This is the FCB Podcast Network. A praas Masoda day that we won't with bath then we won't to say, oh we gott it does. No one can take that. Owen. This gonna be okay? A preas masodad that we won't with say then we won't to say oh we got it does. No one can take that Owen say don't be okay. Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Just Listen to Yourself with Kia Davis. I am your host, Kira Davis, and this is a podcast where we take hot topics, hot button ideas, and we discuss the talking points on those topics, and we draw those talking points all the way out to their logical conclusion. Today is a Jilt White plus, so that means I get to talk to somebody instead of just pretending to talk to you, my dear listeners. And today I have with me a colleague but also a personal longtime friend, Susie Moore. She's a deputy managing editor at Red State, my former employer, and she is also an on air host for terrestrial radio out of Saint Louis News Talk Saint Louis. Please welcome to the show. Susie Moore. Welcome, Susie. Thanks. I'm really glad to be here with you. You know, this is one of my favorite podcasts. I know it is, and Susie is also a super fan of our Hallmark podcast, A very merry podcast. When it take the opportunity, Susie to apologize to you for no new content, but the season came in the middle of a personal crisis, so we had to stop recording. But it is not dead because we love doing it, so we'll be picking it back up. Good, good, No, Susie is a super fan. We'll tell me. Susie. Let's talk about that for a second. Because you are one of the most practical women that I know, and you are very level headed and intelligent and realistic. But you love Hallmark movies and you love our podcast Hallmark Movies. Why I feel like people when people meet you, they wouldn't know that about you. I know, people are always surprised to find out that I love Hallmark so much. What is it about you? That is a good question. So you know, it's a chicken and egg thing because I actually got into Hallmark because of the podcast. I was listening to the podcast because I'm such a fan of you and a million I love you guys both, and I knew I would always be entertained by it. So I started listening to the podcast even without being a Hallmark viewer, and that got me intrigued enough to start watching, and it didn't take too long before I was. I think that the appeal of it is it's comforting. It is reliable, it is sane, even if it's cheesy and saccharin. It is normal and positive and uplifting in a world that seems completely out of control, and so for me, it's a great way to just sort of take a breath, take a step back from all the chaos that I basically swim in all day long, every day, and just kind of enjoy It's a good escape. Yeah, there is something very infectious about it. I agree. I started watching Hallmark because I like bad movies, and it's one of my favorite things to do is to sit down and watch a terrible movie and just kind of make fun of it, like Mystery Science Theater style, and so the right Hallmark is great fodder for that, and it's part of what we do on the podcast. But funny thing started happening as I was watching more and more Hallmark movies. I wanted to watch more and more Hallmark movies, and then I became an actual serious fan. And now I'll just sit down and watch them with pure enjoyment. And sometimes I'm still making fun of them, but other times I'm actually, you use the perfect word, I'm comforted. Particularly through COVID. It was really nice to sit down to a Hallmark ran their Christmas slate through COVID to help people, and it was really nice to do that. And I think you're right. I was I talking to my daughter the other day. She's sixteen, and she was watching a show. She was watching, oh, gossip Girl. And I don't know if you remember gossip Girl from the early two thousands, but that's where Blake Lively started. It was a CW's show and she started watching it now she's sixteen. To her, that show is old, it's from before she was born. And there is a new gossip Girl. There's a rebooted Gossip Girl. I think it's on show Time and it's got all of the checks, all the boxes, does little things. She's not watching that show, she's watching the old version of it. Why because I think there's a certain comfort level in it. It feels like a simpler time, even though it's crazy to say fifteen sixteen years ago was a simpler time, but I think it feels like a simpler time, even to her. So I don't think it's just us, Susie. I think a lot of people are reaching out for comfort out there and normality. I think I think you're absolutely right about that. My own daughter's twenty two and some of her favorite TV viewing is or that's not TV viewing anymore, but streaming and stuff is. I mean, she loves Heartland, she loves things like that, So there's definitely an appeal and it isn't just to people of our generation, but also younger people who recognize that there was a simplicity to it. And you know, I mean it's easy to poke fun at Hallmark and the fact that it does exist in this sort of little bubble, but you know, I think it's I think it's refreshing to have that as an alternative to what we deal with on a regular basis. And it kind of is a I think a reminder of you know, maybe not it's maybe not all ideal, might be a little a little too much, but it's just sort of a good reminder of maybe what we should aspire to, just in terms of having lives that are a little bit less chaotic and a little bit more full of sort of lightness and love. Yeah. Well, in light of that, in this discussion, I feel like it transitions very nicely into something I did want to chat a bit about today, which is that very quote controversial speech from Harrison Bucker Kansas City cheats. And I mean, I don't know about your Facebook, but my Facebook is just littered with my feminist friends friends come about how he's trying to return women to the Stone Age and what an irresponsible speech it was. And I thought it was. I'm sure we quite agree. I thought it was very refreshing, and I liked the idea of celebrating the uniqueness of womanhood and particularly motherhood. And I liked the idea of simply I feel like it was a simplified idea. Whereas other commencement speakers might come up and tell you about all the things you can do with his career, he was framing this as a life thing. You're moving on to life and women and you may want to be mothers and wives, and that's an elite calling, and there was a simplicity to his message. And I know that maybe not everyone's going to like it, and that's fine, you know, I don't care about that. But I think what struck me about it even more than the content of the message was just the simplicity of it, just addressing students on the most basic level about about one of the most basic aspects of humanity. That it seems like we're all so high minded these days that we forget to talk about the the very basics of life and how they matter. Right. No, I think you're absolutely right about that. That was one of those things that So he gave this speech. It was actually my daughter's graduation from college that weekend as well, so I was kind of caught up more in that, and I didn't I didn't immediately get sucked into the whole debate and drama and and congratulations. I mentioned my first thank you, thank you, very proud of her. My first instinct was and I was like you, I'm so. I'm a lawyer by trade, and so many of my Facebook friends are, for instance, my law school colleagues, so you can imagine that many of particularly the women colleagues, were all, you know, undone by what was said, and I went to find the speech because I was like, did you really say that, you know, we belong in the kitchen YadA, YadA, YadA, Because I would I could understand why that would road rough feathers. Of course he didn't actually say that, But one of the things I have to acknowledge is that his espousing of and voicing of both a faith based and a very traditional message, I have no doubt is jarring to ears that are so used to living fully in the secular world, and aren't you know, to people who don't live their lives in a faith centered way. I'm sure it's jarring, and so I understand why there was that reaction. I think that, you know, my take from what he was saying was, Look, you know you're being lied to when people are telling you that it's not okay to embrace motherhood and marriage and traditional family roles. If that's what you're called to do, if that's your vocation in your calling, you should embrace that because it is one of the highest callings. And so that's how it landed with me. But I'm also somebody who lives my life even though I haven't had that traditional experience myself. I'm someone who loves my life in a faith centered way, and I'm not you know, it's not like this is the first time I'm hearing it presented that way. So you know, I'm willing to recognize that this is not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but also recognize that that doesn't make it wrong for him to share that view. And people are getting their panties in a watt over ridiculous stuff. Yeah, panties in a watt is the delicate way to put it, because I have these people are absolutely losing their minds, and You're right, the way people are framing it, that's what's like, that's what's killing me. I shouldn't be We shouldn't be surprised. We literally work in a career in which we report on people taking things out of context, and we're heading into the election, and that's their favorite pathtime when it comes to Trump. So I know, in one respect, I shouldn't be surprised it's been In another, absolutely right. I think what bothers me the most is the lack of curiosity among people. Really, there's so many people are just willing to take that headline or the post that their friend made, and then make their judgment based on that, and they never think or even choose to go and see for themselves to see if they've got it right, to see if the way it's been framed it is correct. I guess not. We all don't have a lot of time for that. But then at least don't be sitting around being mad and all like knotted up inside over something that might not even be true, that somebody might not even have had said. But I've told this story to probably on this shelby for Susie, but I was. I have a family member who's particularly liberal. I mean that's not surprising, but very liberal hates like Trump, Trump arrangement syndrome, textbook case. And when Trump was president, everything she would post would just be related back to him. And you know, I don't have to explain to you what it was like, it's just unhinged up. Well, one day she posted a story I can't even remember what it was what it was about Trump, and I knew it wasn't true. It was about something hand said, and I knew it wasn't true because we had just reported it at Red State. We had just the whole crew was working on this story. Everybody had a different angle. It was one of those things, you know, or we're all breaking it down. So I already knew what the absolute truth was about the situation. And this person in my family, she's very intelligent, she's very educated, so I thought she would be curious to read the actual transcript. So I said, oh, yeah, that would be disturbing if somebody said that, but this is actually not true. Here, I was just reporting on this today. Here is the full context of the remarks. And it was just so are off And she said she posted under my thread. She said, I don't care if it's true or not. I believe it and that's all that matters. And that was the day. And it didn't make me mad When she said that. I actually felt a sort of relief. I thought, Okay, you know what, Yeah, there's no point in engaging in these conversations and getting upset when she posts untrue and weird stuff, because she's literally telling me she doesn't want to know the truth. She's already decided what it is, and she quite literally is fine just being the arbiter of what the truth is. And she doesn't want you to give her proof otherwise, and she at least admitted that, and I feel like that's where most people are. Well, I think you're right about that. There is some sort of it is a sort of a relief to recognize, Okay, well, my job here is done. I don't have the responsibility. It's not incumbent on me to try to if you'll forgive the metaphor lead this horse to water, because they're not going to drink it's and so I can move on and not waste the energy that that's going to result in me just you know, perpetually banging my head against the wall. It's it's sort of sad when you realize that somebody's mind is so closed that they aren't even willing to consider, you know, other possibilities. But you also recognize, okay, I it's not on me to change that for them. I'm going to go on and live my life and pursue for the truth, not my truth, and you know, hopefully some other other others will see by my example and maybe be more open to that discussion or that conversation. Yeah, I I think I'm concerned about the lack of curiosity, but you're absolutely right at some point. Yeah, everybody's got to make their own decision for themselves. That's why. That's why I do this show, you know, just to help people, encourage people to think through the ideas and then you're at least thinking about it. I probably don't ever change any minds, but I don't think that's necessarily the point. The point is to think through things, and that is very important. It's also I'm writing about this and I'm working on my second book, and it's the story of how I became a conservative and all the things I realized I was wrong about the working titles I was wrong. I don't think the publisher's going to let me publish that, but that's the working title. And I'm writing a chapter on being wrong and why don't people Why is it so hard to admit when we're wrong, because that's for everybody. I mean, my reputation in my own family is as a know it all. I think that's probably a side effect of being in this business or I don't actually see that. I don't know if it's cause or correlation, to be honest, but that's a good question. Yeah, but regardless, I am I'm one of those people. I never, you know, I never want to be wrong, like I'm going to fight you. I'm going to argue even when I know I'm wrong. And so I was asking the question, I was doing a little research on it, and the truth business that, psychologically speaking, to admit you are wrong about something is a weakness. In almost every society, to admit you're wrong is weak, and so your mind and your body really process that admission as weakness. And because we're humans were primed for survival, it feels very unnatural, it feels very vulnerable, very dangerous to admit that you're wrong, and so I don't think we understand the instinctual need to be right. It's actually a survival mechanism, and it takes a really mentally adept person to sort of short circuit that mechanism to say no, no, no, this is something that can be edifying and good for me. I don't know. I just I were not primed to want to admit we're wrong. And then you add stubbornness into that just personality wise, and so toxic combination. I think you're absolutely right about that, And your description of yourself is very much one that applies to me as well, and I was raised in a family of six, I mean, four kids and two parents, all of whom were opinionated, and you know, our dinner table conversations were very often political. Pretty much everybody in my family is the know it all, competitive, has to be right personality, and I was the youngest, and that rude, So it was you know that probably even sp me to be even more like that because I was always trying to prove myself and catch up to my older siblings. So you're right, it's it's kind of I think instinctively, it's hardwired into most of us to begin with, and then some of your family dynamics sort of set that even further, and you know, it's it's an acquired skill, I guess, to be able to take information, process it and say, you know what I was wrong about that, and not let that either, you know, turn you into a massive puddle of I don't know, insecurity or whatever. But to acknowledge that to other people, and then that kind of butts up against the the theme of not bending the knee, which I think is an important one too, because you have to kind of balance acknowledging when you might be wrong against just cow telling to whatever's popular, and you know, standing your ground on stuff. Yeah, that's a that's a really good point. Hey, y'all, this is Ali Michelle. I'm a conservative social media influencer that has been censored by big tech. So I broke away from the restrictions and started a podcast called pillow Talk with Ali Michelle. My show is a space to have real conversations about the issues that impact our everyday lives without the fear of being canceled by the big tech tyrants. Subscribe to pillow Talk with Ali Michelle and FCB podcast on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or wherever you getch podcasts. That's Ali A l I. I come check out my show. I'll see you there. Not only I was thinking about this, I'm trying to organize my thoughts because I'm moving into brain fog territory here. Cuc hitting fifty in July, so it's a brain fog is for real. I feel like I'm pregnant. I know, it's very strange. It's a very strange phase of life. Anyway. Yeah, I think that it reminds me of something I was complaining about on air last night. I filled in for Stacy Washington on Sirius and I was chatting with the audience about women in leadership. I think I was talking about corporate and I said, there's too many women in the boardrooms. So one of the reasons why we're getting these progressive leaning policies coming out of capitalists corporations is because women are nurture centered and compassionate. That those are our general qualities for women womanhood. We have high levels of nurturing and high levels of compassion, which works really well for being a woman, you know, and it works really well for being a mother and a wife particularly, So we need those skills. They're very important skills even in the boardroom. They're important skills. But when that's all that's in the boardroom, compassionate people and nurturing people, it's difficult for them to stay the course even when they might be wrong. And sometimes when you have a leader, you need a leader who can push forward even when they are wrong, and they need and you need to know when it's time to stand and say we're not actually going to talk about this, it doesn't matter. I'm moving forward with this plan because that's what's right. And you all are going to get online and you're going to do it, and that that's like a very male leadership quality. And so I think sometimes we were over feminizing things, not because women are bad, but because our instinctual qualities are not necessarily primed for the hard work and the precarious decision making involved in leaning large institutions or entire nations or stuff like that. I know that it's a controversial thought, but the older I get, the less I care about that. That's fair. That's totally fair. Yeah, I mean, I think there might be some wisdom to that. I mean, I think that everybody you know brings their own flavor and their own life experience to whatever arena they're in, whether it's corporate or education or media or what have you. And I think there are qualities that are uniquely feminine, just as their qualities that are uniquely male. And when it comes to leadership, those don't always. It isn't to say that woman can't lead. It is to say that some of the instincts or the default settings don't maybe lend themselves in the same way that they do for men. And so those are things that I think it's important to be mindful of. I think if you're going to be in that setting, or in any setting, you have to recognize, Okay, here are my strengths, here's where I'm coming from, here's what I'm going to lean into, and here's where that might not be the best suited for this particular role or this particular task. So that's why I'm going to bring this person in. And that's why I mean, I think that ties back into the whole argument about DEI and the lack of diversity in some of our major institutions in terms of viewpoints and thoughts people are. They kind of glom together people that all view things and operate in the same manner, and they forget to bring in people who others who have different strengths and different perspectives that are going to actually help kind of balance that all out. Yeah, balance doesn't seem to be in our vocabulary these days. It starts to me one way or the other. But I actually, yeah, no, but actually have a working theory. And it's not that groundbreaking of a theory. It's actually biblical that humans actually don't have the ability to moderate. We simply can't. We will always push hard to one extreme or the other, and you just might be lucky enough to be born into an era that's hitting more the middle of the swing than the end. But the pendulum is always swinging, and humans are helpless to stop it from swinging to one extreme or the other. I just I don't think there's what I think if we had, if we got our wish, we only elected Republicans in this country, and conservative republicans, we would still see we would see a huge unsavory swing. You know, it's there's no ideology, there's no faith or religion or personality type that can protect you against that. That is human nature. So the best we can do is to moderate in the times we live in, and and to be aware and to be vulnerable. I think that these are all the qualities that the Bible tells us. This is why Jesus was so such a counter revolutionary, because all of these ideas of being meek and admitting when you're wrong, and you know, turning the other cheek, all of these ideas were so anesthetical to the human psyche at that time and still really are. So I don't think we can moderate. I don't think human beings have the ability to moderate. But let me ask you this, Susie. As I'm talking I'm thinking because I feel crazy these days. I feel crazy. There's so much crazy going on, and COVID so knocked me over about the things I thought I knew and the things I thought were real that now I'm I'm taking in all these new all this new information, new ideas, new theories, all of this stuff, and it's making me crazy. It's so much to think about. And I think a lot of people feel that way. I have this outlet of this show and colleagues like you to talk it through with a lot of people. Don't do you get this sense that people are feeling crazy out there? Do you feel like me, Susie crazy? Or is it just me? Like maybe I need to stop watching Joe Rogan clips. No, I don't think it's just you. I think we all. I think almost everybody I talk to when we start talking about these sorts of things, expresses that sense of feeling a little unmoored and a little like the world's kind of been, you know, topsy turvy and turned upside down. So I don't think you're alone in that feeling, but I think we see it manifest daily in the in the public sphere, if you will. In terms of crime, and homelessness and just just like crazy behavior that then seems to be amplified by social media and TikTok videos and all those sorts of things, So then you're seeing it all around you and and that kind of perpetuates like in a snowball fashion. No, I think that we are in the midst of a of a very crazy, uneasy, unsettled time. And you know, you can point to all sorts of things to me, and I think to you, obviously, one of the key part components of that is the lack of faith and the lack of centering people's lives on a higher power and the sort of the natural correlations that that that come from that. Since so many people have pulled away from that and and don't look to to their faith or to God, but look either to themselves or to government or some other idol as their focus, that that's that's causing this sort of confusion and this, I mean, it seems like everything's sort of a c girl. I thine that's the truth, and that this is why when I do feel, yeah, unmoored, that's a good word for it. Unmoored, I go to the word. And I think this is very important and I think for all my listening, I know not all of you out there are people of faith, but you know, we take it to church on this show all the time. And I think, if you're out there, if you're like me, and you're feeling confused about all the different input out there, and you have every right to be confused, it's really important to go back to the Word because that's the one thing that never changes. So you need something that doesn't change. This is what is the great comfort of God. He never changes. He's always the same. Everything around us is changing, but not him. Let me switch gears here for a second, because I didn't ask this at the top of the show, but this is a question I like to ask all my guests. Now, what is one book doesn't have to be the Book, but one book outside of the Bible that has had an impact on your life, either the way you think, the way you move, the way you live. What's been one really important book. We always take the Bible out just because that's like a no brainer for a lot of people. So right, that's actually I mean, I don't get to read nearly as much as I used to just because I read all day long. So by the time, I'm like trying to wind down. If I actually seem to read, I'm like falln aestleep. So I missed that. But I would say probably one of the most important books in my I guess journey may not be the right word, but in my evolution is the is Bernie Goldberg's Bias. And the reason it was such a groundbreaker for me, or so monumental for me, was because I read it at a time where I was still fairly liberal. I, like you, grew up in a liberal family and didn't really question that a whole lot until for me it was much a little bit later. I was in my early thirties before I really started questioning and challenging my own perspective and began my transition, if you will, to conservatism. But one of the things I was doing in that time frame was deliberately challenging myself and making myself read books from people that I didn't necessarily think that I would agree with. I was pushing myself intentionally outside my comfort zone, and I happened upon Bias, and I felt so stupid afterwards that it was such a revelation to me. But in it, Goldberg lays out very clearly how media operates and the biases that are built into the media that we consume, and the fact that every source of information that we go to is it's coming through a filter of some sort. Now it may be that may not be malicious bias, it may be unconscious bias, but in any event, everything except for the word of God that we're that's coming to us from someplace else is coming through a human filter, and so it's going to have their perspective and their agenda. And I still kind of am flabbergasted that I was like thirty three or thirty four years old before I realized that, Oh, you mean the nightly news isn't just this objactor straightforward boom boom boom news, right. I was like mind blown, Mine blown. Yeah, And then I felt stupid, But no, I mean that really, that I think really shifted for me because then I was like, oh, if you recognize that, if you recognize that everything you consume, reading, listening, watching has some sort of filter and bias to it, then you were much better equipped to discern and discernment is key. I think. So, yeah, that's a great one. That's a really good one. And you're you're a fan of the show, so you know, we talk about all the time about that bias and being informed is the greatest weapon in finding good news because all news is biased. As you say, of course, we both work for rent State, where I did work and you still work for rent State. The bias is right there in the name. You know when you're coming right, and that is I think what everyone needs to do and that. I was at a funeral last year and a family member who knows what I do but doesn't really interact much on it because I'm a conservative, said well, where do I find unbiased news? Because I hear you talk about it a lot, and you know, And I said, well, what are your news news sources right now? Where do you get the bulk of your news? And she said, uh, CNN, she is a big ban of someone on I can't remember who on MSNBC, and uh whatever newspaper she's on the East coast of the Post or something. She's old, so she still gets like a hard copy of the paper. And I said, and I said, okay, do you feel that those aren't biased news sources? And she said, no, I'm aware that they that they have some sort of bias, but I feel like they do a good job of just reporting the facts. And then she said, I feel like the New York Times is probably the best source for unbiased news because I really like the kind of news you get over there. And I was like, oh, well, that's actually the worst. But this is this is She was operating from this framework of I've always been told that the New York Times is the standard for professional news delivery. Therefore I believe it. This is a professional that I was talking. This is a This woman is a doctor. She's a medical doctor, so she's highly educated. She's at the top of her field. For me to think, gosh, she doesn't even know that The New York Times curates their news, you know, I was just like, how can you not know? But you saying, Susie, and you're one of the smartest women that I know, you saying, well, in my early thirties, it didn't occur to me. I realized, Susie, while you were talking, Yeah, I guess you're right. Same here. I was early thirties when I became a conservative, so I guess, yeah, same here. But you know, this woman is a boomer. There's no excuse for her I don't know what, but there's so many people who are operating with that mindset, right, Like, here's the traditional media that I've always been NPR, PBS, I've always been told these are you know, these are the unbiased news sources, and like you saying there's no such thing. There couldn't possibly be. Yeah, And I think that I think one of the it's not necessarily an excuse, but an explanation for it, really has to do with the the bubbles that we tend to live and operate in up until, you know, at least until adulthood. Very very rarely in my life was I met with or challenged by an opposing viewpoint. Everybody in my family saw things the same way. Everybody in my social circle pretty much saw saying things the same way. And usually my instinctive reaction when I was met with something that was a challenge or different from what I was expecting was to kind of like, oh, you know, I'll turn my nose up and run the other way. And so if people operate and I mean we talk about this all the time about like the East Coast and the elite bubble, the the you know, I'm from the Midwest, so I'm fully aware of the fact that the coasts don't think I exist or that there's anything going on over here except for tornadoes right now. But but it's very easy because it's kind of self reinforcing. If the only people you ever really have any meaningful conversations with see things the exact same way as you do, you don't think you're wrong, you don't think there's another possibility because everybody agrees. So, you know, I do think that it's incumbent upon each of us to challenge ourselves and push outside our comfort zones if we want to grow and we want to have a better understanding of things. But I also understand the instinct not to do that, particularly when you're not really being prodded to by the people around you. People. Yeah, I agree with that. I just wonder, Susie, what, because, as you know, again, as a family show, I talk a lot about get out of your house, Like if you're worried about there, we've never been more divided and people hate each other. Get out of your house and go talk to your neighbors. Most of us, on a daily basis are not living this very contentious life that the media tells us. We are on social media, we are, but in real life there's still we're still polite society. May I ask the cashier how she votes before I give her my money. We talk about our day and the weather and you know, and that's how most people are relating. But there is that the idea of chatting with people who are different at least even in you know, ideology from you. How do we even have those conversations, Susie. How do we find those people? How do we engage those people? Because now we're in this situation where we are so divided along ideological lines that I'm definitely going to place the square at the foot of progressives, although conservatives are certainly guilty of this in many instances. But the idea of you even having the idea makes you someone I'm not going to normalize you by talking to you, you know what I mean. So it's like hard to have those ConfL Like I would love to have liberals on this show to talk. No one wants to come on the show. No one wants to talk to me. And I'm not the only person that says that. Even the most famous in our business they say the same thing. Dan Bongina complains about all the time. Bongino is like, I would love to have a liberal on this show and just talk about whatever, but no one wants to come on the show. So how do we have these conversations in ZUSSI is one thing to say it out loud, Yeah, we should be talking to people who don't think like us. But how well? I mean, that's an excellent question, and kind of going back to something I said before. I mean, if some if someone's not open to having that conversation, if they're like, no, I will not legitimize somebody who views the world differently. I will not have a conversation with someone who dared to vote for Donald Trump, whatever their excuse is. Okay, I mean, you're not going to get busted past that wall. They're going to have to take it down themselves at some point if they want to. But in terms of just you know, your average everyday person who may view the world differently but will have a conversation with you. You have to have the conversations and it has to be not online. You know, I love the Internet. I love technology, I live in it, but it is not conducive to human relationships and community. Not really. It can sometimes sorry, I've got a dog whining in the background, but are sometimes to facilitating meeting people, but really, face to face communication, person to person communication is what's key, and that's what it's because then you can you can really see the person. You can see their body language, you can hear their tone, you can understand where they're coming from, and you can have conversations that aren't just about things that are political in nature too, but in terms of having a political conversation with somebody you see that sees the world differently. This is something that I started trying to do a couple of years ago on a short lived well it's still a podcast. I'm sorry, my dog thinks it's time to sing. I don't know, uh. Was what my concept for my podcast was to have a conversation about a political topic, but to keep out of the conversation any reference to politician, like a particular person, party, or political philosophy. So, for instance, you could have a conversation about election integrity, but you couldn't be talking about Donald Trump or Joe Biden, or Democrats or Republicans, or conservatives or liberals, progressives. You had to just talk about the nuts and bolts of election integrity? Do you want to elections that sort of thing, And I mean it's I think if you want to have those types of conversations, that's what you have to build from. But then the the hard part of that is finding the people that want to engage on that level on a broader in a broader sense, just getting out in the world, like you said, and interacting with people, whether it's going to the neighborhood pool or going to Trivia and I or whatever, and just having normal conversations and interactions with people who then realize, oh, you know, this person's pretty cool and I enjoy spending time with them, but they do see the world differently than me. Sometimes that invites those conversations because people are naturally curious and they want to know more about it, more about it. Right, everything's relationship. I think at the end of the day, that's what it boils down to, and that's why I think that's been the was is currently the most devastating aspect of COVID and what feels like the most deliberate aspect. I've been talking about that a lot in media this past week, because only four years on now are we just now starting to see the fallout, the emotional fallout from the pandemic. A lot of us thought figured we survived it fairly well. But some of the chickens are coming home to roost four years later, particularly with this graduating class, in the high school graduating class. And I've noticed and been talking about how much easier it is to rule people who are lonely and frightened. And so, no, I don't think what was done to us in COVID was an accident or just people with good intentions. Some people work because not everybody knows what the top, what the head is doing, you know. But I do believe the idea was to isolate us from each other, which is attacked of any sort of you know, Marxist or communist plan. But all that to say that, that is proof to me that relationship is key. Again, that's biblical, right, It's why God has us go to church. It's not so that you can check it off a box and be like, Okay, I'm a good Christian, now I can go to heaven. It's because fellowship is important, because relationship is important. Relationship is key. So really, I think what you were saying, and you can expand on this and then we'll start to wrap up because I know you have to go. But relationship is key, and if you want to have those interesting political conversations with people, I think you need to have relationships first. Well yeah, I agree with that, because people have to know, they have to have a sense of who you are and have some level of trust in you and your sincerity to feel comfortable letting their guard down. If someone isn't sure where you're coming from, or they don't know your heart or have a pretty good sense of it, it's a lot harder to have meaningful conversations and to be vulnerable enough to do that. That's I mean, one of the things that I feel like, it's hm, it it kind of nags at me or where is at me? Because there are there are times when there are people that and unfortunately it's because it's these are interactions online. There are people I see people say something and I want to I want to talk to them about it, and I want to broach it with them because I want to say, look, you know me, like, do you you know if someone's let's let's make it really really simple. Let's say there's somebody who's talking going on and on about how Republicans and Conservatives are just racist, hateful people. And I feel like saying we've been fronts for twenty five years, we have had nothing but pleasant interactions with one another. Do you do you feel that about me? Do you do you think that that's what you're saying is a description of me because I am a Republican, i am a conservative? Or do you feel do you think I'm just like putting on a facade when we're interacting. You know, I want to be able to push back on that and challenge it, just to get people to think of, you know, maybe that they needed to reconsider how they're categorizing things and labeling everything. But again, that's not something that really I've found can be effectively done online. Every once in a while you might be able to kind of have some sort of meaningful exchange or connection, but for the most part, it seems like that has to come in person. Because in person, first of all, you can't just run away. I mean you could, but kind of Facebook, it's kind of harder to do that. And you you are on better behavior generally, because you're not just pounding weight or keyboard. You're actually looking at that person in the eye. So I don't know. I'm rambling at this point because I don't know if there's an easy answer to it. But I do think you're right. I think it has to start from relationship, because there has to be a certain level of trust and belief in the sincerity of the other person before you can be open to having those sort of deeper discussions that may be uncomfortable. Well, we deal with uncomfortable discussions on this show all the time. It's what we do. But talking to you is not uncomfortable, Susie. It's always a blast. I know you've got to get going, but before you go, I have one more question for you. Tomorrow the Republic falls and it is replaced. Our system is replaced by an emperor. We need an emperor, and you, Susie, are appointed Emperor of America. But it's just for one day. Republic will be restored after one day, but for twenty four hours, you have complete control. You are a god in America. You can do whatever you want. You can change any law, you can take anything away, give anything. What is one thing you do one of the first things you do as Emperor of America? And I'm going to assume that I have nice clothes instead of no clothes, is my in my emer Yes, that is a very good question. I think, Hmmm, this is gonna sound kind of nerdy or wonky, but I feel like I would decree that that we we get back to teaching like basic Civics in all of our educational institutions from kindergarten on up, because I feel like, you know, I grew up learning about sort of the not just the history of our country, but the kind of the concepts behind it and some of the philosophies that went into it, and having developing an appreciation for it, which is why I feel like I fight so hard to preserve that because I think it's really, you know, outside of God's kingdom, it's probably the best man has been able to come up with, and I think it's worth fighting for. And I feel like the reason that so few people people seem to appreciate and want to fight for it anymore because they don't even really understand it. They don't know where it even comes from. And so I think if there were only one thing that that would probably be where I would focus very good No, and it wasn't too wonky. I mean every answer that I've gotten so far has been super nerd. I thought people would be like, Oh, I would make it illegal to drive in the left lane, but nope, y'all are real fingers. I'm very shallow. I would make it illegal to leave your shopping cart in the parking lot. Oh no, that's fair, that's totally be number two, number two. Thank you. Yeah, all right, Susie. Well, I'm so glad you stop by. I know we have to let you go, but it's always a joy to talk to you. Before I let you go, let everyone know where they can find more about you and what you do online. Sure, sure, sure they can find me on social media. Usually Twitter is my main place. I I'm sorry X, and I am SMOOZIEQ on that platform. Smo s I e Q. Can find my work at RedState dot com. That's where I'm the deputy managing editor and I'm also a regular writer and contributor there, so do a lot of work there. And then you can frequently find me filling in as a guest host at Newstalk STL. That's in Saint Louis, but it's available online podcasts that sort of thing. So appreciate you having me on It's always fun to talk with you. It's always fun. And I will see you in September because we're going to hang out. So that's going to be good to get this to your phase. And I want to thank everybody for tuning in today. Don't forget to go find Susie. Don't forget if you haven't subscribed to this podcast already, just hit that button. This one easy, free thing you can do to support independent voices like my own, and then go buy my book Drawing Lines Why conservices must begin to battle fiercely in the arena of ideas, which is what we do every day on this show. So I will talk to you guys again soon, but until we may meet again every once in a while, remember just stop and listen to yourself. Opbreads as that we won't with may then we won't to say oh we gott it? Does no one get dig that? Owen it gonna be okay? Apreaders that we won't with say then we won't with say oh we got it? Does no one get dig that? Owen it gonna be okay? This has been a presentation of the FCB podcast Network, where Real Talk lives visitors online at fcbpodcasts dot com
