Is Hatred Destroying Democracy?

Is social cohesion breaking down?  Media networks have mastered the art of keeping viewers anxious and fearful.  Elected leaders create a false sense of urgency that drives us to want to escalate conflicts.  But, what happens when we step away from the screen and encounter real people in our communities who hold different political views?  Is political hatred going to infiltrate our neighborhoods and relationships to levels we have never seen before?  History says yes, but only time will tell.   

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I guess the question for us is we reasonable people,
what are we going to do with allthis hatred, all of the spite
we are throwing around at eachother, even viscerally Smiling,
all the time Caring for ourneighbors and friends and
co-workers and, in our mindsstill in the back of them,

(00:34):
spitting fire at other people'sbeliefs?
I don't spit at my Republicanneighbors, do you, because of
their worldview.
O, tower of Babel.
The Tower of Babel that a king,shinar, commissioned that a
tower be built to reach theheavens as high as God's kingdom

(00:58):
.
God disapproved Humans had beenunified in one language after
the great flood, noah's Ark, andGod saw the tower growing
higher and disapproved, so itconfounded their languages and

(01:22):
the people could no longer workwell together and the tower was
abandoned.
They spoke in differentlanguages then and God scattered
the people across the earth.
On this podcast, we are here atthe base of the tower again,
base of the Tower of Babel oncemore, ready to begin

(01:45):
construction again, and we willadvance into the sky with the
wisdom of the angels and of thesaints.
We will sit quietly, as theangels would, and talk quietly
now about many matters thataffect us in this modern world.
Welcome to the Tower of Babel2.0.
It said that, including handgestures, there may be as many

(02:12):
as 200,000 ways to say welcomearound the world, we human
beings and that's with just 700,159 living languages, 200,000
ways to say welcome.
I'm going to say welcome topeople 50 times a day in my own

(02:36):
language, in words and gestures,or at least one every half hour
.
Glad you've joined me heretoday.
Hope you're having a good oneday, evening or night, wherever
you are around the world.

(02:56):
A slightly revised format, solet's get right into it.
Format so let's get right intoit.
This world we live in is sofull of monstrous voices and

(03:18):
their primary goal is not toengage in communication with us
but to pull or push peoplearound, form their opinion for
us, keep us locked in through alot of terror.
Really Fright, all of us, rightof center, left of center,

(03:38):
right down the media, right downthe middle media, right down
the middle media.
Unintentionally, I'm sure, theyhook into our emotions.
They tie into what we think isright or wrong and attach to our

(04:05):
emotional side and go to work.
They talk about people whodon't think as you do or as I do
.
They say how criticallydifferent their opinion is from
yours and from mine, and howfast these other people are
approaching to change yourentire way of life, change you.

(04:30):
They're coming.
They're coming to harm yourfamily and your children and
they're coming to harm you.
Media is not where our livesbegin and it's not where it ends
.
News media for some it does, formost of it it doesn't, but it

(04:50):
all has some kind of influenceon us, on most of us Me to you,
left, right and center, and somuch of it is just toxic.
A friend of mine suggested thatI read the Wall Street Journal
because there's plenty of newsin there, but it doesn't leave

(05:12):
me with the impression that theworld is going to blow up in the
next five minutes.
All is well with the world, alot of analysis.
I'm a Democrat, but I look atthe journal and left, right has
nothing to do with it.
I take in the information andthey're giving me information to
think about and discuss.
I don't feel as though I'mabout to be assaulted when I

(05:36):
read the journal.
The coming for my firstborn.
If I look at television, that'sjust that's how I feel.
I first born if I look attelevision.
That's just that's how I feel,and I'm not trying to ignore the
importance of standing behindwhat I believe or what you
believe in politics.
I'm saying that we're allwearing sunglasses with red

(06:02):
lenses or lenses that are toodark to see clearly because of
the way information is presentedto us.
Small things, so many smallthings.
For example, donald Trump waselected as the 47th president
today In an overwhelming victory, giving the Republican Party a

(06:24):
clear mandate to set the agendafor the next four years.
That sounds unbiased, soundslike good reporting, sounds
clear.
What it does, though it tells aDemocrat.
It tells a Democrat thatthey're going to be stuck in a

(06:53):
Republican dungeon for the nextfour years.
Clear mandate to set the agenda.
That's not how our life isgoing to be for the next four
years If the Republican Party issetting the agenda.
Your life is not going to beinfluenced that deeply if the

(07:17):
Republican Party sets the agenda.
So how about this instead, as aDemocrat?
How about this instead as ademocrat?
How about this?
What if the news media were to?
What if the media were to saylet's all celebrate democracy?

(07:38):
Imagine cnn saying let's allcelebrate democracy and give
congratulations to thepresident-elect, donald Trump,
and his campaign for animpressive victory today?
That makes more sense, doesn'tit?
That's the glass half fullcomment, and it's celebratory

(08:00):
and it's grateful for what wehave, all of us, which are a set
of elections where we can give.
We can give our say to whoshould be our leaders.
Jesus Christ himself mightagree that election day might be

(08:21):
the most important, the mostholy holiday we have, then
Christmas Day, then Easter.
I think Easter actually trumpsChristmas Day.
Problem is, if there were morepositive language on any of the
networks, there'd be immediatelyevery second, one million TVs

(08:41):
turned off, every second, rightthere, starting with election
night, and you'd see producersfired by the end of the day the
next day because of all the,because of the ratings losses,
the viewership drop.
The term positive, theurgency's down To watch.
Turn the urgency down.

(09:03):
The interest is down To watch.
Turn the urgency down.
The interest is down.
No more.
Red sirens going off all thetime means television's going to
be turned off.
The Martians are not coming,the ground is not sinking, the
fire's not raging, theearthquake is not there.

(09:23):
Get the people out On edge.
The network bosses will say orfor you, mr Network TV producer,
it's off to the soup line foryou, isn't it funny, funny.

(09:57):
It's funny that when you turn onthe TV and look for news during
the day.
You know exactly where to go toget an opinion just like yours
and you know where to go to getan opinion that's not like yours
.
Now, what does it have to dowith news?
We're not sure, but you do.
You know where to go and wherenot to go to find your opinion

(10:22):
or find one not like yours.
You can go one way to getagitated all day, or you can go
one way to get irritated all day.
If I go to Fox myself, I'll beirritated all day long, so I
don't watch Fox.
If I go to CNN, I'll beagitated all day long, all day,

(10:44):
every day, so I don't watch CNN.
It just doesn't make sense forme, cnn.
It just doesn't make sense forme.
So I hope you're getting whatyou need out of the news.
Wherever your news source is, Ihope it's giving you whatever
it is that you need from it.

(11:08):
Okay, so let's look at thissurvey coming from the Pew
Research Center.
It's a caption related toAmericans and what sources
they've received their news from.
In a previous week, recently,all right, 39% of all adults who

(11:36):
watched the news got their newsfrom Fox.
39%.
In the same week, 30% of alladults who watched the news got
some news from CNN.
Watch the news got some newsfrom CNN.
Then there's NBC 34% got somenews from NBC, then ABC, a

(11:57):
little less.
Cbs, a little less more or lessthan that, and then down to
MSNBC, which is 24%.
20% of all adults who wantednews got some from NPR.
That sounds pretty good.
5% of people looking for newsgot some from the New York Post.

(12:19):
5% of Democrats got some newsfrom the New York Post.
5% of Republicans got some newsfrom the New York Post.
In this week's caption, 60% ofRepublicans got some news from
the New York Post.
In this week's caption, 60% ofRepublicans got some news from
Fox.
The largest source forDemocrats is CNN, with 53%.

(12:43):
One in four Democrats got somenews from Fox and one in four
Republicans got some news fromCNN.
It appears, overall, thatDemocrats are getting more news
from NBC, abc and CBS thanRepublicans.

(13:04):
Democrats are getting more newsfrom the Wall Street Journal
and Politico.
Now there's an actual politicsand current affairs section from
the Wall Street Journal andPolitico.
Now there's an actual politicsand current affairs section in
the Wall Street Journal.
If you're not aware of that, itsays that 15% of Democrats and

(13:28):
11% of Republicans receive newsfrom the Wall Street Journal.
Overall, it appears thatDemocrats get news from a larger
number of news sources thanrepublicans, but it doesn't say
what percentage of democrats andrepublicans get news at all on
a weekly basis or the amount oftime citizens from each party

(13:51):
spend receiving news Twounknowns Of the top 30 news
sources.
Democrats get a higherpercentage of news than
Republicans in all sources butFox News, hannity Radio
Breitbart, washington Examinerand Daily Caller.

(14:12):
Peace, generation Peace.
I have this thought that if youtook all of the upcoming
legislation, put each proposalin a jar, put them all in a jar,

(14:33):
remove the party affiliation,that you'd see support for the
bills would become far lesspartisan.
There'd be Republicanssupporting bills from Democrats
and Democrats supporting billsfrom Republicans on a much
broader basis, far more than now.

(14:55):
It's said, actually, that bothRepublicans and Democrats
support about 80% of the samebills, the same proposals.
We agree 80% of the time as itis, but reality, let's not
ignore it or not ignore it.
Reality does dictate, howevercan't be ignored, that

(15:20):
supportive legislation.
One bill is not at all.
What's going on when decidinghow you feel about that one bill
?
You vote on bills or people tendto many people tend to vote on
a bill based upon their supportof the party.

(15:41):
What that party means to you isas heavy of a weight, heavier
than considering the idea, theissues of a particular bill,
legislation.
We're starting to care aboutparty support all the way
through how we feel aboutsociety, how it should be

(16:03):
organized, what our leadershipshould look like, how diverse it
should be, what governmentshould be doing for us, how to
support us, how to lead, thecharacter of our leadership.
I'm not going to say that Ithink that Democratic people are

(16:28):
more vested in being respectfulto others than Republicans.
I believe that one party,however, is more committed to an
open environment for allcitizens to be and feel
prosperous than the other.
To have the basics satisfied,whatever that means to you.

(16:49):
To have the basics satisfied,whatever that means to you, and
you can extend that to allpeople living here, citizens and
non-citizens.
That's where I'm at.
There's an article from theUniversity of Rochester News

(17:10):
Center.
The question is does it matterhow much Democrats and
Republicans hate each other?
Then it says, yes, it does.
Their point is well, I haven't.

(17:31):
Really.
I don't think of us Republicansand Democrats hating each other
.
We have a political mind.
Each of us does, and I guess itappears as though Republicans
and Democrats and independents,and all of us in some way, may
be having an increasing level ofdisconcern for others at this

(17:57):
point, which is dangerous.
Should we be concerned aboutDemocratic v Republican fighting
?
Google AI's answer was In apolitical landscape marked by
increasing partisan hostility,there is valid concern about the
friction between Democrats andRepublicans, and the reasons are

(18:20):
Erosion of democraticinstitutions.
Partisan animosity can weakendemocratic institutions and
hinder their effectiveness overtime.
Number two impact on governance.
Disagreement and lack ofcooperation make it harder for
the government to functioneffectively, address critical

(18:42):
issues and deliver solutionsthat serve the public.
Good Governance is I want tothrow that in Governance is an
environment Cares to positionitself where it can accept the

(19:29):
support of the public, toproduce as dynamics and
communication, and then, ofcourse, shaping the conduct and
order of our social system.
Number three, according toGoogle AI a threat to social
cohesion.
Threat to social cohesionPolitical polarization can breed

(19:54):
distrust and negativity,impacting relationships between
individuals and contributing tosocial fragmentation.
In my neighborhood even, I'm atthe point now where I don't
want to know if one of myneighbors is Democrat or
Republican because I love themall.
I love all my neighbors, I likethem all.
I actually don't know.
Amazingly terrible.
I don't want to know if one ofmy neighbors is a Democrat or

(20:18):
Republican, because I like them.
The Journal of Democracy claimsthat Americans have sorted
themselves into two broadidentity groups.
Democrats tend to live incities, are more likely to be
minorities, women andreligiously unaffiliated, and

(20:39):
are trending liberal.
Republicans generally live inrural areas or suburbs and are
more likely to be white male,christian and conservative, and
are more likely to be white male, christian and conservative.
There are more whiteRepublicans than there are white
Democrats.
Somehow or another, we need todo a little better in

(21:01):
understanding who we are.
Just a little.
If 40% of white Americans areDemocrat, 46% of Americans
identify or lean towards theRepublican Party Democrats, 45%

(21:26):
identify with or lean towardsthe Democratic Party.
8% of Americans identify aspure independents.
I just prefer to think or hope.
Hope that the Republican Partyis finding a way to make its
philosophy inclusive.
I will now fall back, as it issaid, and resort to the magic of

(21:50):
poetry to transcend thedisaster which is American
politics these days, and I stateshine on me, o lonely star, o
glorious star of Texas, rise,raise your fist at me, no more.
Raise your hand to praise me.

(22:11):
Raise me high as your manyhorses fly, mains swaying in
this lullaby.
Why won't you let me sing along?
Oh lowly star of Texas, sing.
Might I ask?
Did a rabbit get stuck in thatdeep dark hole?

(22:33):
You hide.
Your first count tallies in.
I say again oh lowly star ofTexas, shine on your red, white,
blue behind.
I'll take up my flag, I'll takeit up, and then I'll stride,
brush off my brown skin, thensay again, brushing off this old

(22:57):
raw hide.
Spit on the ground, chaw, spiton the ground, dip, don't fall
swiftly down.
After a few of those Lone Starbrewskis, you might just decide
to disappear into my lonelyheart where all the old folks

(23:18):
hide and quiver.
All the old folks liver shiver.
All the old folks dare not diewith you around, great Star of
Texas, since you can wear a gundown on your hip, down at the
Piggly Wiggly, anytime you wantto, and shoot a dead man dead if

(23:38):
you want to, and shoot a deadman dead while they ain't
looking.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Come here, girl.
Come here, girl.
Daddy's home, daddy's home,Come here, girl.
Hey, I be movin' for that moneyin a hurry, feelin' about a bag
, and I ain't worried.
Henny got me talkin' hellaslurry, but I'm still on point
with the shot, steph Curry.
I be movin' for that money in ahurry, feelin' about a bag, and

(24:08):
I ain't worried.
Henny got me talkin, talkinghella slurry, but I'm still on
point with the shot, steph Curry.
If it ain't about a bag then Iain't worried.
Henny got me talking hellaslurry, but I'm still on point
with the shot, steph Curry.
I be moving for that money in ahurry.
If it ain't about a bag, then Iain't worried.

(24:29):
I'll see you next time.
We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Thanks for watching no-transcript a Scottish man who

(31:11):
believes the best pizza he'sever had was in Falkirk Scotland
.
So right now I'll say peace andlove and harmony to you, coming
to you from the Connecticutshoreline, usa.
Thank you for joining me.
If you'd like to see more,check me out on my website,

(31:38):
which you can find atTowerOfBabel2.com, looking
forward to seeing you there.
Hope you've enjoyed yourself.
Leave me a comment, give me alike, leave a review.
Definitely subscribe.
Love you much, everybody, Takecare, see you next time.

(32:03):
Hunger around the world isendemic.
It's a pandemic of its own,it's a crisis, and each person
should be aware of it.
We're going to now speak tosomeone who is going to tell us
that the best pizza, the bestslice of pizza he's ever had, is

(32:29):
in a place called FalkirkScotland.
So let's see what this youngman has to say Hello, hello,
ramsey.
How are you today?
I'm very good.
How are you Very well, ramsey.
How are you today?
I'm very good.
How are you Very well, thankyou.
So I'm here with Ramsey, whoI've already told everyone that

(32:56):
you're going to explain to us,or tell us why you believe that
the best slice of pizza you'veever had can be found in a place
called Falkirk Scotland.
Is that so?

Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yes, that is so.
However, there are a few thingsI need to let the listeners
know.
First, I know what thelisteners are going to say.
They're going to say well,ramsey, as you can hear from my
voice and from the place I gotthe pizza Falkirk, scotland.
I'm indeed Scottish Everyone'sgoing to say, well, he doesn't
know any better, he's not hadproper pizza.

(33:36):
And I'm going to tell you I'vebeen to Rome, I've been to
Sorrento in Italy, I've been toNew York.
I've been to several differentplaces in America.
I've tasted pizza from placeseveryone says are the best.
I've tasted the pizza and it'sgood.
Don't get me wrong.
However, I was so shocked onthe day I stepped into Sal's

(34:00):
Pizza in Falkirk.
So let me set the scene.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
Hold on, hold on one second.
So you know, I'm glad you saidSal's.
That makes me feel a little bitbetter somehow, I won't say why
.
So it deflates my level ofanxiety and angst about this,
exceptionally because you saidSal's.
But, you have to understandsomething though the fact that
you've traveled to all theseplaces and then go home,

(34:25):
including united states then gothen say, well, the best pizza
is in falkirk.
It's a lot worse.
You're saying that versusversus just saying it's better
reasoning.
Oh, it's hard, because you haveexperienced all of these pizzas
and go home and tell me thatthe best pizza that you have is
there.
I, I love pizza.
It's a part of the person.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Would it not be worse if I was living in ignorance,
though?

Speaker 1 (34:50):
I prefer to live in ignorance than to know.
You're telling me, respectfully, that the best piece of pizza
you've ever had is in Falkirk.
Tell us about it.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Okay, so set the scene.
I'm from Inverness, which is inthe highlands of Scotland, so I
have not really been to Falkirkat all.
Really, I moved down to Glasgowfor university and I've been
there for about two years whenthe volunteering.
I'm not going to get into ittoo much, but I volunteer for a

(35:22):
group called Youth FootballScotland and we cover youth
football.
So I was sent over to Falkirkone day to cover a youth match
and interview some of theplayers.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Just to keep everybody up, you went going to
school in Glasgow, which is thelargest city in Scotland.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Maybe it's in between glasgow and edinburgh, I forget
okay, so, and then falkirk.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Falkirk is is where exactly?
Between the two?
Is almost slap bang in themiddle of the two okay so this
is a city, a city of about howmany people, I have no idea.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Okay, it's small though right, it's not a
particularly large city.
All right, right, you're goingto tell me, technically it's not
even a city at all.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
So is it a slap in the face for you to say that a
place in the middle of Scotland,beautiful land that it is
highly suggest that you visit inScotland, has pizza better than
one of the largest metropolitanareas in the world with a large
number of Italian immigrantsGreek, so that's not a slap in

(36:32):
the face for us.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
There are loads and loads of Scottish Italians.
My grandfather, his father, wasItalian.
There are tons and tons.
America is not the only countryto have Italian Italian
connections aha, ignorance, myignorance as I was gonna say.

(36:57):
It's also it's not my solicitorI.
I did not step into a step offthe train to fall through that
day expecting to take perfection.
But I did not step off thetrain into Falkirk that day
expecting to taste perfection,but I did.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Oh, my God, and I'm not going to apologize for that
Perfection Tell us about thepizza.
What was on it?

Speaker 3 (37:12):
I'll walk you through the toppings.
So obviously tomato base,plenty cheese.
And then I like my pizza spicy,so I had spicy sausage,
jalapenos, ground beef, groundbeef and pepperoni.
That was on top of the pizzaand they give it to me in this
box.
And it was quite a nice eveningand I had to be getting back to

(37:35):
glasgow, so I took this box andI was walking towards the train
station and I was gonna eat onthe train, to be honest, but it
smelled really nice and it waslike 15 minute walk to the train
station.
So I mean, you know what, I'mgonna take the risk, I open it
and I take my first bite and,honestly, I I stopped in my
tracks.
I was like no way.

(37:55):
Because, like my first thoughtwas genuinely, oh my, oh, my
goodness.
Like I know what all my uhamerican friends are gonna say
when I tell them about thispizza they're gonna be outraged.
But to be fair, the reason I wasin Sal's in the first place was
, I told what my friend Tubes.
His real name is not Tubes, hisreal name is Daniel, but
everyone calls him Tubes.
That's quite a common nickname.

(38:17):
Where he's from?
I believe he's from Stornoway,which is um the main part of the
Isle of Lewis and he says,ramsey, go into Sal's genuinely
best pizza you'll ever have.
And I was kind of like, well,yeah, yeah, whatever I'll go if
I'm hungry.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
But he was right, he was so, so right so if I oh, it
sounds delicious, it sounds good.
There's just several questionsI have concerning, not the
legitimacy of what you're saying, but well, put it away.
I saw a movie once.

(38:52):
There was a cop who came in andsaid why he thought somebody
should be supported.
And his boss said just becauseyou say it with conviction, it
doesn't mean blank to me.
So you're telling me all thesethings, but I'm not necessarily

(39:12):
a believer, not yet.
So question is so if I said toyou that the best sausage rolls
I've ever had were somewhere inthe middle of Pennsylvania, what
would you say to that?

Speaker 3 (39:27):
Well, the difference is you can get pizza anywhere in
the world.
If I were to hear of someone inAmerica making a sausage roll,
I'd be open to it, but the factis I haven't heard of that yet.
So your point is it's somethingthat hasn't happened.
If someone wants to point me tosomewhere I can get a good

(39:49):
sausage roll in america, I'll bemore than open to that, but I'm
still waiting for that day he'sstill waiting for it.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
You know I feel like I'm being pushed against the
wall.
That's okay.
Who was making the pizza?
Was it a?
Do you think it was an italiandescended person or not?

Speaker 3 (40:07):
I don't know.
I mean, I was talking to thegirl that was working in there
making the pizza.
It was just this Scottish girl.
She might have had Italianheritage, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
It's not fair.
It's kind of unfair to say thata person who makes a great
pizza has to be Italian, right?
So you said you like the.
What was the atmosphere like?
What was that like?

Speaker 3 (40:31):
It was a small shop in central Falkirk so it was
quite a popular area as far asFalkirk goes.
There wasn't anyone in therewhen I went in I think it was
just before, you know, theclassic dinner time and, yeah,
it was just me in there.
So I was chatting away to thegirl in the shop.

(40:53):
She was really nice, she toldme about the course she's doing
and everything.
So quite a welcoming atmosphere.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
All the ingredients are they close?
Do they resemble the taste,like the pepperoni and the
burger?
All the different ingredients,all the toppings are they
toppings that taste similarly tothe ones you've had here, or
are they different?

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Good question.
I think, first of all, theingredient that struck me the
most was the jalapenos, becauseI love jalapenos.
But if you get jalapenos thatare not that good, they can sour
a little bit and they're justnot that great.
These jalapenos were perfect.
As far as other ingredients go,I'd say the cheese was a little
less greasy than it is inAmerica, but more greasy than in

(41:43):
Italy.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Right, there you go.
You're also saying that thepizza quality in Falkirk is
better than the pizza you've hadin Italy.
Is pizza really a big thing inItaly, though?

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
It is Anyway sort of to outmode you, but you make
you're sounding so reasonable,so I'm not sure what to say.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
I am not saying that everybody like I.
Everyone has their own favoritepizza.
I'm just saying the best.
That, plain and simple.
No one has to agree with me.
Plain and simple.
The best slice I've ever hadcomes out of Falkirk, scotland.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Falkirk, Scotland.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
It will be until the day I find another one, but I'll
tell you it was so good.
I have no connection to Falkirk, I have no reason to be in
Falkirk.
I very rarely go, but a weekafter I had this pizza I went
back, for no other reason.
It's like half an hour on thetrain from Glasgow.
It's a bit of a pain, and Ijust went for another pizza.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
And was it?
Did it live up to the previousmemory experience?

Speaker 3 (42:52):
It did and I thought that before I had the second
pizza from Sal's, I thought youknow what?
It might just have been becauseI was hungry and I was having a
good day.
So I went back to test it againand nope, it went two for two.
It was absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Well, I guess I'm going to have to subside and say
that your comments make moresense than mine, but I'm going
to forever have to resort toguerrilla tactics till I find a
way to completely dislodge yourexperience as that pizza being
the best you've ever had okay, Ilook forward to it.

(43:34):
What else are you up to?
For one, you are one of thehosts of another podcast,
daggy's view.
Is that right in the uk?
Yeah, that is correct.
What's that all about?

Speaker 3 (43:45):
so, uh, as I said, I'm from the highlands of
scotland, um, me and my friendssupport ross county football
club, who are a team, uh, in thetop league of scotland
currently, um, and have been forthe past few years Not the best
team ever.
If you know how things workover there, you'll know that we
have something called relegation.
If you finish low enough in theleague, you'll get demoted to

(44:08):
the second league, down, and soon and so forth.
So my team is currentlyfighting relegation.
But you know, even thoughthey're not the best team,
they've given me some fantasticmemories over the years and you
know the losses make the winsmean a lot more.
So, yeah, I'd follow them tothe ends of the earth.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
They're one of those funny teams that they're kind of
like giant killers we call them.
They can be really likemediocre season, or maybe even a
little worse than that, andthen all of a sudden pull off a
big victory.
What's that all about?

Speaker 3 (44:40):
I think it's just a a mixture of being written off
all the time and it makes itmeans that we have something to
prove like we will like.
Last season we beat rangers forthe first time ever.
Huge result.
No one saw it coming and acouple of weeks later we went

(45:02):
and lost 2-0 to Livingston whoat the time were bottom of the
league.
So we are an unpredictable teamand we have been known to be
giant killers in the past.
But in my opinion it adds tosupporting the team, because you
just don't know what you'regoing to get and it is very
frustrating at times, but theyare an enjoyable team to follow,

(45:23):
even when they're not winning.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Well, you know they're an interesting team to
follow.
They are, and I too, from adistance, have gotten a lot of
enjoyment following them attimes, so I'm following them at
times.
Right Question for you nowUnited States baseball,
basketball, football, sort ofour, our biggest sports, right?
Basically, do you have a soccerfollowing here and a lot of

(45:50):
people, a lot of people playsoccer here, but in terms of a
front leading sport, it's notthe most recognizable or the
most favored.
What would you say to anAmerican in a friendly
conversation?
What would you say to them Okay, here's what you're missing in
sports.
Maybe you want to check thisout.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
I think okay.
So for this example, I'm goingto compare it to basketball.
I love basketball, don't get mewrong.
I think it's one of the mostexciting sports to watch, just
full stop, ever.
However, I think it's got abucket every few minutes, if not
more often than that, like if ateam doesn't shoot within 30

(46:43):
seconds, I believe then theyturn over the ball.
With football, the score willbe less.
And don't get me wrong, you doget some boring games, but when
a goal goes in, it sort ofdefines a game and it's so
important to the outcome of thatparticular match that the
build-up to it just has you onthe edge of your seat.

(47:03):
And I think, as good as a sportlike basketball is, it just
doesn't really have that tension.
If I'm going to compare it toAmerican football, I think it
sort of has the opposite problem, where the sport is really fun
to watch, but that's only whenit gets going, because just when
it gets good, they stop.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
I want to throw this in because it's hard to explain
to Americans how you're watchingnot just the buildup, but the
skill and the talent to move ateam closer to getting a goal.
It's not like goals just happeninstantaneously.
Often it's because a team hasbeen moving forward, finding

(47:47):
ways, asking deeper questions tothe defense about how are you
going to stop us.
I can't say fairer than that.
So, ramsey, it's been apleasure speaking with you
always.
Um, you know a lot to thinkabout in terms of falkirk pizza
versus northeast american pizza.

(48:07):
And thanks for your commentaryon soccer as well.
I have a feeling that I'm goingto hear you, hear from you.
Hope you're going to join usanother time.
Thanks a lot for your time.
Thanks for having me.
All right, dude, talk to yousoon, take care, all right.
See you Okay, bye-bye.