Politically High-Tech
A podcast with facts and opinions on different topics like politics, policy, technology especially AI, spirituality and development! For this podcast, development simply means tip, product and/or etc. can benefit humanity. This show aims to show political viewpoints and sometimes praises/criticizes them. He is a wildcard sometimes. For Technology episodes, this show focuses on products (mostly AI) with pros, cons and sometimes give a hint of future update. For Development episodes, the podcast focuses on tips to improve as a human spiritually, socially, emotionally and more. All political, AI lovers and haters, and all religions are welcome! This is an adult show. Minors should not be listening to this podcast! This podcast proudly discriminates bad characters and nothing else.
Politically High-Tech
267- Rethinking Political Narratives and Community Support
Is the term 'wokeness' really just a political weapon obscuring the real struggles of marginalized communities?" Join us as we face this provocative question head-on with Dr. Josh, a dedicated psychologist, who shares his invaluable expertise on LGBTQ+ mental health and societal dynamics. Drawing from personal stories and professional insights, we challenge stereotypes and misconceptions from all angles of the political spectrum, aiming to foster a deeper understanding and empathy for the LGBTQ+ community. Our conversation seeks to enlighten allies and promote meaningful engagement, ensuring that no voice is left unheard.
With a passion for storytelling rooted in a theater background, we navigate the intricate relationship between human behavior and societal trends. Amidst the noise of political debates surrounding "wokeness," we shift focus back to the systemic issues that truly impact queer and people of color communities. Dr. Josh and I dissect the implications of educational content bans, arguing for the importance of diverse perspectives and freedom of choice as quintessential American values. Together, we envision a future where legal recognition and societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ people are paramount, advocating for inclusive spaces beyond traditional settings to support the most marginalized individuals.
Our discussion moves beyond mere critique to a celebration of individuality and diversity. Through personal anecdotes, such as grappling with identity within a restrictive religious environment, we highlight the transformative power of embracing one’s own path. Whether it's addressing abuse stereotypes or challenging the narratives perpetuated by media and politics, our episode calls for self-critical thinking and genuine relationship-building to combat discrimination and violence. We invite you to engage with us in a respectful exchange of ideas, celebrating a world where diverse perspectives are not only accepted but cherished.
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welcome everyone to politically high tech with your host, elias. Well, I'm going to address a certain population here. I'm pretty sure I haven't covered you enough. You don't have to tell me. You can yell in the comment section all you want. Go right ahead. If you want to make yourself feel good, go right ahead.
Speaker 1:I know I'm in justice, you know, and I'm going to frame it in two ways. The republicans call them the alphabet group. You know it's all of an insult. And the left, they give too much lettuce, to the point that I'm already bored and drawn out. Get straight to the point. Okay, they both are pretty wrong in my opinion.
Speaker 1:As a centrist, independent person, but LGBTQ plus people, I'm just gonna say, like that, that's mostly getting out of me. That includes everything else, everything else. You're gonna add pasta, whatever, green, rainbow, skin, whatever. Just put it in there plus plus you just be. To me personally is good enough.
Speaker 1:This episode is more for you, especially those who are struggling with suicide, maybe mental health in general. Look, even even a lot of heterosexual, asexual, whatever sexual is going through that Still stressful time. Inflation affects most people, except for the rich. Okay, they got their own little problems, but I'm not gonna go there. So this episode is more for you, for once. And you know the past. I've praised some of them and I've criticized some, because I go case by case. I've praised some of them and I've criticized some. Because I go case by case. I don't just say, oh, lgbtq plus people are demons, and there was even one Republican who was pro-LGBTQ plus. This will give you some nuance. It's not exclusively to Democrats. That's why I brought that guess in years ago I think it was three years ago, going back that far. Just remember that. But all I want to say is this is more for you.
Speaker 1:I'm going to cut my rambling short. I have a guest here who is, uh, I could say a psycho expert, if you want to add a little flair and controversy to it. But he's a psychologist really and you know, and he has his experiences that I'm sure is going to speak to you. Okay, you know heterosexual people. You're going to be left out or you could join. If you want be an ally, join. If not, you know I can't force you. I wish I could put a gun through the screen and just kind of force you to listen, just increase my listenership, but I can't do that. I can't do. That's for you, right. Can't do this sucks.
Speaker 1:So I have a guest here. I'm just gonna call him dr josh. No, not dr oz. Let's keep him out, okay, we're not. I'm not able to talk about the headlines today. I'm sure some of you pay attention to say that he's been picked, but we're not gonna talk about to talk about that doctor. So Dr Josh here is more of a psycho-mental kind of so not, you know the medical craziness. I'm not going to talk about that today. So welcome to this podcast. And what do you want the listeners and viewers to know about you?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, elias. Well, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here, so thank you very much for having me. So, for your listeners, whether you identify as a queer person, lgbtq+, otherwise, I think really what I'd like people to know about me is that I feel like I was actually put on this earth to assist individuals, groups and maybe even organizations to find ways of helping people flourish. I say that because, from my youngest memories, I recall using storytelling from the Bible. I was brought up in a very religious household and utilizing those Bible stories as most people who learned them understand. It's not just about a story itself. It's about what you get out of that story and could apply to your life, and so, from my formative years, I have seen the power of storytelling you down that line, although I'm not a very religious person, because religion also happens to be one of the conduits by which people like myself have been oppressed.
Speaker 2:Now, it's not all religion, so I don't want to paint it all in a broad brush. There are plenty of churches and religions that are fear-affirming. However, the time I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s was a bit different than what it is now, and we've come a long way in certain regard. We've also gone backwards, in my opinion, in certain aspects as well, but queer people are not going to go away. We're going to be here forever, for as long as there is an earth and there are people living on it, and so I think it's important not just to understand, but to also find ways of helping us and everyone else flourish as well.
Speaker 2:When you start to look and this is I love research, because research has shown me so much about the human condition it is not a panacea for everything, so research does not clear the way and change everything in your life and make it better, but it's a huge component in understanding things, and one of the things I understand is that when you help out the people who are the most oppressed in society, that all people benefit as a consequence of that. So sometimes it might seem a little unfair that people are focused on a particular aspect or subset of society, but the research, like I just mentioned, is very, very clear that that does not really dismiss anyone at all, but in fact it uplifts all people, because by doing that you're creating these after effects, or these ripple effects, if you will, where all parts of society actually benefit no, yeah, I wish you would stop being paranoid.
Speaker 1:But you know, say, like new york, where I'm in, it's one of the few that I could give them a and that's rare for me to give that kind of school grade. If this is a lot I could criticize about new york city, the rent's too damn high, that kind of all coasts like finances are living. I'm giving them a d on that one, but that's a whole. That's a whole other thing for another day. Be clear they, they need help. Okay, because even though you have a very small population right in general I mean across the board maybe you still go through a lot of, you know, adversity, obstacles, like you went through.
Speaker 1:And I don't mind criticizing um religion, I'm more of a spiritualist because, look, we are people, we are people and you know the lgbtq people have existed, even for a long, long time. Check in H in Greece. Documents of homosexuality, even lesbians, well documented. Check H in Greece. They existed then. They existed back then. Okay, so it's part of the lovely human colorful tree. Okay, rather you like it or not, so they've been around.
Speaker 1:And then, well, I don't like to use that biblical example because it's more of a horrifying one. The Son of Gomorrah is like the big reference that they got there. But I use the ancient Greece one because that one was, I would say, inclusive to some extent, definitely more than what the biblical example that they have, you know. You know Sodom and Gomorrah story, yeah, it's a whole lot of death and destruction, just to put it very short. And even though that wasn't the only thing that was being condemned for, it was being condemned for so much other stuff. Let's just say it's not just an anti LGBTQ thing. They were just doing a whole bunch of stuff that was considered on hold, um, you know. So I just want to be clear about that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think, um, look, people need help, people, just people in general people, yeah, and I, once we get to that space, I think we could flourish so much. Absolutely, just people. That's why I think. But it's gonna take a while, and I like what you said, because I actually got a question, you know, before I get to dig into you a little bit about what us is doing to increase lgbtq resident, what's doing the opposite, because two truths could happen at the same time, sometimes a state-by-state level, you're, you know how red states are in general. You know how blue states are in general. This issue just be simple. So this is let me dig into it a little, just a little bit. What made you pursue um psychology in general?
Speaker 2:you could have, I could have tried broadway or anything else well, I do love Broadway and my undergraduate degree was actually in acting in theater. So, like I had mentioned, I fell in love with storytelling and I wasn't kidding. That is something that I have a huge passion for. Psychology, in hindsight, anyway, became a natural inclination for me because what I realized was that I had been studying psychology my whole life, although it wasn't like in an official way, but I was studying human behavior, and that's really what the study of psychology is all about. Of course, there are many other aspects to psychology, especially when getting it at the doctoral level and incorporating research into that. However, the underlying mechanisms or the things that actually were motivating me, still motivate me to this day, and it's really about understanding the human experience, understanding why we behave and react and act the way that we do, and then figuring out ways to assist people, whether it be through storytelling or otherwise, to help them flourish. There are many models out there that do that, but I specifically want to assist people that are queer and or black and brown, because of systemic racism, oppression that has taken place, whether it's within the queer community or outside of it, and that's what really motivates me.
Speaker 2:I know there's a lot of talk as of late in political circles, about this wokeness and it being an irritant, if you will, and how people are framing it in such a way to where it seems like a really nasty thing. The way that it's being spun, as I will say it, I think, is an injustice in and of itself, because if you look at the word wokeness before it became politicized, it really was about just understanding how things are actually working in front of you so that it could help you and other people navigate through systems much better. You know, we look at spaces like the financial services sector right. Financial services, generally speaking, are meant to keep you spending. Speaking are meant to keep you spending. So being woke about that just means that you are educating yourself so that you understand that psychology is being used against you in order to keep you in a loop, to keep you spending and spending and spending, and they're spending billions of dollars to do that. So this is not an indictment on the system, because we're all going to spend money, but for some people, and in cases a lot of people, it works to your detriment because if you're caught in this loop, if you will, you will keep spending and spending.
Speaker 2:The junk food industry is another example of that. How is it a bad thing to be woke to the fact that junk food is created in such a way to where it is meant to keep you eating more and consuming more? That is a fact and by understanding that, that is what can make you feel more woke, or whatever kind of concept or saying you want to use instead of that word woke because it's been used in such a negative way now and has such a negative sort of connotation attached to it. But wokeness at its very core is not about going around and canceling people. It is not about being an asshole. That has nothing to do with wokeness.
Speaker 2:Wokeness at its very core, as I understand and I've been trained, is really about just seeing the truth and being able to navigate through the mess that is given to us on a daily basis. Realizing that and helping yourself through that does nothing but increase your well-being. I think that is so, so important. That is something that psychology has shown me and it really hurts me. It hurts my heart to hear people using something like wokeness to turn it against us and each other. So now we're arguing over something that truly is beneficial at its core, so I don't care what we call it. We can call it whatever we want in order to get away from this politicization that has occurred. But I don't want us to stop being woke, or whatever it is. I want us to be wide awake, and I think that's part of us helping each other.
Speaker 2:It's like how many times have you had to unlearn something in your life that you thought was a truism? When you hear things like um, flat, the flat earth coming back when there is plenty of evidence to show that that you know we live in a round world, hello, you know, I I also want to be careful because I don't want to come across as I'm making fun of people who might still believe that way. There's, you know, there's plenty of room for all differences that exist in the world. But this is what my point is. It's like is believing that the earth is round or flat really going to change your well-being or how you navigate through the world? Maybe, maybe not. There's an argument to be made there. But do we see how, by attacking wokeness, we've gotten to a point to where the repercussions of that are a proliferation of people believing in things that have absolutely no value or truth in the real world, and I believe that we've gotten to this place because we're starting to attack things like this, like wokeness, and saying that this is like an agenda that people have to do the very opposite of what it's actually meant to do.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important for us to take a step back and say what are we really fighting? And have we fallen into a trap to where we've had the people who have told us these things they're winning? They're the ones that are sitting back and saying, nah, we're successful. We got them to do what we wanted to, and now they're fighting. And while we're fighting, they get to do whatever they want, because our attention is not on what's happening in the systems. Our attention is on each other, and fighting each other over stupid things like are you woke or are you not woke? Because if you are, then I want nothing to do with you because you're part of the problem. Them. This is what really gets me going, because it's like there's so much more that we could be concentrating on. That's truly going to be bringing us together. I want to have more conversations like that no, that's a good point.
Speaker 1:I mean, this is a good attempt to purify. Woke guy did study the origin of the word, because that's why I started picking it up. It was you know, just be alert of the injustice, systemic injustice, not just, you know, racial, financial health. Just be a, you know, just be alert and even counter that problem if you will. And you know, of course, that was the true origin of that.
Speaker 1:I didn't tell, tell my listeners that I've used it in a very political sense because sadly, that's one that most people are familiar with and I use it more to the detriment, especially if it goes like trying to cancel people or things like that. I didn't call them out on everything. So, no, there's certain things they write about, there's some prejudices and all that. They're not completely wrong about everything, how they're going about it. Some things is a bit out of whack. That's just. I'm just gonna put it like that. I mean, I mean, I like, I like that and, um, you know, broadway, just just to say real quick, I am a fan of broadway too. Broadway's great, great. I mean storytelling. I find it even better than movies. Yes, take down hollywood. I'll attack hollywood on that one. Yes, now I'm proud partisan. This was a political party. I'm team Broadway. I'll drink even the Broadway Kool-Aid if I have to. That's a whole other side thing.
Speaker 2:LGBTQ, yeah, yeah, so, um, I guess you want to look at a political level, like what's happening, um, you know from from, like the white house and the laws that are being made. Well, one of the biggest things, obviously was the uh instituting the right for uh, queer people to get married. I mean, I think that's that's a huge step, regardless of how you, or you know your listeners might personally feel about marriage generally speaking, whether it should be for people who identify as a man and a woman, and what this really does is kind of turn some of that on its head. I do understand the lash back that exists when people say, well, you know, my entire life, I was taught that, uh, gender is a binary, there's male, there's female, and that's it. And that, uh, that's what marriage is for and that's the institution that is usually attached to religion. And you know, when you spend decades believing that generations even, you know it's it's very difficult to kind of turn that on its head and say like that's, that's no longer the case, you know, um, so I, I get the last track, I get, I get this sort of like reaction to it, but I think once, just like anything else, that's a major change in our life once, once we process the negative emotions and this is where the psychology comes in there's an opportunity for us to be able to maybe slowly start to understand why this is important. Or a marriage certificate. It's much more than that. It's being seen in the eyes of the law as equal to our straight counterparts. That is extremely important. It doesn't change everything, it doesn't make everything great, but it's a step. It's a huge step in the right direction and that's progress. That's how I would view what progress is all about, and it's not just about marriage, because not every queer person wants to get married, just like every straight person doesn't want to get married. Every human being doesn't want to get married and have a family looks like or doesn't look like is much, much different.
Speaker 2:Now, maybe there's an argument like what you were talking about in ancient times, like the Greeks and so on in the Bible times, where maybe this did exist. There's some evidence for that. All I know is that, for whatever reasons, and maybe a major reason, one major reason is because society, especially here in the United States, had made it very difficult for queer people to actually be out for the longest time, and so when assessments were done at a national level to figure out what the queer population looked like. It usually would be anywhere from 1% to 3%. You fast forward, this was about maybe 10, 15 years ago. You fast forward to now and you see those numbers have jumped up to like 6%, 8%, just depending on the age group, and as a whole it's closer to like 5%. So that's a pretty big jump for a country with hundreds and hundreds of millions of people right Does into realities or anything but that, and this is why psychology is so important and research, generally speaking, is so important.
Speaker 2:What has actually happened is that we've made it easier for people to come out, so the numbers haven't really changed. In fact, we still think that it's being undercounted because, as you mentioned, we've made progress but we've also gone backwards. Some of those other things have happened at a local level which I think is just as important as speaking about the national level usually called like gayborhoods, which still exist in major cities like New York, in South Florida, in the Miami area, fort Lauderdale, of course, in California and so on. But one of the great things is that it's not as needed as it used to, although it remains to be seen what's going to happen in the next few years, if we're going to have to, you know, go back to some semblance of that. But my point being is that I grew up in a generation where the only option for us to speak to other gay people was to go to a gay bar or gay club. Thankfully, things have changed, because not everybody under our umbrella, if you will does drink or use substances. That's another misnomer and a negative stereotype of who we are. I myself have been sober since uh, 2013. I'm very happy and proud about that, to have some clarity of mind, thank you, but my point is that we needed more than just a bar or a club to be able to congregate, and so, over time, there have been so many different types of places, if you will, whether they be centers or nonprofit organizations that have different types of activities, whether they be related to alcohol or not, and it's just so much more options.
Speaker 2:We've come to the point where this is the progress that I talk about. We really don't need to hide as much, we don't need to find these safe spaces as much now, but the fear is is what the recent changes on the political landscape is that this might regress us where we would need to go back to those sorts of things, um, and I hope that's not the case, but by every indication that I can see, I think that perhaps it will be the case and we will do what we have to do because, like I said at the outset, we're survivors, we've gone through a lot in our life and, as a consequence of that whether it's good, bad, indifferent what that means is that we have a lot of resilience that's built into our community, and so this is not going to stop us. Even if the goal is to eradicate or make us go back into hiding, we're not going to go away. So I know I didn't talk too much about all the different aspects of progress versus you know, but I think this is something that people know, even if it's not something that you study or seek out purposefully.
Speaker 2:Politicization of lgbtq plus individuals, especially for our trans um, our trans individuals that exist under the umbrella. Unfortunately, they have been the ones who have been pinpointed above and beyond the rest of that umbrella, and that's very unfortunate because, again, there's a lot of misnomers, there's a lot of negative stereotypes that are being inserted, and the realities will show otherwise. So we could spend an entire podcast just on that, so I'll stop there. But I think the point is we've lost this ability to really become more proximate to people, and the further away that we are from individuals like trans individuals and what the research shows is, the further away you are from an individual like a trans person. And if you don't have a trans friend and we're not just talking about I know a trans person because I saw one at work, or something like that, we're talking about having a good relationship with a trans person if you don't have that in your life which could, could be a lot of people out there then it becomes very, very easy to demonize and to make them subhuman. And once you do that, it is much, much easier to discriminate against them and actually take actions that can actually harm them. And that's the reason why, or part of the reason why, a lot of black trans women, as an example, get killed. That is a reality and that's what the statistics show us. Why is that the case?
Speaker 2:So somebody who's saying well, it's just rhetoric, just people talking and saying you know, we don't need these trans people because they're confusing our kids and they're making our bathrooms ridiculous, they're blowing this thing out of proportion. I don't know about you. The last time I went to a bathroom, I could care less who was in there. I've never seen a little kid, six or seven years old in the bathroom by themselves. It's usually with a family member. When you look into who actually gets molested the most, it's people that are in the family, somebody that is a trusted friend, and I hate to say this because this opens up a can of words. I don't hate to say it, but I will say it Priests, priests. So when we were talking about who are the biggest culprits, although it's a very small percentage of individuals in the world, there are people who do really nasty, stupid things, but they're not just LGBTQ people, they're all walks of life and that's extremely important to keep in mind.
Speaker 1:That was well eloquent Me here. Radicalization oh, I'm defending even the so-called gay groomer. Did you hear that? If you still heard that, go get help. Maybe he could prescribe you some kind of pill just to alternate whatever mental illness is going upstairs. It was very rational, it was pretty damn eloquent, in my opinion, and we need more conversations like this because it's because you know, sadly, that one lgbtq plus person get all the headlines, make you see all of them do that same act, and that I even said it before in a couple of podcasts um check on learning how to be. I forget the name of the podcast is with dac, is with um dac mills podcast.
Speaker 1:By the way, I said look straight, people are more likely to do heinous acts because it's just simply more of them. It's going to abandon everybody. Okay, just statistically speaking. And you already said, priest, I'm not offended by it, because I did my research. I came to the same conclusion. Yeah, I said yep, and that's why a lot of them are getting exposed. That's why churches are slowly falling apart, because a lot of that's been exposed. So if you get offended by it, I didn't hear him attack god, he's just he's attacking the church as an institution. There's a difference. God is not the church system right and it's not.
Speaker 2:It's not all priests, right, there's not all priests, so you know, but there's enough of it happening.
Speaker 2:Um and and as a society, I have yet to hear people getting really upset about that as a society on the whole. I hear people getting really upset about bathrooms and policing bathrooms and what's in your pants, whether you have a penis or a vagina, and policing that and whether or not that actually aligns with the gender that you identify with. I mean, at the end of the day, how did we get to this point where it's become so ridiculous? Ridiculous we don't even feel that it's ridiculous when the actual ridiculousness that's happening out there is being brushed under the rug. For the most part, not everyone is doing that. There are plenty of people out there that are also very upset about the things that are happening, whether it be in religion, or sometimes we hear in the news how it happens in other places outside of religion, where youth are congregating and able to be among a figurehead that is trusted. And there was one recently where it was from the Olympics, where people were getting massages from, you know, very young age. So my point is like, yeah, once we start just really looking at one subset of society, it's like alarm bells need to be rung, because what's actually happened is the same thing as the junk food industry. They got us, they caught us in this trap where we have. That's why I say we got to wake up and call it whatever you will. You don't have to call it wokeness because it's been overused and abused, but figure it out for yourself.
Speaker 2:I'd say it's not about it's OK to question everything in your life, but you know that this it's okay to question everything in your life but this takes a lot to question everything. But there are certain things that there's enough data out there if you just want to pierce through the silo that might exist because you only get your news or your information from certain sources. Challenge yourself, certain sources, you know. Challenge yourself. And that's for both sides. That's just not for one side.
Speaker 2:That's for our side too, because we're creating narratives about people on the right as well that are just as bad. We are defaming them. We're saying they're horrible people that you know just want whiteness to exist, and there's a small subset of that happening. For sure, there are white nationalists, white Christian nationalists that want to change the makeup of our country to look more like them. That is a truism, but that does not mean that every person who votes Republican aligns with that belief. So that's important, because it's too easy to dismiss every Republican or every red state as being hateful assholes, you know, just like it's so easy to dismiss every queer person and say they're all groomers or whatever. They all have an agenda and whatever else comes with that.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, that's great. I think that's a decent segue to the negative. You already have the perception with the politicization, what are the decrease of LGBTQ rights? I think there's a decent segue to that question. You already talked about the perception and how the media covers that one, and then, of course, I can blanket it towards all. You know it's it, you know it's the same, it's stereotyping really. You know, and you know it's like saying all gay people are fashionably great and you just like you said, party, party goes with the old cocaine and drinking all that, so I can just have, like I don't't know, like a lounge or coffee. You know something like that. You know you have people at the end of the day. People, people, people. You're more than just the orientation. That's like one part of you.
Speaker 2:Right. I think also, it's important to understand why we feel this way, because it's easy to think that this is our reality. You have to consciously seek out things that are opposite of that Research and getting a doctorate. Not that everybody needs to do that, but for me, I needed that because I needed the structure, and what it really taught me was one of the first things when you're doing research is that you have a hypothesis, and so you have to be really careful, because all human beings have biases, and so when you're seeking out research, what ends up happening? This is a psychological concept that is called a confirmation bias. So what ends up happening is that you're seeking out information that is only confirming what your hypothesis is, and it's not that you're not exposed to all this other information, but you're kind of like automatically, this is happening automatically. So some people are like no, I don't do this, but it happens automatically. Test yourself, because every time you get like a new car that's a yellow color, you'll now notice that in the road there's a bunch of yellow cars that are the same model and type as yours. It doesn't mean that all of a sudden, a bunch of people started buying cars that are just like yours. It means that now your brain is fixated on finding what's similar out there for a reason, because you set the tone for that by purchasing this car. It's the same thing.
Speaker 2:When we seek out information. We have to be very careful. We have to purposefully seek out information that is counter to what we believe in and what we're seeking, so that we can then make a more concerted sort of observation, if you will, to be like what they call triangulate the information, to be more objective about it and you can't do it with every single thing, because sometimes it's virtually impossible but with the things that are most important, that affect other people or are treating them differently and actually making laws that can hinder their progress, then I think it's important to then take our time to seek out information that is counter to what we're finding. That's one thing. But you know, we're starting to see we talk about like cancel culture as an example. We're starting to see the banning of books happening, and on the one hand, I want to say like look, I grew up in a Jehovah's Witness household.
Speaker 2:That was the religion that I was brought up in, and I was only allowed to read the Bible and any other type of pamphlets or materials that were created by Jehovah's Witnesses. That was all I was able to read pamphlets and materials that were created by Jehovah's Witnesses. That was all I was able to read. So my parents made sure that I had no contact with any other type of books or materials until I started school, and then they had no choice but to allow me to start to do that. But then I was homeschooled for a little while, and so you can imagine you know that gave them some more control. What is my point here? Parents have an option this happens all the time. What they want to expose their children to, that is their choice, and I think that is fine. Now the child, as they get older, at the age of 18 or beyond that, and they start to leave the house, then they can start to make their own determination, like I did, and say Well, you know, thank you for bringing me up in this. Certain way. I understand why you did it, but now I'm going to venture out there and see what else is.
Speaker 2:The issue I have is when actions are being created that affect other people outside that household. Nobody has the right to tell anybody else that they cannot allow their children to do this or that. This is the fundamental sort of issue that I have with this sort of activity, whether it's on the left or the right. It's this idea that I have knowledge or behaviors that are better than another human being, and because of that, I now need to force you to do the very things that I have done, because it has created me some well-being, whether that's imagined or real or otherwise.
Speaker 2:That just can't be. It can't. We're fighting over who gets to determine how we bring up children under the guise of, well, they're grooming them and they're going to learn this and that and they're going to turn gay, when there's no evidence for that whatsoever. So can we call things out for what it is? Can we just say that when you're banning books, it's not for the betterment of children? Not for the betterment of children, it's really because of control and because what you want for your children, you also want for every other child out there, and that's not america no, that's, that's really anti-american.
Speaker 1:You know, freedom of choice. That's a big violation of that and that's why I've been consistent. On the record, I I've criticized DeSantis. I mean, even certain educational stuff was banned on that list. I said what A dictionary? Are you kidding me? Okay, so you're going to have them talk to like freaking middle school. Great, don't be surprised if their vocabulary is no better than a five-year-old going into middle school. Okay, so you know, it's yeah. And you know what People like me who have dealt with certain bans, I just find another way.
Speaker 1:I tell them find another way, dance around it. They only ban it. One stream, there's other streams. Be creative, I tell parents, you know, just be creative. There's something called the internet, right, okay, there's a lot more options in there. You can even order a book, rent it out, whatever. Just find a way to do it.
Speaker 1:And these bands are very ineffective. I wouldn't be surprised if they were ineffective and, to be quite honest, I'm going to say it's freaking stupid, it's just dumb and what I criticize the the right on that. So look, kids, I can understand certain restrictions. Let the parent be the authoritarian until they turn to a certain age, right. And then you know, yeah, you know, just like um, you know you was raised as a jehovah's. I'm sure you toss a lot of that stuff out as soon as you're ready to get out. I won't be surprised. I think this is good.
Speaker 1:I know I'm going to bash Jehovah's Witnesses, people. I'm sure they're going to hate me and I'm fine with it. I can live with it. I've dealt with hate and I'm fine with it. Sometimes I even embrace it. I think that's my sick part of me Sometimes. Come at me, I like it. But I'm gonna say for the jehovah witness, the animals are miserable religious people I've ever met. I even one time I'm one time scared one of them all say you know what's the? My next door neighbor's number. Six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six.
Speaker 1:All they ran I troll them because I I really can't stand. I just can't stand it. To me, the the whole thing doesn't make any sense. If you're're a Jehovah's Witness, change. I urge you to change. I'm being proud of it. I don't care, you can call me a Jehovah's Witness hater, I'm fine with it. I'm actually fine with it. I don't mind wearing the double horns. For you, you can even do a filter. Take this clip. They have the double horns on me. I'm fine with it.
Speaker 1:I don't care If it gets me more popular and spread the message unintentionally. Great I'm for it.
Speaker 2:I completely understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1:Sorry if I'm cutting you off there no, go ahead, don't go ahead.
Speaker 2:I also like the point you made earlier about how do we hold two seemingly disparate you didn't say these exact words, but things in our lives and still kind of like, function like and still remain like. It's okay, it's, it's all right that these two things can occur simultaneously, and I think you know religion generally speaking, but especially now. You know we've brought up the Jehovah's Witness thing For people who are embedded in it, and it's not all people but a good percentage of people who are in it and continue to be in it year after year, and they continue to tell themselves this is exactly the route that they want to be in. It's because they're, whether it's perceived or otherwise, they're actually getting something out of it and they feel like their well-being is being increased. You know, when you look at the mainstays or the universal themes of religion, like bringing people together, singing the prayer, the community, there's a lot of good aspects, the things that are taught again, that are universal, about treating people with respect, and there's so many aspects of that. Really, there are plenty of things to squeeze out that can actually help us flourish.
Speaker 2:Now, does that necessarily mean that we need to join that religion? Perhaps not. I mean, I'm one of those examples where I'm more of a. I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. That's how I view myself. But my point is. Here's where the duality comes in. I think it's important for people to understand that the very thing that might bring you or you determined to be a potion. Let's just say you're drinking something and it just feels great and it's a wonderful feeling. Of course you want to pass that on to other people. Of course you want to share that. What's important to keep in mind and remember is that very thing that you feel is a potion. When other people drink, it could be their poison, and we need to respect that.
Speaker 2:So the Jehovah's Witness religion was a poison for me because it taught me at a very young age that I did not belong on this earth, and when I internalized that, I hated myself and I did things in my life that were horrible for me and I ended up in a deleterious cycle that almost killed me in many different ways. So is that the outcome that we want for individuals, or do we want them to thrive? So once we realize that the very potion that we have is a poison for someone else, we got to stop trying to cram it down their throat, and this applies outside of religion as well. I think it's really important to acknowledge both and that goes for people like myself who have been harmed and hurt that I can still acknowledge that my family is still belonging for the most part, still belong as Jehovah's Witnesses, and I can still acknowledge that my family is still belonging for the most part, still belong as Jehovah's Witnesses, and I can still love them and disagree, and they can still love me and disagree, and we can still function. We need to get back to that, because I can still talk to someone who disagrees with being gay or being queer.
Speaker 2:But when did we get to the point that we are going the extra mile now to stop people from flourishing, to stop people from being their authentic selves? It's gotten out of hand and that has nothing to do with wokeness Absolutely nothing. It has everything to do with viewing people as subhuman, because once we start to view them and see them as humans, just like we are, then we will not have the capacity to treat them any differently. We will have just as much love for them as we do for ourselves and other people that think and act and believe the same as we do, except the difference is they don't. They don't believe, act and think the way we do. So what? And we got to get away from this whole thing that they're harming our children. We need to focus on the people who are truly harming our children.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, I mean, you said it well and I even said it a few times here and there and I think I'm going to link into that podcast. Give that podcast another. I think it was what learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's the name of the podcast. I'm going to share the link. Okay, I'm mixing things up. I'm having a boomer moment. Okay, the link will tell you more clearly than I can once. I'm fully alert of all of that because I talked about that.
Speaker 1:I said straight people are more likely to commit these conflicts. I'm not against them, but let's just do basic math, human math. We gotta have math. And it was like the cool kid said and you know, lgbtq plus worse, they're like .0001%. Do you really want to focus on that? Oh, there's like the 30% here, 20% here. That's far more significant as doing damage. Trans-bathroom thing I actually have more of a slightly nuanced appearance Opinion, excuse me about that. I was actually afraid by when the trans person actually went to the same bathroom that my mom was in, afraid by when the transfers actually went to the same bathroom that my mom was in. But I didn't react. I just said as long as she didn't say anything, I'm going to keep it cool. I'm just very protective of her. That's just my instinct.
Speaker 1:And even people who looked off too. There was two women that looked at. They were off to us. Okay, I was a little concerned. This is happening to New York. I didn't expect to see that Like in New York City. I would expect that. But of course, I'm fine with that, because most of them are not going to do anything. Most of them are going to do is probably just curse half-assassin. Okay, great, I just wear it so we can brush off and walk. But yeah, no, but that one I was actually afraid because, to your point, I don't have that much experience talking with trans people.
Speaker 1:That was before now. I have a couple experience talking to them and I don't know them. I'm not friends with them. They're like anybody else. They just went through a change or they're acting like you know more than how they identify as, and you know now all of them have the money just to surgically change completely. Some does it halfway, some do 10%, whatever. I have learned how to humanize them as opposed to put them as an other, as a threat, because I feel like I think the right wing has got to me a little bit, because that's what they jammed in my throat, especially that bathroom incident. Okay, they're out there. That that call myself wait a minute. Did he do something wrong to my mind, yet no, so I'm gonna cop that right.
Speaker 2:It's preying on our worst fears and I hate to keep saying this, but if we kind of like wake ourselves up from that, then we realize wait, the realities are. Of course there are opportunities for people to be harmed and hurt in any sort of space, you know. But let's look at the realities of walking into the bathroom and using the bathroom in a public space. The overwhelming majority of the time, people are going there to do their thing and they want to get out as soon as possible. Nobody wants to, at least having a typical mindset where you know you haven't had any brain damage or something. You're not in there wanting to smell the smells of a public bathroom for too long. You're in, you're out. You're not like peeking around to see, like, what does that person look like behind the stall? What is this person next to me? Did they really have? You know, it's like this, this whole, it's like that's not the reality of it.
Speaker 2:You don't need to be a researcher to understand that. All you need to do is live on this earth for a couple of decades to know that. That's the bathroom experience, right, it's like, especially in crowded, busy places. Right, it's like especially in crowded, busy places. So it's like all right. So now, now we understand that somebody or some, some entity or group of people have gotten to us. They've actually encapsulated us and put us into the system. That's why I go back to the junk food thing and don't think that you're an exception to this, that that this system was meant to get you going, whether it's to get you really excited about something and want to buy a ticket for a football game, whether it's to get you really angry about something so that you vote a certain way. Whether it's to get you not satiated enough so you need more and more of that junk food. All of it comes from a system that is intentional to work a certain way in their favor, not in yours yep, no, exactly.
Speaker 1:And you know, and it's a good thing, I caught myself at the very last minute because I was about, I was very, very close, I want to do something. But I told myself, no, this person didn't do any harm, I'm reacting to an imaginary threat. I caught myself the very last way. So wait a minute, what am I doing? Hey, I'm the one talking about critical thinking and being self-aware, regardless of who it is. I said, oh no. I called him. I said no, I've been put to that trap. I said no, I need to unlearn that I need to unlearn. I called him myself. I said no, I got to treat him as a fellow human being.
Speaker 1:He said this is kind of going against what I've been saying. I'm not the most left-leaning, right-leaning person, I'm more in the middle there today, but still I think we need to treat people as human beings. Some people in the right are waking up to that. The far right, they're far gone. We can't forget about those. So I'm sure there's some people in the right that could, I'll say, disagree more civilly at least. I'll say disagree more civilly at least. Worst case scenario, but best case scenario is just have them change on at such you know every such vitriol. Just because they look different and they have a lifestyle that we can't wrap our heads up, just because it's not ours.
Speaker 2:And let me share with you a tidbit about psychology that has been very helpful for me. The power of suggestion and this also is not in psychology circles it's also an acting thing. Anything repeated over and over again becomes a reality, period. That is a fact. Whether it's a self-affirmation that you tell yourself it could be a negative or positive thing, you make that your reality. And so when you have pundits and people in politics who consistently and it's not just them, so they have like a whole machine of people all spouting the same thing, the same talking points, the more it's repeated, the more it becomes a reality. And then some people might think to themselves well, come on, I mean, these are just words, and how are they affecting me? It can't be that dramatic. People think about this. I mean there are studies that have been done that show the effectiveness of just the power of suggestion happening in the power of threes, because a lot of things happen in threes when it comes to not just psychology but a lot of things in life. And real quick, I'll give you the example.
Speaker 2:You wake up in the morning, you look at yourself in the mirror. You might even give yourself a little affirmation, say I feel good, I had a good rest and now I'm off to work. You get there and the first person looks at you and says are you okay? Simple question. They may not mean much about it, but immediately you start questioning the very realities that you had that morning just by one person suggesting otherwise, even if it's not a direct suggestion. Just the question are you all right? The second and third time that it happens. Second time might be like hey, you look a little tired, is everything okay? The third time might be like hey, you look a little tired, is everything okay? The third time might be like hey, are you feeling all right? What ends up happening? And this is just like a. It doesn't have to be three times. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less, but the point is that by the third time, a lot of people actually start to feel a visceral reaction to where you might even feel sick to your stomach. Now, just think about that. That is a reality. No matter how strong you are, no matter you know, all these are just words. You're a human being and that is psychology that can be used against you.
Speaker 2:Now, when people are doing it at work, they probably, more than likely, don't have an agenda in place, but imagine that happening day after day, year after year. How are you going to fight that? See, once you realize what's going on and what's happening, you can now do something to counter it. But if you're just living your life and thinking, well, no, it's anything but that. No, this is just the realities that are being spouted to me every single day by all these different people, and they're all saying the exact same thing. They're not talking points, these are facts.
Speaker 2:It's easy to fall into that for anybody If you're a human being. This is why I go back to unique question. You need to say where are these facts? How do I bring in some rationality to this? Because it seems very emotional to me. Why are they all spouting the very same thing? Is there an agenda? Here and again, on both sides, we need to do this. It is a fruitful exercise because at the very end of the day, especially if it's affecting people, we need to really question that and say what is going on here. Is there something we talk about the gay agenda but is there an agenda that I'm actually a part of that I may not even realize or know about? So I think it's important. The power of suggestion.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm not going to label it like that was the right-wing agenda, I'm just going to label it like it is. It was the right-wing agenda. I mean, they got agendas too, that's. You know. Lao is not on the left, that's complete. That's partisan talking point bullshit. I'm just being completely fair. I mean, yeah, I died really quick. I'm happy that I caught myself right at the very last second. If I did, I would have kept looping habit. You already said it If you can't fight something, just keep repeating, repeating, repeating, repeating. Subconsciously it was repeated, because wherever we watch it, absorb, it goes all subconscious. There's no difference between reality and fiction.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I think even that, even if you just keep repeating oh, I can fight, I can fight off, no, but you sometimes absorb as if it's truth. You said the flat earth.
Speaker 2:Truth because they're repeated Right. Truth because we can see with our eyes that you know it's definitely. There's data to support that that's not the case. We can lead with more understanding and love, because we understand that we're not better than them, because we can see the light. We are just not clouded in this sort of agenda or whatever you want to call it. We've been been able to see things, but we're just as prone, because we're human, to falling into those traps.
Speaker 2:It may not be, with the earth being flat, as an example. Maybe that's just super obvious, but there are more nuanced things in life that are not so obvious and maybe don't have as much data that we know of or that is publicly accessible, for whatever reasons, and so we just rely on the easiest thing, which is usually nowadays a bunch of pundits or political figures telling us how we should think and act. And really this is becoming more and more dangerous because it's not helping us as communities and as Americans to really be brought closer together. Uh, what it's doing is just in service of what they want to do is to gain more power, money and whatever else comes with that. So I think that's important and it's happening again. I know I've said this a few times now, but it's happening on the left and the right.
Speaker 2:One last thing I want to say is when I was young, younger, in my late teens I would straighten my hair. I have very curly hair and brown eyes, and I would get contacts that were blue or green, and if you would ask me at the time, like, what are you doing? Are you trying to whiten yourself? I would be like, screw you, what are you talking about? No, I just you know, this is style. This is what I'm trying to do. In hindsight, though, that's exactly what I was doing.
Speaker 2:I was taught from a very young age that my color, my background, who I was, was not sufficient, was not the right thing, and a lot of that was through messaging and mass media and at a societal level, and I internalized that. So I could not be gay. I had to practice being straight, and the more I tried to practice that, the worse off I was, because I was not being true to my inner self. I had to straighten my hair because curly hair was kinky and nasty and it wasn't as beautiful as straight hair is, which is a total like farce. Right, my curly hair is just as beautiful as any other type of hair, and that brown eyes were ugly, like the color of crap and that I needed to have in order to be taken seriously and make it in the world. I needed to have lighter eyes and so I would figure out ways. You know how ridiculous is all that, but during that time that's how I was operating. Now, not all people you know react that way. That was the way that I processed it, but a lot of people do process it in different ways, you know, whether it's just purely internalizing it or externalizing it, as I started to do with actually trying to change not just who I was inside but also the way that I presented myself.
Speaker 2:Think about that. It's like do we really want to put people into that position, to where they feel like they have to acclimate themselves in a way to otherwise that's the only way they're going to survive? You know, if everybody thought and acted the same, we'd have a really boring world. You think about all the times you've interacted with people who are different than you and it's become such a wonderful and beautiful thing because you realize that there are different ways to look at the world. There are different ways to create happiness and thriving and success, and it doesn't all have to look one way.
Speaker 2:I think that's such an amazing part of who we are here in America. That's what I yearn for is just more of that and just embracing the differences that actually take place and not trying to just fit everybody into a nice, neat little box. And even if I don't understand why someone is the way that they are, how they've gotten to that place, it doesn't really matter. Again, as long as they are not harming other people or forcing their ways upon other people, then I'm fine with any of those differences existing. I can still thrive and allow those other people to do the same. We don't need to be at odds with each other, and I so desperately want more of that in this world.
Speaker 1:You know we have no, we need that. You said you know things are very eloquent. It wasn't? You know far left talking points. I mean I could detect that for a mile away. You know these. These are very just rational grounded. You know points is something that people with a rational brain will agree with. But their brain is damaged mean you can't expect much from them. They're probably going to think we're spreading nonsense and that's fine.
Speaker 1:Look, I don't expect to attract every single viewer, trust me. I want great people who can at least think, be self-critical, and that's not easy because it can just be automatic, just be like oh, curly hair, ugly. Curly hair, ugly. I want to dye my hair blonde. I want green eyes, you know, and I want to bleach my skin. That's extreme. Sadly, a certain celebrity has went through that extreme, except with minus, you know, dyeing the hair and eye change. You don't know who that is MJ Initials. I might give you any more hints after that. All right, so yeah, I think you know just to your point. We need to get to a place where we can all thrive. So once we're not harming or forcing, I could agree with that and that's been my point and I'm critical about that. I'm definitely more. I want that. I'm definitely critical of straight people because there's a lot more of them involved, so they will likely get the higher, statistically speaking. It is using words about my math person or whatever.
Speaker 1:Let me wrap this up, cause I know you got to go. So any shameless plug you want to add besides your book, let me show you website right now. I need to know this. If you want research and even empowering, especially if you have a not-for-profit business with some great solutions, go to drjoshsolutions. It's not a com, it's drjoshsolutions. The link will be in the description and there's also a book out on the. Did it really come out right? I'm assuming it did. Yeah, yes, I Am Not Dead. Ellipses, three Dots Yet. Pretty provocative title in my opinion. Maybe it makes me want to get it. Maybe you want to get it.
Speaker 1:How he overcame his personal adversity as a gracious fisherman. Those who are marginalized, who have a normal, traditional lifestyle there's a way. There's a way. There's a way for you. Just because you don't fit into the society's way of thinking or traditional way of thinking, it doesn't mean you're a mistake. You just got to carve your own path and you know he's a great inspiration to all of you with that. So that's all I want to say about that. I'm definitely not giving spoilers or none of that. Look, I'm a capitalist. Give me some money, okay.
Speaker 1:I'm a shameless capitalist and that. Yeah, you know I'm not going to do that. Okay, definitely talk more, especially on LGBTQ and psychology. So there's definitely a lot of things we could talk about. It's a very broad, broad, broad stroke that we could have. I mean, I got a lot of ideas. But comment section. So for comment section activity, if you love it, hate it, comment, disagree, comment, give at least a very good reason why. Maybe something I said, maybe something he said. I it's probably more for my end. I'm a little more controversial, radical, especially the jehovah witness. I'm sure I'm gonna get hate on that. I'm fine with that and um, you know, and I'm pro cat. So the dog, the dog owners are gonna hate me too. That's fine, you know. But seriously, add some to add, you know, value to the discussion as well, because they need your help as well. They're not like you know they, they're not evil people or they're not super privileged.
Speaker 1:I'd want them to think you know there was nobody more in the middle, so all righty then. So from whenever you start listening to this podcast, you have a blessed day, afternoon or night.
