so there's there's things that we also don't know about, that are in play to help keep this contained, or at least um have that. I, I just I. I believe in good and I believe in the goodness of people and and I know, I know for a fact that all the way up through our government, there are people that believe and and are fighting for, you know, the rights of, of trans and and our lgbtqia plus community and and and making sure that we're putting love first.
Speaker 3:And it is some really, really scary times. But, you know, it's also if we look around right now, the people that we are surrounding ourselves with, the lives that we are living, is still same and still the same goodness, and we're all out there hurting same goodness and we're all out there hurting and with. I have to believe with when we think about I you know when, when we faced COVID and I was still in Kingman at the time and I, you know, I was a teacher and it was terrifying and nobody knew what to do and nobody could find freaking toilet paper, but what started to happen was Facebook. In our local feeds got flooded with people saying if you can't get out of the house, I'll bring you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If your kids don't have lunch because they're not at school, I'll bring you lunch. And you know this was unprompted. This was just people being human and caring for each other, and so you know, if this gets really scary, this is also what we have to look for, because there is power in the numbers and power and love, and so it's I.
Speaker 3:That's where I have to put my faith and I have to be really selective of what I am putting in my consciousness. And I had to unplug because I I came from Southern California, that's my home, and you know I've been watching it burn and just it's awful and and watching kind of my my country right now burn a little. Um, I have to. I have to for my own mental health to be able to stay healthy and balanced. I have to. For my own mental health to be able to stay healthy and balanced, I have to really be selective of what I'm putting in a headline at a time and sit in in district meetings and talk about how do I deal with it, when do this to our babies? You know and, and, and, and. Then have to relax and unwind and sit and meditate and realize this is all too just temporary and the pendulum always swings back and we've been in hate and ugliness and greed for a really long time. So when it does swing back it's going to be amazing.
Speaker 3:And so that's where I have to put all my faith and my thoughts, because otherwise, as an empath and you know everybody has this feeling, and I liken it to like when you walk into a room and you suddenly realize that you've walked into somebody having an argument they're not talking, that you know nothing's happened, it's, it's quiet, but you just have that kind of that mojo of like, oh, I walked into something.
Speaker 3:It's, it's that feeling, but for empaths the volume, the intensity and the sensitivity is turned up. I mean I can't watch violent movies because my whole body reacts to, you know, watching violence and or going through really traumatic things, watching it happen. I can feel it in my body. If I'm standing next to someone who's struggling, I can take on and feel that struggle. And I know in my brain it's not mine, yet my body is reacting and feeling that struggle. And I know in my brain it's not mine, yet my body is reacting and feeling that. And so, yes, that heaviness is everywhere, because everyone is scared and everyone's on edge and everyone doesn't know what to expect, and and so, yeah, I, I have to come above first and I have to start every day with everything that I have right now that I'm grateful for, and everything that's in my life right now that is positive, and I just have to cling on to that because otherwise it's too much.
Speaker 1:It's just too much. Yeah, I know, stone and I have, you know, curtailed our news, like watching the news, physically watching the news, and I haven't done it since the election other than during the wildfires. I watched it for a couple days. I find that I'm going to consume my news through the late night talk show hosts. You know like, okay, let me just have a laugh while I try to digest this.
Speaker 3:We're counting on you to pull us through, Come on.
Speaker 1:Colbert Come on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm all about the comedy. Right now too, I think I'm kind of doing the whole. There's a quote by Lennon about that Don't react. I'm going to mess up the quote. I don't know it word for word, but it's about don't react violently, because they know how to handle you with that. But if you like, laugh in their face, they don't know what to do with that kind of thing. Like I feel like that's where I'm at.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm just gonna laugh at all of them, just keep laughing, laughing, laughing at all of it, laughing at ourselves, for you know, I just, yeah, laughing at all of it's gonna help, um, and also approaching it with love. I mean the only way and and it feels so weird and I'm having to really embrace this is the only way we're gonna combat this with love. And you know, quite honestly, I'm I'm worried about his mental health and I I, who love and care for people very deeply that are suffering with mental issues I really strongly believe that this country needs to embrace his welfare and question it and love him right out of office, right.
Speaker 1:That's going to be a tough one for me.
Speaker 3:It is really, really tough and I have to just remember that a lot of damage creates personalities like that. And then I have to. You know, thinking as a teacher, you know it takes a lot of some really rough stuff to have created someone that believes the way that he believes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is a very unloved man. I mean I I got that impression during his first term, before he was even elected.
Speaker 3:I'm like that's somebody who really has no love, right, and anyone without it, yeah, their self-purpose, their worth is in money and how much they have and how much they can you know. Put it in people's face. That is a very empty, hurting, emotionally damaged person that their worth has to equate what they have or who you have or who? Knows their name. I mean it's really quite sad and I send love because it's got to be that painful to have to feel that way and be defined by your dollar sign or your perceived dollar sign.
Speaker 2:I know people personally in my life that are kind of like that and I like I feel sorry for them, Like I kind of distance myself from them though, because it's like I can't help you. I mean I don't know what to do. I mean, cause they are there. I know a few people like that that it's all about like money, money and the name and everything and name dropping other people and whatnot. Yeah, it's sad, you feel bad for them and you can tell they're not happy. People Like these are not happy folks, Exactly.
Speaker 3:I'm going to totally date myself but, dear Abby, I'm having a codependent, narcissistic relationship with my country. Please help, what can I do?
Speaker 1:Oh my God, have you had being a teacher? Have you had this yet? And thank you for doing that. That's one of the best jobs anyone can ever do. But have you had any kids come up to you over the past couple weeks that are afraid or unsure of what's going on? You know?
Speaker 3:thankfully I have not yet and I say thankfully kind of nervously, because I know that they're aware and thinking and feeling, but I haven't had a student come and talk about it yet. We have had conversations at a faculty and a staff level of what would happen. What would it look like if they entered the building, what we would do to respond. And you know, having to sit through a meeting like that, it's just it's so surreal and Orwellian. Through a meeting like that, it's just it's so surreal and Orwellian. And then I have to just you know, kind of pull back from that and say, okay, it's, this is just temporary, but yeah, I mean it's a difficult place to be in because you know my hands are tied ethically about what I can discuss and talk about and offer and and you know there's got to be a separation about what I believe you know in my core and and what I'm and how I'm sharing information. I've got to really make sure that I'm not putting my bias into it when I talk to kids or when they ask about options.
Speaker 3:But the deeper we go into this, the harder it is, because I, you know, if they ban pride flags and they ban, you know, representation of that. This is a safe space and you can be, you know, whoever you are with me. It's not going to happen. And if that means means I have to lose my job, if that means I have to, you know, stand on on my, my little soapbox and start screaming, then so be it, because the right now, in all of these messages, love has to be number one, and and both me as an individual, both the organization that I am a member of which is freemomhugsorg we are here and we will not pack down. And we, you know, we are here, ready, you know, armed and ready, you know, to hug this out and be here and get through this together, and that's what it's going to take.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's some scary times, right? I mean because you know, and this just hit me, like it could be a real thing, like they could not give permits to Mojave Pride this year. You know and base it off of, you know this kind of rhetoric.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. Then we connect and we do backyardsyards and we do whatever we need to do and we will, you know, love it. There is and I threw this and being connected with prides and being in this movement, being with free mom hugs. There is such power in these armies of moms and dads and parents and people that are just saying no way enough, we're not, we're not, we're no way enough, we're not, we're here to protect, we're here to love and we're putting that first and we'll be ready to do whatever we need to do. It's scary. I'm on Facebook and I'm watching in Mojave County. You know them posting things that are being canceled or moving to Zoom, and you know it's fear-based and it's scary, but thankfully we still live in a civilization that we can connect with each other and if this creates new avenues to be able to share and communicate, it's necessary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean to tell the truth. I get a little bit like oh shit, should I really be putting these thoughts out on the airwaves? You know what I mean, it's so weird, we have to think that way.
Speaker 4:yes, I saw a thing that was like don't comply in advance to fascism, yeah well, yeah, like I did think know, yeah, like like.
Speaker 1:I did think that, but I did I did think about that and I was like well, maybe we should back off and, you know, discuss other things, but at the same time I don't want people telling me what I can and cannot say, yeah, it's like this tricky thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's like this tricky thing. Yeah, we were promised, we were allowed freedom of speech.
Speaker 1:We were promised that. That's the first one you know.
Speaker 3:And for a reason I read somewhere, as a social studies teacher, I read somewhere that you know that's kind of a big thing in our country that we should be allowed to do. You know somewhere I read that Right In some book.
Speaker 2:you know, you know there's something out there.
Speaker 3:I don't know, maybe it was a feed or a post or something, but yeah, I mean, this was literally the foundation of our country. And you know, I have to remember too that the majority of conservatives are not these crazy radicalful, racist. You know extremists that don't give a shit about laws and they want to do whatever they want to do and they want to do it their way. You know the toddlers of their political party. The majority of them. They want a good life, they want safe families, they want education for their, they want to be able to flourish in our country and you know, yes, is it.
Speaker 3:Is there an imbalance in you know, in terms of economics, of you know who gets the lion's share?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, but the majority of them are not hateful, and so, when these things start to roll out, there's going to be a lot of people that are going to be displaced from their own party because what they were promised, or what they thought this was going to be, is not what this is, and they're going to need to be received with love, because we've got to be able to put our, our actions, where what are, what we're preaching, and these people are going to need to know, like, hey, we are not against anybody, we just want equality, we want love, we want, we want everyone to be able to just live in peace and not have to define you know who they are, what they are, what they do, who they love by any one standard but their own, and not have to be, you know, chastised or discriminated against for it like this is, you know, and and when these people are coming in, going, this is not okay that we've got to be ready to accept that with love too, because that that's going to happen.
Speaker 2:It's, it's, it's just a matter of time well, yeah, there there's a bunch of them that are already mad about all those pardons.
Speaker 3:Like even on that side they're yeah and they need to start speaking up and they need to start being a voice because they are not alone. My own father, before he passed, was, you know, a conservative his whole life and you know it's. There's a whole section of people of shifting and a lot of redefining and I have to believe it's all for the greater good and we're working through this Now.
Speaker 1:Kat, you kind of you know you totally agree with that right, kind of shook your head during that Like the accepting, like showing compassion back right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm like you're better than I am.
Speaker 2:Kat's still mad, but you should be. You know what, like everyone should be, whatever. I feel like that police union.
Speaker 4:That's all upset now. I feel like even now, if they were to do it over, they'd still vote for the fucker, and that's what pisses me off?
Speaker 2:Probably, yeah, I know.
Speaker 4:And I feel like there's a lot of people like that and it's really hard.
Speaker 2:I think the only reason that that police union came out and said something was like that they got backlash. You know, they got so much backlash saying that Right I think it's just words, I think it's just.
Speaker 4:I don't even know that I really mean it. They mean it, you know. I don't even know that I really mean it.
Speaker 2:They mean it.
Speaker 4:You know, I don't feel like whenever they came out and said something against it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like okay, good for you, but I don't, I don't really believe you like it's kind of like an apology that's like, yeah, whatever, I don't really, I don't believe you, like when you're a little a little kid and the other kid's mom makes them say you're married.
Speaker 3:And you just know that. Like there is no sincerity, there whatsoever?
Speaker 4:Yes, like that Just like that. It feels like an insult to my intelligence which pisses me off even more honestly. Yeah, Exactly that. They expect me to fall for the thinking. It's sincere, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm trying to equate it to them though, because when Biden won, I mean, a lot of them thought it was stolen and whatever. But I'm trying to think like what was so bad that they thought their whole world was crashing down.
Speaker 4:They were feeling like us they were told to, they were propagandized by, you know, orange Hitler that it was really bad for them and he was going to come save them. And they're dumb enough to believe it he denied that.
Speaker 1:You know, Biden even won and he still won't admit to this day. But the conservatives thought the world was falling down. I'm trying to think. I'm like what was so bad? What really happened? That was so bad.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that you're absolutely correct. It's the propaganda that we, as liberals, we want to put everybody on drugs, make everybody gay, defund the police, complete anarchy, take all the money. You know the ridiculousness of the way that we are being portrayed of what we want as snowflakes, as you know bleeding heart liberals. You know whatever term as as the woke generation. You know, however they, they slander us that it's, it's just fear.
Speaker 4:It really is truly just fear and propaganda and it is like a generation or a whole country of people with like low self-esteem and self-loathing and they're projecting their self-loathing by hating other people and he appeals to their hate that understands how both media works, how politics works, how business works and how all of those back alley shady deals work.
Speaker 3:And I liken it to that kid in the classroom that won't listen and when you tell him you need to sit down, and well, I don't see it written down that I have to sit down. Why do I have to get in line? Written down that I have to get down, you know. Why do I have to get in line, you know. And so we have to create new rules to kind of manage this one, you know, out of control child and kind of that's where we are politically right now.
Speaker 2:I gotta comment on the what was so bad, because I had to go to the bathroom real quick, but what was so bad for them? I gotta go by what I see. And after Trump won the election, the majority of the people that I interact with on a daily basis on my route took down the fuck Biden signs, the fuck Biden flags and the Trump flags and they replaced them with brand new American flags, which great, great you know. So I got to say they just I don't know if it's fair to categorize them as this, but I think they just really hate Democrats. I do.
Speaker 2:I think they just really hate the left so much, for whatever reason, Because it's like. It seems to me like they went back to oh, finally, we've got America back and I don't have to, and maybe they even know in their mind how ridiculous he is, and it's like, oh, I can take down the Trump flag because it's a little embarrassing and I can finally put the American flag back up because I'm no longer in protest against the left. I mean, I really, I really there's something there to that, Because it's a ton of people who did this.
Speaker 1:It's not like it was just a few here and there well, the interesting point on that why do they hate democrats now? Why is woke a four-letter word?
Speaker 2:right it. I mean, I don't know be I I don't know how it's an insult. I don't know how it's an insult. I don't know how woke got to be an insult. And woke is something that's layered, because to me, woke means that I know history and I know like what being on the right side of history versus being on the wrong side of history is Okay. That's what it means to me, is okay, that's what it means to me. But to a good majority of people who hate woke, they started out using it as basically a slur to black folks, because that was like something that you know that was used a lot in that community. You know you need to get woke or whatnot. So they took it and they used it as an insult to insult um, almost it seems like they did it to like insult white people who were being on the side and they felt like maybe those white folks had lost their way because you, oh, you're going to side with those folks I feel like covid was a huge catalyst to people like to the republicans and their mindset because, like I think they blame you know again, it goes back to people not liking to be told what to do and they they were so upset about like mandate, mask mandates and all the stuff but that happened during trump, though yeah, but they blamed democrats for it yeah, that's how woke is so layered, though they think that that is woke, I noticed that that was also like a shift that happened where it seemed like people went farther away from trusting science and experts and started distrusting the medical community and whatnot, and they started putting their
Speaker 1:trust instead in billionaires and people that were well off, or Joe Rogan became an expert on it, even though he was a comedian.
Speaker 4:Anything they don't like, they call woke Anything they don't like, they categorize it as woke Because now it seems like they have, they shifted, you know into, just like putting their full trust into tech, bro, oligarchy, you know, billionaires, and I think I don't know.
Speaker 2:They're all into fucking bitcoin and crypto and they're going to lose their asses. The billionaires are going to make tons of money off of it.
Speaker 1:The regular folks are going to lose their asses. Everybody that was investing in the Trump.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're going to continue to lose their asses.
Speaker 4:They have an extreme distrust of government and science and experts and they transferred that Displaced trust Into trusting like Corporations and wanting to privatize Everything. And he appealed to that Like thinking that he's not part of the government Even even though he's like the head of the government.
Speaker 1:So this goes back to a conversation I was having with somebody else, like is Trump the system, or is this Trump's fault, or is he just like a symptom of the problem Trump's fault or is he just like a symptom of the problem? And I think the problem was in part due to social media, because everybody's allowed to speak up, voice your opinions on social media. Everybody's got a voice. Everybody's an expert.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I think I think Trump took that ball and ran with it yeah and now he comes out and says stuff that no, well, no politician would ever say. He does stuff that no politician would ever do being a politician so supposedly shakes up the so-called status quo now, even though he's creating an even worse now.
Speaker 1:You always know, you always know, you always know politicians will tell you whatever they want you know to win. You know we always know. Years back george carlin will tell you whatever they want you know to win. You know we always know. Years back George Carlin could tell you politicians always lie. It's all bullshit. The fucking corporations control everything. This has always happened. But social media comes along and everybody's got that opinion. Trump comes along. He says stuff out loud about Obama and then everybody feels emboldened to be able to say that, and then he's a liar. And then you get the people all parroting his lies. And then you get distrust in science. You know science is science.
Speaker 4:Facts are facts yeah it probably did start with social media and then COVID just like escalated it, yeah.
Speaker 1:but then this is the first administration you got Kellyanne Conway. Well, these are alternative facts. No, there's no alternative fact. A fact is a fact.
Speaker 3:You know, the frightening thing is a lot of my background educationally is in multicultural education and making sure that the curriculum being taught in the classroom is anti-bias and anti-racist. And you know, one of the things that I remember doing with my own children in LA is I took them to the Museum of Tolerance and it's an incredible place. If you've not been, you need to experience it. But what they do it is in Los Angeles. It's been a long time since I've been there. It's right off the freeway but it's. I can send you the information. But what they do is they walk you through Hitler's rise to power and they do it through showing you examples of the propaganda, showing you examples of muddying the water between what's the truth and what's not muddying, you know, raising the fear of it. And then they laid the parallel, and this was many years ago, before in fact he even announced his. You know, I think he was, I think he had announced his presidency, but they, you know, were lining these things up and it just was exactly kind of the playbook of fascism and, you know, dictatorship, and you know it's very, very frightening.
Speaker 3:And to answer that question in terms of that woke, I think it is a fear response because when we look at what the what you know I am, I will completely say I am a woke individual because I believe that we are all one. It is completely. You know, I'm one of those people that you know have to question whether capitalism is serving us, whether our uh, you know current the way that things are happening. You know I am, I am woke, and but what am I doing? I'm questioning the systems of power that are in place. I am questioning how things are running and why they are running like this and why I can't work a 40-hour job and afford a place to live. You know asking these questions to people, to groups, to demographics, to organizations, to corporations that are holding that money, that are exploiting that power and that system. When people start to question it, when people start to question it, when people start to say, hey, wait a minute, you know they're going to do anything they can to try to re-establish that power.
Speaker 1:And so the idea of being woke as being something negative that I think it's all fear yeah, I mean by the by the way, by the pure definition of the word, it means you're awake and aware isn't it funny how they have so many guns and they're still so afraid.
Speaker 2:I'm like that that's what I don't get about those people. I'm like how are you still this afraid? I?
Speaker 4:think. I think it's like the one common ground if there, if you could claim there is one between like all of us here, I think and the maga people, is that like everybody can pretty much agree that the system as it currently was doesn't operate in everybody's best interest all the time, like there's plenty of work that could be done, you know, with like there's a lot of bureaucracy and government and frustration.
Speaker 4:But that's, that's socialism they've got throw the baby out with the bathwater syndrome, where it's like instead of working on what's there and making it better, they want to just throw it away and burn it all down and start over like I don't think. I think that they don't. I don't like they're in denial about how yes, it can get worse than like it well yeah, yeah, if you burn it all down, you get rid of everything.
Speaker 2:You get rid of the good necessarily good too. It isn't necessarily good.
Speaker 4:It means they could replace it with something worse.
Speaker 1:And yes it can get worse. It's ridiculous and, Kat, you're right, the Democrats are to blame too for this mess.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like you have to look at where we're at in our accountability, and the more you listen to.
Speaker 1:Bernie Sanders, the more you really listen to Bernie Sanders. He was right. He's right about everything.
Speaker 2:Because Bernie has policies that are more relatable to like either an FDR Democrat or an Eisenhower Republican. I mean, this is how policies used to be. Then we got neolibs and neoconservatives. I mean that's what happened. They're no longer serving what actually worked for this country the New Deal stuff worked.
Speaker 4:It helped people on our level, the MAGA people have an extreme disdain for corporate Democrats.
Speaker 2:They want to go back to what happened right before the Depression. That's what we're headed back towards.
Speaker 4:They're brainwashed into not realizing that they're throwing out one system for a whole different system that's going to exploit them.
Speaker 1:Well, on Snow's point about depression, what led to depression was the tariffs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the oligarchy.
Speaker 4:History is important and history always repeats itself.
Speaker 1:It always repeats itself.
Speaker 3:Always, and it's usually in 80 year cycles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the pandemic and we are at the foothold and it's usually in 80-year cycles. Yeah, the pandemic, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:And we are at the foothold of the next civil rights movement and we get to, you know, be able to redefine what it looks like, and redefine now. Is that going to happen in the next four years? Not out loud.
Speaker 4:I just hope it moves on to that positive part quickly and doesn't stay in right, right, right.
Speaker 1:How long is this right? Right because we do have to go through that cycle cycle I think it's gonna be rough yeah, we have a while.
Speaker 4:Yeah, because that's why I gotta laugh silver lining is like maybe the worst it is, which like I don't really want to happen, but part of me is like maybe, if it is really bad, it'll wake some of these apathetic idiots yeah that's, that's it eventually will resistance to it but if it gets bad enough, the worst it is, the quicker they'll wake up the problem they will be getting woken
Speaker 1:the problem problem with the cycle, though, is that we're going to have to go through the Depression. Yeah, we're going to have to go through a rise of an evil dictator. Now, I'm not saying that's the person.
Speaker 4:I hope it doesn't last too long.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying but the story is really similar.
Speaker 2:You're not saying the H word, I'm not saying it, you're not saying it.
Speaker 1:But I watched that four-part documentary on Netflix and it was eerily similar.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it was six parts.
Speaker 4:I hope the swing of the pendulum happens sometime in my lifetime at least, I hope that it swings back to the positive end before my life.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good point, because our attention spans are a lot shorter now. So, maybe it'll just be like a really quick depression and then a really quick dictator.
Speaker 4:I never thought about that. You know, let's fast track our dictatorship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's get the TikTok version of the depression and the dictatorship out of the way.
Speaker 2:Move this shit along. Move it along. We'll order the.
Speaker 3:Teemu version. Maybe it'll just be smaller and not last very long. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And if we don't like it we can just swipe up to the next one. All right, done with this, bye-bye.
Speaker 3:Dad making a game show so you want to be dictator and we can vote whether we want that to happen. You know, we never know. I recently read something actually this morning um on facebook and it was actually kind of put this whole conversation into some really eye-opening um perspective and it says there's a weird panic spreading among some of our, my progressive friends and uh, these aren't my words. I don't want this confused with the legitimate fears that immigrants have and children of trans families have. These folks and many of the others on Trump's list are being deliberately targeted. I'm talking about my friends who are successful, affluent, living in deeply democratic cities and states.
Speaker 3:There is a sense that the world is being torn apart. It just isn't. If you woke up to discover that the Republican Party has dangerous ideologies investing it, when didn't they? If you are disturbed by the Supreme Court all of a sudden, when was it you remembered the Supreme Court on the side of diverse populations and working people? If you're shocked by the timid response by self-identified suburban progressives or the complicit actions of the few intellectually subjugated ethnic minorities, when did you live in a world that had all people of color sharing a Coke and singing together in perfect harmony? That has not.
Speaker 3:This has been America my entire life. Little has changed. Rich oligarchs and their syncophants are doing evil, undemocratic things. White supremacists are coopting law enforcement. Ivy League schools aren't accepting fair amounts of women, people of color and folks with less common sexual expression. Big shocker. The next thing I'm going to read is that water is wet and it's because of Trump. In all caps, in some overly caffeinated Bernie Bros style post. Yes, this is America, so fight. Stop buying Teslas, leave X, insult Zuckerberg on meta and boycott something. Do it all if you need to, but the chicken little act about this falling sky is not what we need. Donald Trump is a more pathetic Woodrow Wilson. Elon Musk is a South African knockoff of William Randolph Hearst. Yes, he's a fascist. So was Henry Ford, walt Disney, adolf.
Speaker 4:Coors Henry.
Speaker 3:Ford, walt Disney, adolf Coors. We have a lot of terrible, awful, dreadful, violent people in America, just like we did yesterday and the day before, but we also have extraordinary progress when we act like committed adults and hold firm to the work of pushing our country forward. Anyway, as people who oppose Trumpism, we have genuine urgency and real considerations, but we also have to do the dishes and clean our litter boxes and kiss the ones we love. I cannot pretend to be terrified for every waking hour for the next four years of this. I need sober, rational, engaged actions, coordinated among serious and reasonable people who are ready to come to these challenges without spiraling or freaking out every time the phone buzzes with news about these assholes.
Speaker 3:We lost. Get used to it and work towards better. We don't need another year of I can't believe this is happening. Of course it happened. So pull yourself together and start getting better at opposing it. We didn't get here because trump and vance are magically endowed with supernatural diner, diner, dinism. We got here because we lost and box wine. Hysterics from friday night news junkies and armchair revolutionaries doesn't seem to work. Jill stein isn't coming to save you pussy. Yeah, opposing tyranny was always exactly this difficult. So get tougher now, right now, and I believe these words deeply.
Speaker 1:I know that was good.
Speaker 2:Who can top that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, but that's exactly the point. And if you go back and I was doing this instead of watching the news, I was going back and watching old George Carlin specials and that man was a prophet. He saw this all coming, but it was going on since, you know, before George Carlin. George Carlin was just eloquent enough to be able to express his outrage at the whole system, exactly. With a sense of humor.
Speaker 2:He made it funny.
Speaker 1:That's what we try to do on this podcast. We try to be funny. We're unsuccessful most of the time.
Speaker 2:We will never be, carlin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll never be Carlin.
Speaker 2:Nobody ever will be Carlin, though yeah, Carlin is Carlin for a reason.
Speaker 1:Okay. So on that note, we'll wrap this one up. Sandra, just stay on the phone with us for just a minute after we wrap this. Absolutely Okay, all right. So on that note, we will see you next time. Bye y'all, bye. Thank you everybody.
