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Speaker 1: From portographic books and children's schools to drag queens tworking

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Speaker 1: half naked in front of kids. It is clear that

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Speaker 1: there's an ideological war that's being waged against America's youth.

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Speaker 1: They are being subjected to things they should not be

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Speaker 1: subjected to, whether it's the sexualization of children, portographic books,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned, critical race theory, indoctrinating kids, teaching them

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Speaker 1: to feel like they are less than because the color

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Speaker 1: of their skin. We'll talk to two parents and two

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Speaker 1: authors who wrote the book about it, the books called

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Speaker 1: Stolen Youth. How radicals are erasing innocence and indoctrinating a generation.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk to them about what parents can do, how

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Speaker 1: they can fight this, and what should they be aware of.

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Speaker 1: Bethany Mandel is a contributed writer for Desert News. She's

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Speaker 1: also the editor of children's book series Heroes of Liberty.

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Speaker 1: She's also a calumnist for Fox News and a homeschooling

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Speaker 1: mother of six. Carol Marklewitz is a weekly columnist at

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Speaker 1: The New York Post and Fox News as well. She

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Speaker 1: was born in the Soviet Union, grew up in Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: and relocated her family during COVID from New York to

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Speaker 1: Florida because of COVID and what they're doing to children

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Speaker 1: during that. So we'll talk to both of them about

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Speaker 1: the decisions they've made as parents to try to protect

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Speaker 1: their kids and what you could potentially do as a parent.

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Speaker 1: So I hope you enjoy this conversation with Bethany and

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Speaker 1: Carol about their new book, Stolen Youth. Carol and Bethany,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on the show. I appreciate

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Speaker 1: you guys taking the time. Thank you, Lisa, thanks for

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Speaker 1: having us. Yeah, thank you. You know, so let's start

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Speaker 1: with you, Carol. The book title Stolen Youth, but I

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Speaker 1: mean that's exactly what's happening. I mean, we're essentially depriving

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Speaker 1: kids of their innocence these days. Definitely. That was a

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Speaker 1: big part of our thinking and writing this book is

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Speaker 1: what kids are missing because of this targeted inductrination and

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Speaker 1: forced conformity that they're going through. And you just started

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Speaker 1: thinking about how childhood is supposed to be a time

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Speaker 1: of innocence and discovery and both of those things are

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Speaker 1: being taken away from them. They're not allowed to explore

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Speaker 1: their thoughts because there's a very rigid way of thinking

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Speaker 1: about everything and they're told that should they step outside

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Speaker 1: those lines, you know, they could be canceled or worse.

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Speaker 1: And the indoctrination that they're facing is happening to them

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Speaker 1: at every step of their life, in every area of

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Speaker 1: their life, from schools to the library, to the pediatrician's

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Speaker 1: office and so on. And we do feel that something

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Speaker 1: is being robbed of these children. You know, Bethany, why

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Speaker 1: do you think children specifically are being targeted? So this

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Speaker 1: was a great chapter that Carol wrote in our book.

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Speaker 1: And you know, if you look back at the history

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Speaker 1: of sort of revolutions and different sort of efforts to

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Speaker 1: remake entire societies, Carol, I like, I feel like I'm

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Speaker 1: talking to for you too much. But Carol is a

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Speaker 1: she came from the former Soviet Union, and so this is,

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Speaker 1: you know, something that she's been talking a lot, a lot,

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Speaker 1: talking about a lot in all of our interviews. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's very reminiscent of U sort of communist regimes,

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Speaker 1: and she talks about Cambodia, which is a place I

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Speaker 1: used to live actually, and Soviet Union China. Like the

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Speaker 1: best way to sort of capture a society is to

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Speaker 1: get at the kids. And it's because they're the most

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Speaker 1: vulnerable and they have they don't have as money sort

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Speaker 1: of critical thinking skills to they don't have the BS radar. Basically,

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Speaker 1: to be like that sounds like nonsense. They very much

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Speaker 1: take things at face value. And so, you know, kids

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Speaker 1: are the easiest target for this kind of activism, and

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Speaker 1: it's also a way to get to the parents. Is

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Speaker 1: once you capture the kids, it becomes far easier to

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Speaker 1: get the parents to believe what you want. And every

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Speaker 1: totalitarian society separates the family first because that is the

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Speaker 1: easiest way to get people to believe what you want

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Speaker 1: them to believe. Bethany how captured is or society right

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Speaker 1: now incredibly So I think that if you talk to

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Speaker 1: anyone who works for corporate America, they'll see that Di

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Speaker 1: is the light of the land. And you know, over

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Speaker 1: the course of talking to parents while writing this book

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Speaker 1: and sort of doing interviews, folks were folks had some

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Speaker 1: really shocking stories about the extent to which all of

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Speaker 1: this kind of material had seeped into their kids curriculums.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I think that there were a lot

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Speaker 1: of parents who had their their radars up for content

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Speaker 1: and health class for example. But a lot, a lot

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Speaker 1: fewer parents were ready to see that, like it had

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Speaker 1: seeped into reading instruction, and so you know, during during

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Speaker 1: kindergarten read aloud, especially in the month of June during

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Speaker 1: Pride Week, there was a lot of this kind of content.

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Speaker 1: But also it just sort of slips into picture books

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Speaker 1: very much unnoticed, and I mean unnoticed by parents, but

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Speaker 1: very deliberately on the part of teachers and librarians. But

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Speaker 1: that was sort of the surprising thing for a lot

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Speaker 1: of parents that I spoke with, was the extent to

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Speaker 1: which this had seeped and the it wasn't surprising to

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Speaker 1: people in professional associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics,

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Speaker 1: because they've been getting those magazines and they've seen the

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Speaker 1: extent to which this has ideologically captured their professional association,

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Speaker 1: and they felt like they were sort of being drowned

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Speaker 1: in that content. Carol says this this um statistic a lot.

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Speaker 1: Only seven percent of people in America describe themselves as

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Speaker 1: very liberal, and probably fewer would consider themselves woke. But

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Speaker 1: the problem is they're sort of inserting themselves in the

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Speaker 1: upper echelons of these professional associations and these organizations and

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Speaker 1: their influence is very outsized, and no one wants to

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Speaker 1: be accused of being a bigot or a racist, and

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Speaker 1: so when they do their di stuff, a lot of

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Speaker 1: people go along with it because they're afraid of being labeled,

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Speaker 1: you know, a troublemaker or a Karen or or sort

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Speaker 1: of a racist or a bigot. And so there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff that's happening that is going on without

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Speaker 1: people necessarily consenting, But their silence is their consent, Carol,

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Speaker 1: to Bethany's point, you know, one thing that concerns me

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Speaker 1: a lot is this like almost attempt to sexualize children.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we see with you know, some of these

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Speaker 1: drag shows where you know, you have half naked people

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Speaker 1: like twerking in front of kids, kids giving out money.

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Speaker 1: You'll get some of the books that you know are

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Speaker 1: available to children in schools, which we've seen parents protest

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Speaker 1: over of engaging in sexual acts in these books, like

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Speaker 1: things that children we should be texting children from, not

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Speaker 1: exposing them too. Why do you think there's this effort

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Speaker 1: to sexualize children. So we have a chapter on early

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Speaker 1: sexual sexualization of children in the book, and Bethany wrote that,

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Speaker 1: and it's really because it just combobulates the kids. You

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Speaker 1: can when you kind of mess the kid up. I

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Speaker 1: know that this sounds crazy, but like, stay with me here,

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Speaker 1: because it's true. We really do. We showed this throughout

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Speaker 1: the book, that they are trying to damage the kids.

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Speaker 1: That's part of the effort. And it's hard for people

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Speaker 1: to believe that. But again, if you want people to

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Speaker 1: believe your philosophy, if you want to push your ideology,

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Speaker 1: it becomes much easier to do that when you have anxious, nervous,

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Speaker 1: damaged kids that you can push your ideas onto. And

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Speaker 1: that's really what the early sexualization is about. It's also

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Speaker 1: just the drag queen stuff has become something that the

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Speaker 1: in group does. They've just side it that because conservatives

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Speaker 1: or moderates or most people don't like twerking drag queens

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Speaker 1: on their kindergartener, that they're going to double down on

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Speaker 1: it and decide that this is what we do now

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Speaker 1: and we don't mind this, and you prudes don't like this,

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Speaker 1: so that that means that we will bring our children

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Speaker 1: to these shows. Because when you look at these shows,

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Speaker 1: it's not you know, parents are going there willingly, They're

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Speaker 1: they're bringing their children willingly. They're they're letting this happen,

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Speaker 1: and they're letting it happen because it's the spectacle of

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Speaker 1: the belief. And we go through this in the book

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Speaker 1: where totalitarian societies. It wasn't enough to just say, look,

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Speaker 1: this is what I think. You had to really emote

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Speaker 1: and you really had to make a spectacle out of it.

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Speaker 1: And these drag Queen shows are that spectacle. It shows

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Speaker 1: that this is what we are doing now. And if

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Speaker 1: you're not, you're outside of this same group. Quick commercial

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Speaker 1: break more with Carol and Bethany on the other side.

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Speaker 1: You know in bethany Sis, you're the chapter on it.

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Speaker 1: I want to stay on this with you. What kind

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Speaker 1: of impact is that having on kids, to sort of

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Speaker 1: expose them to these things that I personally don't believe

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Speaker 1: they're ready to be exposed to. Yeah. Absolutely so. I

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Speaker 1: mean there's some really interesting sort of science behind how

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Speaker 1: our brains develop, and there is a lot of evidence

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Speaker 1: that how you are first exposed to something is sort

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Speaker 1: of it shapes the way you consider that thing. And

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Speaker 1: so this is sort of the insidious danger of porn.

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Speaker 1: If you are exposed to porn at a very early age,

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Speaker 1: right at the onset of puberty, and you have never

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Speaker 1: obviously had a sexual experience of your own. This imprints

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Speaker 1: in your brain for what that experience is and should be.

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Speaker 1: And so going forward into your adult life, you will

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Speaker 1: consider sexual counters to be violent or unloving and it's

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Speaker 1: not an expression of love. It's an expression of violence.

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Speaker 1: And that I mean, if you like sort of sit

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Speaker 1: on that and marinate for a minute, can you imagine

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Speaker 1: what that's like for both boys and girls moving forward

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Speaker 1: in their adult lives, that this beautiful expression of love

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Speaker 1: is actually violence. Um So, I mean there's there's a

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Speaker 1: lot there, but also sort of on a societal level,

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Speaker 1: and I deep into this into the book somewhat, but

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Speaker 1: I was sort of afraid of being too alarmist, but

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Speaker 1: maybe I should have been. The normalization of minor attracted

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Speaker 1: persons aka pedophiles. I don't think where that far away

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Speaker 1: from the complete normalization of that lifestyle choice, and that

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Speaker 1: it is a bigotry to be exposed to that life,

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Speaker 1: to be opposed to that lifestyle choice. I think that

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Speaker 1: there are there's a lot of ways in which pedophilia

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Speaker 1: is being normalized and um, and I think that that's

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Speaker 1: sort of the next frontier. We saw it with transgenderism,

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Speaker 1: that that that was the next frontier UM. And there's

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Speaker 1: some really disturbing stuff on that front um once you

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Speaker 1: sort of really go deep into it um on social

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Speaker 1: media and sort of in the trans transgender ecosystem UM.

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Speaker 1: And not as disturbing UM is the is the minor

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Speaker 1: attracted person stuff. And I think that that's that's where

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Speaker 1: we're going next. Well, I totally agree, and I think

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Speaker 1: we've seen that in academia as well. I mean, isn't

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Speaker 1: it already happening? I mean, isn't it pedophilia When you

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Speaker 1: look at some of these drag shows and an adult

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Speaker 1: is half naked dancing for children, And I mean that

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Speaker 1: seems like pedophilia to me. And you know, I talked

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Speaker 1: about this in the book as well. Um, it's a

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Speaker 1: trickle down effect from academia. And that's what happened with

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Speaker 1: the normalization of transgender ideology, and that's also what's happening

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Speaker 1: with minor attracted persons Carol. Another big way that we're seeing,

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Speaker 1: you know, just kind of this targeting of children, this

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Speaker 1: depriving them of their innocence, is with things like critical

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Speaker 1: race theory. I mean if you're I mean, you look

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Speaker 1: at children and how they interact with each other. They

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Speaker 1: don't think about race, like they'll reach out for anyone's hand,

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Speaker 1: like they're just pure and their innocent souls, and they

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Speaker 1: see each other as humans. And then what a lot

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Speaker 1: of these schools are going in and it is distorting

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Speaker 1: the viewpoint and forcing them to see others with race

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Speaker 1: through the racial either through racial lens as opposed to

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Speaker 1: just the innocence of loving another human being. Definitely, and

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Speaker 1: it is part of the Actually I relate a lot

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Speaker 1: of this. CRT and transgenderism are related. And here's how

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Speaker 1: in my thinking, CRT presents oppressors and oppressed And if

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Speaker 1: you're a basic white kid from the suburbs and you

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Speaker 1: don't have any oppression points, trans is a really easy

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Speaker 1: way to get some You can be non binary and

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Speaker 1: not have to change a single thing about your life

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Speaker 1: and get to be this new protected class where you're

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Speaker 1: you're the oppressed, you're suddenly different and you have this

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Speaker 1: um you know, class of category where you get to

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Speaker 1: be something new and unique. And the idea that there

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Speaker 1: are an oppressed class and an oppressed or class, and

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Speaker 1: that we're that we're teaching this to children, it's going

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Speaker 1: to be damaging. They pick up this idea and they

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Speaker 1: carry it throughout their lives. And we used to and

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Speaker 1: not we, but they used to only be targeted at

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Speaker 1: college kids. And in our book Stolen Youth, we trace

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Speaker 1: how early this is happening now that kindergarteners get this

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Speaker 1: education about oppression, and kids who are too young to

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Speaker 1: understand any of these concepts are being fed this nonsense

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Speaker 1: and it's really creating damaging effects for our society and

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Speaker 1: for these individual children. We tell so many stories about

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Speaker 1: kids who have been damaged by this ideology, and I

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Speaker 1: don't want to give a pass. You know, for a

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Speaker 1: long time, Bethany and I would say that our book

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Speaker 1: is about wokeness destroying childhood. But that's too vague. It's

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Speaker 1: not wokeness, it's the woke. It's these people destroying other people.

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Speaker 1: It's not some femeral philosophy floating in the air. It's

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Speaker 1: literally teachers and people in positions of authority knowing that

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Speaker 1: this is not going to be good for the children,

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Speaker 1: and doing it anyway. Bethany, I think one of my

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Speaker 1: big fears is, you know, we see what schools are doing.

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Speaker 1: We see what you know, government is trying to do

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Speaker 1: what the left is trying to do to these kids.

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Speaker 1: But I worry that we're entering into an era where,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're trying to remove parental rights. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they've already kind of made their declarations known, and we

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Speaker 1: saw Terry mccullife during the Virginia gubentorial race basically saying that,

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Speaker 1: you know, parents didn't have a say over their kids education,

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Speaker 1: but you know the next step is legally trying to

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Speaker 1: remove parents from their kids who don't want them to

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Speaker 1: change their gender, or who don't want them to have

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Speaker 1: gender or surgery. Who don't you know, and talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit about that and if you have some of

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Speaker 1: those same concerns. So I absolutely do. On a realistic level,

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Speaker 1: there are too many children in the foster care system

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Speaker 1: who are facing really serious instances experiences of abuse. And

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Speaker 1: I don't want to be too alarmist and say that

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Speaker 1: the foster system is out to get all of our kids,

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Speaker 1: because they can't take all of our kids, So I

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Speaker 1: don't think that's the case. That being said, there are

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Speaker 1: a number of states already that won't allow parents to

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Speaker 1: foster children or adopt children unless they agree to provide

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Speaker 1: their children with the euphemistic gender affirming care. AK. They

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Speaker 1: have to agree if that if they're seven year old

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Speaker 1: comes to them and says they're seven year old, who,

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Speaker 1: by the way, has already experienced enough trauma that they've

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Speaker 1: landed themselves in the foster care system, you know, they

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Speaker 1: have to agree to honor that seven year olds request

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Speaker 1: to to change genders. And I think that that is

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Speaker 1: the scariest possibility because these are already the most vulnerable

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Speaker 1: and the most emotionally damaged children. And that's I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you look at who the children are who are

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Speaker 1: declaring themselves to be of another gender, they are children

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Speaker 1: who are already experiencing mental health crises and it's manifesting

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Speaker 1: as gender identity disorder. And so the kids who are

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Speaker 1: going to be sort of the hardest hit by the

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Speaker 1: government's intrusion into these really complex decisions on the parts

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Speaker 1: of families are going to be kids who are in

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Speaker 1: foster care who have been adopted. And that's that's what's

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Speaker 1: really heartbreaking I think about a lot of these issues

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Speaker 1: is that the most vulnerable children are the ones who

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Speaker 1: who are at most risk. I just want to add

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Speaker 1: about the Terry mccaull of pointly so that it gets

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Speaker 1: lost and as we move away from that moment, which

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Speaker 1: was really powerful, I think when Terry mcculliffe said that,

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Speaker 1: you know, parents shouldn't have control over what's taught in

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Speaker 1: the kids' schools. What he was talking about in that

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Speaker 1: moment were those pornographic books that are being now removed

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Speaker 1: from libraries and places like Florida. He was literally saying

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Speaker 1: that parents cannot remove those pornographic books. That's what he

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Speaker 1: was talking about, and that to me encapsulates so many

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Speaker 1: different things, Like he wanted to defend those insane books

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Speaker 1: that we cannot read aloud on news programs because they're

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Speaker 1: too graphic and they're too sexually explicit, and Terry mcculliff

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Speaker 1: wanted parents to not have a say in that. And

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Speaker 1: so in Stolen Youth we go through a lot of

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Speaker 1: the just the angling of this kind of thing where

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Speaker 1: they're so ready to keep these books in elementary schools

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Speaker 1: because the rest of us don't want it. It becomes

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Speaker 1: a point of pride for them, like, look, we have

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Speaker 1: books that show graphic intercourse for children, and these pood

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Speaker 1: conservatives don't want this, but we're going to fight to

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Speaker 1: have this in the schools well, and it gets called censorship, Bethany.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you're someone like Governor to Santis, you

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Speaker 1: trying to protect hids from some of this garbage in

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Speaker 1: schools and places like you know, Florida, the left calls

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Speaker 1: it censorship. Yeah, no, absolutely, it's it's it's an upside

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Speaker 1: down world. And I thought that what de Santis did

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Speaker 1: was really brilliant that he sort of tried to read

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Speaker 1: the content and show the content and he got cut

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Speaker 1: off because it was so disturbing and so graphic that

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Speaker 1: they couldn't show it on air. When Carol and I

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Speaker 1: went on Meg and Kelly recently, she showed a video

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Speaker 1: of a child at a school board meeting reading aloud

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Speaker 1: a book that he had found on display at his

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Speaker 1: school library. And it was I mean, we were on

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Speaker 1: video just yeah, cringing, squirming in our seats. It was

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Speaker 1: so deeply uncomfortable. And you know, I'm really of two minds.

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Speaker 1: I mean, but I kind of land more on the

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Speaker 1: side of like, do that do that because he's already

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Speaker 1: been exposed to it, and so adults should have to

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Speaker 1: atone for that exposure and be made to feel uncomfortable

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Speaker 1: because I will probably forget the de Santiss stunt in

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Speaker 1: a year. I thought it was brilliant and at the

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Speaker 1: moment and I think it moved the needle, but I'll

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Speaker 1: probably forget it. I don't think I'll ever forget hearing

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Speaker 1: that child read that content aloud, you know, And Carol,

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Speaker 1: I'm not for censorship for adults, but we have a

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Speaker 1: duty as adults to protect children. How responsible. You know.

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Speaker 1: We see all the targeting of kids, but it's also

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Speaker 1: really up to the parents to sort of step up

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Speaker 1: to protect their kids, to make noise, to get loud,

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Speaker 1: and to intervene here absolutely. And the thing is that

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Speaker 1: you know, as a parent, I do what I can

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Speaker 1: in the home, but I can't control what's in the

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Speaker 1: school library. So the you know, the pictures of the

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Speaker 1: empty bookshelves that they thought were going to shame Governor

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Speaker 1: to Santis into not pulling porn off the shelves. To me, yes,

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Speaker 1: I want you to empty the bookshelves, go through every book,

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Speaker 1: make sure that it's acceptable for kids, and then put

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Speaker 1: it back on the shelf. Like I don't see anything

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Speaker 1: wrong with that now, only that I think that's what

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Speaker 1: we should be doing, that that's what the standards should be.

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Speaker 1: The idea that small children should be able to access

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Speaker 1: all books is crazy. It's crazy. I mean, look, you know,

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Speaker 1: we rate movies at a certain rating because we understand

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Speaker 1: that kids are not supposed to see everything all the time,

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Speaker 1: and books are not that different than There are lots

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Speaker 1: of books that are not appropriate for kids, and I

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Speaker 1: think the ones that they keep discovering in school libraries

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Speaker 1: are deeply inappropriate for kids. I think, not even just elementary.

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Speaker 1: I think middle schoolers should have access to that stuff either,

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Speaker 1: you know, sexual interactions at sleepovers and really graphic like

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Speaker 1: sex pictures. I don't want my middle school or seeing

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Speaker 1: that either, and I don't think that there's anything wrong

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Speaker 1: with that. It's crazy to me that this is a discussion.

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Speaker 1: What the left ends up doing is saying that this

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Speaker 1: isn't really happening, and then when you show them that

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Speaker 1: it is happening, they're like, okay, but it only it's

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Speaker 1: only happening in high schools. And then you show them

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Speaker 1: it's happening in elementary middle schools, they say, okay, but

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Speaker 1: it's only a handful of schools, and then we can't

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Speaker 1: get to like, okay, we'll should those handful of schools

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Speaker 1: remove those books because you know that the next step

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Speaker 1: for them is going to be like it's good that

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Speaker 1: those books are in elementary and middle school libraries because

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Speaker 1: that's where it always ends up. Bethany, you have six children,

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Speaker 1: you are homeschooling them. How do you do that? I mean, so,

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Speaker 1: how do I do that? As far as like writing

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Speaker 1: books and living my life? Or like how do I like,

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Speaker 1: how does how does homeschooling work? How does one do that?

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Speaker 1: Much question? So I mean I get a get by

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Speaker 1: with little help from my friends. No, I mean it's

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Speaker 1: it doesn't take as much time. It doesn't take eight

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Speaker 1: hours a day. And I think that school I'm a

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Speaker 1: school in like Finland, for example, it is probably half

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Speaker 1: the amount of hours. The amount of time that we

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Speaker 1: spent on school is actually quite small. It's probably closer

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Speaker 1: to two or three per day, and we take lots

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Speaker 1: of breaks, and you know that it can happen at

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Speaker 1: any point in the day. We sometimes do school on

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Speaker 1: Sundays if we have a big day on a Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: It's very flexible, and it's as flexible as you want

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Speaker 1: it to be. But I it's funny. I because I've

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Speaker 1: been doing press for this book. I've actually had my

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Speaker 1: one year old at a sort of drop in daycare

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Speaker 1: here and there on days that I'm doing, you know,

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Speaker 1: lots of stuff like today and this morning, I got

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Speaker 1: him there an hour late and I hated handing him over.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, this is why I have

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Speaker 1: them all at home, because I can't get everyone out

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Speaker 1: there door. And I don't want to send everyone out

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Speaker 1: the door. Sorry, except my dog. I would send my

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Speaker 1: dog out the door. So yeah, so it's it's it's

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Speaker 1: really I think parent I was saying this to someone recently.

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Speaker 1: Parenting is hard, no matter what you do, what choices

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Speaker 1: you make, it's hard. And they're all just different kinds

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Speaker 1: of heart. Well and and Carol, you know you've also

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Speaker 1: taken steps, like Bethany, to try to kind of shield

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Speaker 1: your kid from some of the madness going on. You know,

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Speaker 1: you relocated your family to Florida during COVID. You know,

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Speaker 1: talk about how impactful COVID has been under youth, how

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Speaker 1: damaging has that been. We have a chapter on COVID

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Speaker 1: in Stolen Youth because we felt like we couldn't write

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Speaker 1: this book without tracing the origins of a lot of

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Speaker 1: the conversations that we're having, and COVID exposed a lot

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Speaker 1: of things. It exposed that people in charge of no

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Speaker 1: idea what's going on. It exposed that they won't change

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Speaker 1: their minds even when an abundance of evidence exists that

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Speaker 1: their conclusions have been wrong. They also COVID exposed a

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Speaker 1: lot of what was going on in schools that parents

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Speaker 1: didn't know. They suddenly saw it over their kid's shoulder

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Speaker 1: and wondered why they were learning this nonsense. And so

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Speaker 1: the COVID chapter was important to both of us to include,

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Speaker 1: even though I would say it's not a direct fit

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Speaker 1: with the rest of the book. The rest of the

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Speaker 1: book traces a lot of things that are current or happening,

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Speaker 1: or you know, we predicted happening in the future. But

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Speaker 1: COVID is kind of a look back. But that look

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Speaker 1: back is really important because we really need to know

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Speaker 1: what went wrong during COVID and the way the kids

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Speaker 1: were targeted in order not to do it again, although

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Speaker 1: I think we're completely poised to absolutely do it again.

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Speaker 1: The New York Times had a piece this weekend, what

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Speaker 1: do we do during the next pandemic. Do we have

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Speaker 1: mask mandates? Do we have vaccine mandates. It's like they

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Speaker 1: learned absolutely nothing and they want to make sure that

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Speaker 1: their bad ideas are implemented the next time around two. I,

429
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 1: you know, in my own life, we picked up and

430
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,800
Speaker 1: moved to Florida. Best you know decision ever got to

431
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: meet Lisa Booth obviously, well yeah, and it wasn't easy,

432
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 1: but it was what was necessary for our family. And

433
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: in our solutions chapters in Stolen Youth, Bethany and I

434
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:30,159
Speaker 1: Prevent present various solutions because obviously we've taken two different

435
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 1: paths and mine. Part of it is if you're living

436
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: somewhere where things are crazy and your kids are targeted,

437
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 1: and you don't feel good about the childhood and the

438
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: raising of the children that you're doing in where you are,

439
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: moving is something you need to consider. Maybe it's not

440
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 1: as drastic as moving to another state. Maybe it's another community,

441
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 1: maybe you need to switch schools, but childhood is short

442
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: and you need to do what you have to do

443
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,359
Speaker 1: for your family. I think that it's never going to

444
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 1: be easy, but you need to the choices to make

445
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 1: sure that your kids grow into resilient competent, capable adults yo,

446
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 1: and by the day, what kind of solutions would would

447
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: you offer to parents who are listening to this and

448
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: they're saying, look, I agree with everything that's being said,

449
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 1: but I just I don't know what to do about it. So,

450
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:16,919
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the Carol's right. I mean, while

451
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 1: we offer two different solutions, they're they're not as different

452
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 1: as I think people might both believe. On the outset,

453
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 1: I think that they're all just different kinds of hard.

454
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: The last word in our book is one that Carol wrote,

455
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:37,199
Speaker 1: and it's fight and no matter what fight looks like

456
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: for your family and what makes sense, you have to

457
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 1: do it. When we were trying to sell this book

458
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,600
Speaker 1: project to publishers, we heard iterations of like this is

459
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: going to sell like Gangbusters, and spoiler alert, it is

460
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 1: selling like Gangbusters. We've been in the top hundred for

461
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 1: almost a full week now on Amazon, like the top

462
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 1: hundred books on Amazon. But were afraid of the fight.

463
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: There was one there's one super nice editor who we

464
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 1: really clicked with who was afraid of the fight message.

465
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,119
Speaker 1: She said, you know, people don't want to fight, and

466
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,399
Speaker 1: that's absolutely true. People don't want to fight and you

467
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 1: know us included. We've definitely and we talk about it

468
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:15,879
Speaker 1: in the book, and we've been talking about it in

469
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 1: the press for you know, since the release. There have

470
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: been instances in which we've chickened out, both of us,

471
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: and we kind of are trying to learn from those

472
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:28,199
Speaker 1: moments and do better going on in the future. And

473
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: we're not perfect, and no parent is perfect, obviously, but

474
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 1: we want people to fight. We want people to understand

475
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 1: that this is an existential threat that we're facing and

476
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 1: our kids are on the line, and kids in general

477
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: are on the line then their entire generation, and we

478
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,360
Speaker 1: have to do what is necessary to try to protect

479
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 1: their resilience and their innocence because I think that the

480
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 1: lesson that we learned over COVID is no one else will.

481
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,119
Speaker 1: I just want to add to Bethany's point when we

482
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,119
Speaker 1: say we were trying to sell our book and we

483
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 1: kept getting pushed back from publishers saying like, oh, this

484
00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: is really controversial, or we want to see less fighting

485
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: in the book. These are conservative publishers. This is the

486
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: conservative publishing world that was telling us you have to

487
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: tone down the fighting message because they were scared that

488
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,439
Speaker 1: Amazon or Target we're going to pull the books and

489
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 1: not sell them. And we thought we were not writing

490
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,399
Speaker 1: anything particularly controversial. The fight for your Kid's message should

491
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: be one that everybody on the left and right should appreciate.

492
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,639
Speaker 1: And yet we had a lot of trouble publishing this

493
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: book because the idea of fighting back is one that

494
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: conservatives just shy away from. And you know, it's something

495
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,719
Speaker 1: that Lisa and I discuss privately a lot too, that

496
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 1: we could be braver and we can have more on

497
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: our side, people who speak up and aren't as afraid

498
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: quick commercial breaks. Stay with us. You know, I'll offer

499
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 1: us up whoever wants to take it. But I think

500
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: I'd be remissed or not mentioned social media because we're

501
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: releasing kind of a lack of independence, a lack of

502
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: a critical thinking, and I think social media is playing

503
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 1: a big role in just conditioning society, conditioning or youth

504
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 1: and sort of depriving them of that, you know, independence

505
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: and critical thinking. Anyone who wants to take that one,

506
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: I'm happy too. Yeah. Look, social media is it's here

507
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,240
Speaker 1: to stay. Is sort of what my thinking on it is.

508
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 1: And again, Bethany and I have different perspectives on this,

509
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: where I My solution from my kids is to let

510
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 1: them be part of society to who you know, they're

511
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 1: not really on social media, but they're also little. They're

512
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: My oldest one is thirteen. She you know, snapchats with

513
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,360
Speaker 1: her friends, but that's it. She's not earned anything else.

514
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: No tik tak, no Instagram. And you have to have

515
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: control over it, just like TV or video games or

516
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: anything else. You have to be the parent, and it's

517
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: not easy. It's not going to be easy. I've seen

518
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: the TikTok addicted kids who are just can't stop scrolling,

519
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 1: and I've said to myself, I just don't want my

520
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 1: kids to be like that. And so you have to

521
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: do for your kids what you expect. You can't just

522
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 1: assume that it's going to be okay and that you've

523
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 1: just because you've told them that you don't like social media,

524
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: that they're going to follow that lead. If you don't

525
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,080
Speaker 1: want them with social media, keep them off social media.

526
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: But you're right that there is it is the way

527
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 1: that a lot of these contagions are spread, and it

528
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 1: has to start with the parents controlling with the kids.

529
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,479
Speaker 1: See Beth, anything you want to add to that, I

530
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,400
Speaker 1: referenced it in the book, but there's a great book

531
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 1: by day only Shay for Riley be the parent please,

532
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: and I kind of I would push back on the

533
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 1: notion that having phones and having social media is an eventuality.

534
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,120
Speaker 1: I think that as more parents need to get comfortable

535
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 1: with the idea of fighting on the outside, I think

536
00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: that we also have to fight our own kids and say, like,

537
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: I don't care what everyone else is doing, that is

538
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,080
Speaker 1: not something we're doing in our family. There's a lot

539
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 1: of data, and there's more and more data every day

540
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 1: that comes out that says like man phones and social

541
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 1: media are really screwing up an entire generation, and I

542
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 1: think that we need to sort of take that data

543
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: to heart and make decisions accordingly. I agree. Before we go, Carol,

544
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: what do you want people to take away from this book?

545
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: I think that the main thing for me is that

546
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 1: it's not going to be easy. I say this a

547
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 1: lot about a lot of things. I just think people

548
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:34,800
Speaker 1: expect a really easy solution to problems, and we've allowed

549
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: this woke virus to capture so many of our institutions.

550
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:43,360
Speaker 1: They've marched through our schools, they have taken over so

551
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: many things, and it's not going to be an overnight

552
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 1: thing to get them back, and especially when your kids

553
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 1: are concerned, it's going to be a protracted battle and

554
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 1: you need to look at it that way. And I

555
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 1: feel like people can adjust to that thought that it's

556
00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 1: not going to be fast and it's not going to

557
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,959
Speaker 1: be easy, and it's your children and you need to

558
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 1: fight for them. I do think we win eventually, But

559
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 1: what I want people to know about this book is

560
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 1: that we lay out the problems, We present solutions, and

561
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 1: the next step is your input. You need to fight,

562
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 1: and you need to start now. Bethany anything else you

563
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: want to leave us with. What do you hope people

564
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: take away. I hope that people sort of take away

565
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:27,120
Speaker 1: that they are sort of most responsible for their own

566
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: children and that childhood my three year oldest bloom a kiss,

567
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:39,920
Speaker 1: that childhood is short and it is sacred, and that

568
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 1: there are a lot of forces coming from all different

569
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: directions that are that are aimed right at our kids.

570
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 1: The insidiousness of sort of the woke movement for our

571
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 1: kids is something that we really wanted to expose for parents,

572
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 1: that it is more wide spread then you had any idea.

573
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: And you know, in the case of the sexualization stuff

574
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:10,360
Speaker 1: with the minor attractive persons, like, there is some really

575
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 1: dark stuff on the road, and you have to be

576
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 1: ready for it because it is coming. Whether you are

577
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 1: or aren't, totally agree. Appreciate the perspective of you both.

578
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,720
Speaker 1: Congrats on the success of Stolen Youth. I hope it

579
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: keeps crushing it. Thank you so much, Lisa, you are

580
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,720
Speaker 1: the best Ah you were to my friend Bethany. Thanks

581
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 1: so much for joining the show. Appreciate you both. That

582
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 1: is Carol Markowitz and Bethany Bendel talking about their new book,

583
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 1: Stolen Youth that's out in bookstores now. You can also

584
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: buy it on the internet as well. Go out and

585
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,040
Speaker 1: get it. I want to thank you guys for listening

586
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 1: to the show every Monday and Thursday, but you can

587
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,280
Speaker 1: listen throughout the week. I want to thank John Cass,

588
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,080
Speaker 1: whom my producer, for putting the show together as well.

589
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: Please leave us a review, give us a rating on

590
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,840
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. Until next time,