WEBVTT - They Are Afraid 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.600 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:19.119 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.560 I've been thinking a lot about what is at stake 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:28.160 in this country and in our day to day lives, 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:33.120 as I look through the headlines and see the maneuvers, 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:38.080 the underhanded political dirty tricks that Republicans are using to 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.839 suppress our democracy, to basically break it and destroy it, 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.640 to control the uteruses of women. Because as I said 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:52.680 last week, they are no longer talking whispering behind closed doors. 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.680 They're saying everything that they want and think out loud. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.760 They want more white babies. They are afraid of the 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:05.200 demographic shift. They are afraid of people of color gaining 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.800 equity and power in this country, so they're proliferating it 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:13.360 with guns. They are afraid of people having critical thought, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.080 so they are banning books and defunding libraries. They are 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:22.480 afraid of young people waking up to the realities that 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.840 the things that they've been taught about America are not 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.880 really true, that this country isn't the center of the universe, 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.720 that it isn't all great, that it isn't the beacon 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:44.440 on the hill. That America's dark, dirty, violent, brutal past 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.960 is a part of where we find ourselves in the present. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:02:00.800 And without a significant change, without a collective of Americans, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:07.160 a majority of Americans choosing consciousness, choosing to be awake, 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:12.760 choosing action over complacency, choosing to have a voice rather 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:17.760 than have comfortable silence, we are going to continue on 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:19.840 the path of no return. Now here's the thing that 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.560 I want us to understand, and this is the place 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:24.600 that I find that it is difficult for us to 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:29.160 grapple with, is that the America that once was is 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:34.079 not returning. We are never going back to normal because 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:38.480 as we all understood during the three years of this pandemic, 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:53.560 is that what was considered normal wasn't racial inequality, economic disparity, greed, right, hatred, 0:02:55.200 --> 0:03:00.640 this me, me, me, this scarcity model, that there isn't enough, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:06.440 so I must hoard. None of that is normal. It 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:13.720 is not conducive to a healthy, productive society. And what 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:18.200 Republicans are doing now is what Steve Bannon told them 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:22.400 to do. Flood the zone with shit right, close all 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:27.720 the libraries, ban all the books, roll back abortion, do 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.760 everything and anything that you can so that you seed 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:39.839 and breed hopelessness and despair so that you suffocate them 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:44.000 with complacency and the belief that they no longer have power, 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:53.080 because that is the biggest trick. The biggest trick is 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.160 for us to believe that there are more more of them, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:04.440 single minded, narrow mind did hateful white supremacists who have 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:12.040 weaponized religion, weaponized the Bible in order to excuse and 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:22.840 celebrate their brutality. Not all wars begin with tanks and bombs. 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:30.680 They begin by picking away at civil liberties and freedoms 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.000 one by one by one, and they start with the 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.200 groups that are most marginalized until they get to those 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:42.520 that believe themselves to be at the top of the pyramid, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:51.040 who think that they're safe because they have enough money, right, 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:56.960 they have enough whiteness, they have enough protection. But absolute 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:01.320 power is kind of like it's kind of like an 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:06.800 addict that is always looking for one more hit, that 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:13.400 is always looking for one more fix, until finally they 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:23.239 take too much and it's done. Except we can't just wait, 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:33.800 dear friends, for Republicans to overdose on power. You have 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:40.680 to understand that we have to take it back. What 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:45.359 does that look like? It looks like calling your representatives. 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:47.920 It looks like running for office. It looks like if 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.200 you have the economic ability to be donating to candidates, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.839 not just in your states, not just in your towns, 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:01.599 but wherever you see democracy on the brink. It looks 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:08.120 like organizing. It looks like sharing these you know podcasts. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.120 It looks like getting a collection of your friends and 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.440 family together and saying, what are we doing this week 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.360 to preserve our democracy? Because if it's just one action 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.880 that you can take a week, then take it. But 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.599 it is not enough anymore for us to sit back 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.359 and wait until November or wait until there is some 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.920 type of special election for us to get our shit together. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.920 If they are closing libraries in your fucking state, then 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:46.880 you pick up your picket signs, You get a collection going, 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.719 you get to know your librarians and you figure out 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.520 what the fuck they need, and you organize your community 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:59.840 against fascism. It is going to take us all moving 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.039 outside of what has been comfortable, what has been safe, 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:11.720 and recognizing that that safety has been an illusion. It 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:20.200 has been an illusion. Just like Americans exceptionalism. We always 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.600 have the ability to change, We always have the ability 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.720 to get woke, We always have the ability to take action. 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:36.680 We don't always have the will. They the opposition. They 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:43.160 are unrelenting. Their boot is on our neck, it is 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:49.360 on our back, it is on our wounds. It is 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:59.240 time for us, the people, to own our power. We cannot. 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.680 We do not have the luxury to get caught up 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.600 in fucking despair. Because let me tell you something, dear friends, 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.840 that any time that I find myself getting down, and 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:15.760 it is common, I remind myself of this. My enslaved 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:22.360 ancestors got up every fucking day when they weren't free. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:27.720 They found ritual, they created community, they sang songs, they 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:34.360 found joy, and they got free. They didn't have time 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.640 to wallow in self pity to go woe is me 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:45.280 because masses whip and boot were literally on their backs, 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.200 on their necks, on their wounds, and they kept fighting. 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:58.240 So whatever it is that you need to ground yourself in, 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.800 and I'm telling you it is time that we stop 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:06.200 the sedation, that we lean into the meditation, and that 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:14.160 we move from the contemplation into action. The people that 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.520 we've been waiting for to save us are in our mirrors. 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:28.520 It is our time coming up next, dear friends, my 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:37.560 conversation with our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks, 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.800 you know that whenever we have the opportunity to speak 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.959 with our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, I am 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.760 always thrilled, and Jonathan, you are our eyes and ears 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:52.040 now on the ground in Tennessee, which is ground zero 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.720 in many ways for what is happening, not only as 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.360 it pertains to gun violence and mass shootings in the 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.160 United States, but also overall the overall threat to democracy 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:11.440 by an authoritarian, fascist Republican party that is committed to 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.480 shutting down voices of dissent. And so I want to 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:20.720 start with just in general. You're at Vanderbilt University. These 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.040 protests that we've been seeing have been led by young 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.360 people on the ground, and I've seen some that look 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.800 as young as elementary school age and others that look, 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.360 you know, to be in college, and then obviously other 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.600 older supporters. What is the feeling right now on your 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.600 campus and just overall in the city. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.280 There is a tremendous amount of learned helplessness that just 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.600 people like us have in Tennessee. We've been beaten into. 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.959 The ground, like you know, like for so long. 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.440 A lot of us, particularly like senior scholars like me. 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:01.000 You've been working on guns here and I never thought 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.200 anything would change. And the fact that these young people 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.560 are here like lifting us up, lifting us all up, 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:11.160 young legislators, young students. I think it's I'm winning into 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:16.760 a very remarkable moment. Right, protest is leading to actual change. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.840 Right the governor, I never thought I would see it. 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.880 But even the idea that the governor of Tennessee would 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:27.840 even say the word gun violence strain order, let alone 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.600 think of something that is maybe linked to that. So 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.280 I think people are feeling the pressure. I think the 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:38.239 idea that these aren't just protesters there, it's a potentially 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.280 mobilizable voting block. I think that they the Republicans, realized 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:43.920 they were on the wrong side of this issue in 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:48.800 a certain way, in a certain way, And so I 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.400 do think that there is I wouldn't say optimism, but 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.280 I would say it's not utter despair and hopelessness, which 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.280 is what it Here's so it feels like it's not 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:04.800 utter despair and hopelessness. And I have to say it's remarkable, right, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.080 what energy feels like is pretty incredible. The fact that 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.920 there were so many people who came out, the fact 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:12.360 that people. 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.720 Are just said, you're not getting away with this. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.760 So on one hand, I think there's energy, but you 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.040 know me, I'm giving you the caveat next, And the 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:27.880 caveat is that what got exposed here was something much bigger. 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.319 Now certainly we're having a big conversation about guns, because 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.880 there was not just a mass shooting, but a school 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:38.160 shooting at a school shooting in a religious school, and 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.959 a school shooting where white children died, and all of 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.240 a sudden, the usual bs that the NRA does after 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:49.120 this didn't work right, Like the line that this was 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:54.840 some kind of hate crime against Christians was like laughably preposterous, 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.880 and so all of a sudden they didn't have a way. 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:00.480 They got exposed in a way. 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:01.760 So that's number one. 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.520 And number two is it with the world watching. I 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:08.600 don't think they realized how much people were watching. 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:09.600 With the world watching. 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:15.839 They expelled three people initially and turned out to be 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:17.079 two people then, but. 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:20.439 Everybody was watching. And so. 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.840 But I think the important point is they've been getting 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.640 away with this for like months and months and months, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.640 right right, And so this is just the one time 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.400 where they very badly miscalculated because it brought attention to 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:35.839 what they're doing, and this is the most important point. 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.160 I apologize for getting to it a kind of roundabout way, 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.000 but what they're doing is not about guns. What they're 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.360 doing is they've figured out a way to first get 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.480 a super majority in a state through gerimandering and controlling 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:52.240 the courts, is what they're doing, and then using that 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:57.360 just for something that is truly terrifying, which is they 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.760 have a way of getting people out of office who 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:05.920 are democratically elected. Desantists did it with lawyers and das 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:10.520 and attorneys in Florida, and they're doing it here, and 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.600 they're doing other places. And so I'm honored and thrilled 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:18.600 and delighted and uplifted honestly that people are protesting because 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:23.960 it's just ridiculous to throw out like three elected congress people. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.520 But I would also say that the fight of what's 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.280 happening here is going to be for red state state 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:36.040 attorneys general and public defender things that are like people 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.440 aren't really paying attention to in such a high profile way. 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.800 And so I don't know, we've always I just feel 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.120 like we undersold it when we said it was disenfranchisement. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.160 They're not just trying to block people from voting. They're 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.040 actually throwing people out of office who were elected, which 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:52.600 a lot of people are like, wait. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:53.000 You can do that. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.120 That's totally anti democratic. That's the playbook. And so I 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.560 just want to highlight that what's being exposed here is 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.360 this ca where there's a tremendous amount of attention, but 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:08.880 there's a much much much bigger, much bigger strategy that 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:10.920 I think people just really need to keep their eyes on. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:11.560 The prize about. 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:15.640 Yeah, I think that what the Republican Party did in 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:22.040 Tennessee was really like against what their normal movements, right, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.400 Their normal movements are to do things over the cloak 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.400 of darkness, do it by voice vote, do it without cameras. 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.640 I mean again, I just saw recently, you know, local 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:36.080 reporting by a Tennessee local news station that uncovered the 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:41.440 fact that the Republicans worked to kill legislation that would 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:46.480 alert high schoolers to when they could register to vote 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.040 and provide information on voting to high schoolers that are 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.720 getting ready to graduate. They killed that bill. They did 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.440 it by a voice vote, and they turned off the cameras, right, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.680 And this was uncovered at a local station. And so 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.920 I think think that by virtue of them believing that 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:06.480 they are all powerful right and can do whatever it 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:08.640 is that they want. We can expel who we want 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.360 unless you follow our rules. We can say it's decorum 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:15.360 when we know that that's bullshit. Really showed. I think 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:20.120 the craven behavior of the Republican Party and that it 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.400 isn't just the headliners that we see like Marjory Taylor 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.720 Green and Matt Gates at the federal level, but these 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.840 people are like gremlins. They are all over the state 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.400 and local levels. And I think that that's what's really important. 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.160 And to your point, Jonathan, I actually have seen since 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.920 the shooting in Tennessee, have seen and watched folks on 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.760 cable news talk about the strategy that you've been talking 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.760 about for so long, that they are diluting the power 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.160 of urban areas by jerrymandering them in such a way 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.600 like they've done in Nashville and Memphis, as you brought 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:00.080 up a week or so ago, and modeling that in 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.960 other places and trying to instill and engrave power in 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.240 the rural areas. And again, I think that this is 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:11.040 something that has been lifted up by the shooting. The 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.240 other thing that I heard, Jonathan, and you tell me 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.159 if you heard this as well. And I say that 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.119 I heard this via social media by the host of 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:24.000 the Simone Show, Simone Sanders, who said that the Tennessee 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.800 First Lady lost one of her best friends at the 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:29.480 Covenant shooting. Is that correct? 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.919 I mean the irony, right, I mean not irony, it's 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.800 I mean, one in five people know somebody who's been 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:38.680 shot and killed in this country. We had a shooting 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.760 where the first Lady knew people at Covenant who were killed, 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.080 as many people did. Right. These are very public people, right. 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:48.760 A principle of a school is somebody a lot of 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.240 people know. Then we just had a shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:54.679 and it was a friend of. 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:58.960 Two friends of Governor Brasher. 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.160 Yeah, and so it's not like people are targeting people 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.159 who know governors. It's that governors are part of a 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.000 bigger demographic of people who live in the United States. 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.840 And so the number of people who were affected by 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:15.600 this it's pretty high. And so but yes, it's true. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.560 It is absolutely true that this Covenant shooting hit home 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.640 really in a way maybe that the Las Vegas shooting did, right, 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:30.600 because the people who were killed were like often white 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.680 conservative people like people who are. 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:35.760 Well, I mean, tell me what you think. Then, is 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:40.480 the difference between why you say this about Covenant When 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.920 we looked at Parkland was the same demographic, new Town 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.120 was the same demographic. So what is it about this one? 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.120 It's that you're saying that it's like that. It's like, oh, 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:53.600 it's what I mean, it's been white kids getting killed. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.000 Well, it's not just about the race, right, It's actually 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.800 that it's happening in the middle of like not just 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:01.960 an one of the more pro gun areas of the country, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:07.040 like Florida rebounded, right. The rebound in Florida, right was 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.240 to get red flag laws in Florida, which are now 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:11.040 being taken. 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:12.040 Off the books by DeSantis. 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.240 But I just think it just kind of hits It 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:19.480 hits close to home for people who are maybe supportive 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.600 of gun rights but don't believe that every single person 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.560 should be able to go get an air fifteen whenever 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.160 they want. And I just think the irony of this 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:33.560 moment is that this shooting happened at the moment that 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:38.760 the Tennessee legislature was overturning every possible gun law, like 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.800 and so they just think the contrast could not have 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.840 been any more stark than it was at this moment. 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.160 And so it just there's something about the juxtaposition of 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:52.440 this happening. And again, I just think it's just ludicrous 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:53.040 to say that this. 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:54.440 Was a hate tribal against Christians. 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.600 Like nobody, I didn't even hear that that that was 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:58.639 their talking point. 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.520 Yeah, that was their talking there's a hate crime against Christians. 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:02.560 And I mean. 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:08.440 It is true, right the shooter had used male pronouns 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.720 at this moment for the last couple of months ago 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:12.280 something like that. So they were saying this is a 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:13.040 trans hate. 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.520 Crime against I mean, they were saying everything, everything except 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:17.840 just like and none of it's stuck. 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.000 The thing is, none of it's stuck. You just watch 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.840 that video for a second and you see somebody in 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.600 tactical gear with an air fifteen and a baseball cap 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.440 and all that stuff. That person was acting like. 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.960 Every other shooter, every other shooter, every other shooter that 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.080 we have come to see and had, you know, access 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:41.280 to seven different types of guns and rifles and the like. 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.359 I want to transition a minute from Tennessee because of course, 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:53.240 you know, this is just becoming the absolute norm where 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.000 you know, over one hundred days into this year and 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.119 there have been over one hundred and fifty shootings. And 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.320 this month is extraordinary in the fact that we had 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.960 the Tennessee shooting happen and now two weeks later a 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:11.600 mass shooting in Kentucky. So can you talk, I mean 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:17.560 again about this Kentucky. You know, you have a democratic governor, 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:23.800 but you have a Republican legislature. Talk about this kind 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:28.280 of back to back to back that we're starting to see. 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.359 Well, we already we're having more than one messaging a 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:35.960 day in this country, but now we're having more than 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:40.920 one Americana style mass shooting. Right. In other words, people 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.560 are heightened, they're terrified, they're paying attention. And I think 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:46.760 it was just easy for America to look the other 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:48.879 way when it was like a gang shooting or an 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:51.560 urban shooting, even though every shooting is a mass shooting. 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.960 But now you just cannot look away, right it's happening. 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.080 It's just the smoke is burning very close to the 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:06.399 mansion right now for a lot of people, and I 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.359 just think that it's just really affecting people's lives. And 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.920 so before they could just say, like, oh, the gangbaggers 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.840 are doing this over there, but that is not what happened, 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:16.760 and it was what was happening before. But at least 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:21.600 it was a rhetorical strategy that people could use. And 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.600 we still have a ton of guns suicide, and so 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.399 I just think so many corners of our world are 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.520 being hit by this, touched by this right now, and 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:36.000 so the kind of deflection that people use. And I 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:38.080 also think, I mean again, I have a lot of 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.840 friends who are gun owners. I speak to gun owners 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:42.760 a lot. I have a lot of sympathy for a 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:45.920 lot of arguments, and as you know, pretty critical of 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:48.239 a lot of liberal arguments about guns because they just 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:53.040 don't they kind of stereotype in reverse. But I will 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.360 say there's something about the shootings that have been happening 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:00.919 recently that just give complete lied the idea that just 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:02.880 everybody's armed, you can stop. 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.040 This right right, Because at the school in Tennessee, there 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:10.080 was there there was a teacher that was armed. At 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.359 the bank, right there was I believe there was a guard. 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.639 Yeah you know, banks are pretty well are pretty well protected. 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:21.399 So there was already a gun in there, right, and 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.040 it didn't stop it from happening. 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:28.760 Yeah, Yeah, So go ahead I mean again, the other 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:33.560 other important point and why you know we still have 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:36.400 four hundred and fifty million guns in circulation in this country. 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:38.440 It does seem like a lot of the recent mass 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:42.280 shooters have pretty recently bought their guns legally, but there 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:42.800 still are. 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:46.080 Just we got a lot of guns are out you know. 0:23:46.760 --> 0:23:50.520 So you know, one of the things that we have 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:54.960 brought up in our conversations, Jonathan, is a fact recently 0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:01.440 that the number one cause of death of children zero 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:06.280 to eighteen is now guns. And I want you to 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:09.800 be able to elaborate on that a bit because there 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:11.760 are a couple of things that I have seen and 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:14.440 to me, honestly, it doesn't make a difference either way, 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:18.160 if it's suicide, if it's homicide, if it's an accidental shooting. 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:20.080 Like all of the it's just there are too many 0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:22.920 fucking guns, and young people have too much access to 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:25.720 them or they are around them. But when you hear 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.920 that statistic, what comes up for you. 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:31.520 There was this graph I used to show in a 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:35.760 lot of my talks that looked at what happened, like 0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:38.399 we used to have what fifty thousand car deaths a 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:40.640 year in this country, forty five thousand something like that, 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:47.800 and then people just saw what happened, which was automakers 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:51.560 were liable for the deaths that their product was happening. 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:54.159 And all of a sudden, they found Jesus right, All 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:56.720 of a sudden, they figured out that you could have 0:24:56.760 --> 0:24:59.639 anti lock breaks, and you could have seat belt laws, 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:01.600 and you could have airbags. All of a sudden, all 0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:05.719 this technology came that made cars safer. And so that 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:09.560 graph is like the exact opposite of the gun graph. 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:17.720 That graph, that graph goes down with liability and technology. 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:21.800 Those are the two things that happened with guns. 0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:25.000 We have the exact opposite, which is an industry that 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:29.000 is shielded from liability, and so there's no impetus to 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:34.440 install the kind of technology that we could do. I mean, 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:39.560 when President Obama way back but a couple of decades 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:43.800 ago did an executive order about guns whenever twenty twelve 0:25:46.280 --> 0:25:49.480 he invested in smart gun technology that was going to 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:53.520 identify people by their handprint. There's tons of different things 0:25:53.520 --> 0:25:56.960 we can do that is just not there's no incentive 0:25:57.000 --> 0:25:59.640 for it. And so in a way, I just feel 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:02.320 like we have the technology, we have to know how 0:26:02.680 --> 0:26:05.280 it's just that it hasn't ever cost anybody anything. In 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:08.639 the fact, has been beneficial for politicians to support these 0:26:08.720 --> 0:26:11.560 unfettered gun rights. And so it's really about the calculus, 0:26:11.960 --> 0:26:15.360 the calculus of the system that I think is the issue. 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:19.800 Yeah, I mean, you know, I just I will say 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:25.040 that for the longest time, I have been really cavalier 0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:29.560 in how I talk about folks that live in red states. 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:32.720 And yes there's a voter suppression and Jerry Mandarin, but 0:26:32.800 --> 0:26:34.760 how do you have these people that are in office 0:26:34.840 --> 0:26:38.480 that are literally walking past your children with signs that 0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:43.919 say save us and are refusing to do so. But 0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:48.600 the energy of folks in Tennessee and just seeing all 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:51.920 I mean hundreds and you know, maybe at this point 0:26:52.000 --> 0:26:55.160 thousands of people take to the streets over the past 0:26:55.160 --> 0:26:58.680 couple of weeks has really been heartening. It's really been 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:01.280 eye opening. Right, this wasn't in a march that was 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:04.440 organized that was happening in Washington, d C. This was, 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:07.480 you know, happening. People go into the state capitol, people 0:27:07.720 --> 0:27:11.960