April 10, 2025 • 34 mins
Bullies Don't Graduate, They Just Get Older | Episode 215
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Justin Alan Hayes tackles the troubling reality that childhood bullies don't simply disappear after graduation—they mature into adult manipulators who continue targeting vulnerable individuals through increasingly sophisticated methods. This powerful examination of modern predatory behavior reveals how digital communication has created new avenues for exploitation while institutions often fail those who need protection most.
The episode features two particularly moving stories that demonstrate how predators operate in today's interconnected world. First, Hayes shares the devastating account of Tim and Tamia Woods, whose athletically gifted son died by suicide after falling victim to sextortion. Despite outward appearances of success—college sports opportunities and popularity—this young man was secretly being blackmailed after sending private photos to someone who had methodically gained his trust online. What began as innocent-seeming messages escalated into demands for money that ultimately led to tragedy.
Equally disturbing is the experience of 2024 Voice of the Year recipient Elliston Berry, whose innocent Instagram photo was transformed using AI into explicit content and distributed throughout her school. Despite having clear evidence of wrongdoing, Berry encountered institutional resistance until her mother reached out to congressional representatives, eventually leading to Senator Ted Cruz championing the bipartisan "Take It Down Act." This legislation represents a significant step toward holding both perpetrators and technology companies accountable for such abuses.
Throughout the conversation, Hayes reflects on our shared human imperfections while emphasizing that we all face daily choices about whether to help or harm others. The message resonates with uncomfortable clarity: predatory behavior thrives when good people remain silent. Whether you're navigating online interactions, supporting someone through trauma, or questioning your own responses to those in need, this episode offers essential perspective on being a voice that matters. Subscribe to Voices for VoicesⓇ and join a community committed to speaking truth when it matters most.
Justin Alan Hayes explores how bullies evolve from schoolyard tactics to sophisticated adult manipulation, and the devastating consequences when vulnerable people fall victim to digital predators.
• Grateful acknowledgment of growing listener base across platforms worldwide
• Discussion of how opinions and advice from others aren't always in our best interest
• Examination of the fine line between seeking guidance and becoming manipulated
• Heartbreaking story of Tim and Tamia Woods' son who died by suicide after sextortion
• How seemingly innocent online conversations can escalate to dangerous exploitation
• Elliston Berry's experience with AI-manipulated photos and institutional indifference
• The bipartisan "Take It Down Act" requiring tech companies to remove manipulated content
• Reflection on the imperfections we all share and the choices we face daily
• How making positive change requires real action, not just repeated behaviors
#bullies #bullying #accountability #adultbullying #socialjustice #mentalhealth #awareness #stopbullying #kindness #compassion #antiviolence #socialdevelopment #characterbuilding #educationmatters #personalempowerment
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justin Alan Hayes (00:03):
Welcome to this episode of the Voices for
Voices TV show and podcast.
I am your host, founder andexecutive director of Voices for
Voices, justin Allen Hayes.
Thank you for joining us todayon this episode.
We have in the books in ourcatalog, 214 episodes are ready.
(00:27):
We're on our way to 300.
We rounded the corner at 200,and we're just continuing on.
For our viewers, our listeners,for our screenshot takers, for
(00:48):
everybody who has taken aninterest in Voices for Voices,
thank you for joining us.
We have grown exponentiallyfrom a viewer listenership in
the last two months A prettysteep climb and not really sure
(01:13):
what the reason behind that is.
There's a lot of things that aregoing on in the world and so
we're just happy to have aplatform and a place where we
can talk and share and be in asafe spot where we don't have to
(01:38):
worry about anything but justtalking about what, what's
happening, the truth.
We we do a lot of organizationsdo this.
So this, this isn't just voicesfor voices, and I I think maybe
(01:59):
we're getting singled out alittle bit where some think that
we're taking too big of anactivist position on various
topics.
We can't control the minds ofothers, we just do the best that
(02:24):
we can.
And so, when the topics and thethe like do come up, uh, and,
and we do talk about them, uh,we, we know, just like
celebrities or our favoriteartist or favorite ball player
(02:45):
or actor, actress, what have youwe know that no matter how
popular a person, anorganization is, there's going
to be detractors, there's goingto be people that, for whatever
reason, want to hate, and that'snot something we can control.
(03:08):
It's been quite some time, manyyears, where, when I was
starting to come into my ownwe'll call it we talk about, you
know, with friends and familyand colleagues, about all kinds
(03:30):
of things, all kinds of allkinds of topics, and a lot of
people have an opinion, and thatthat's we see voices for voices
, right.
So we we have, we have lots of,lots of opinions, and and
that's really the goal, and so,when I harken back to many years
(03:51):
ago, when I started to comeinto my own, part of it was a
lot of people were given lots ofadvice, lots of thoughts in the
particular situations that Iwas going through had gone
through.
That may be on the horizon, butnot all those people are
(04:17):
looking out for my well-being,our well-being as individuals.
Uh, as we know, gossip is huge.
Uh, you know, there'spublications that are out there
that that talk about differentrumors that go on with
celebrities and the like.
(04:37):
Uh, you know, we have thesereality tv shows.
Uh, you know, started kind ofwith the kardashians with their
uh, you know, the sex tape, andthen all of a sudden they got
this empire and and they're someof the most powerful people in
the world uh, for for somethingthat they didn't go to school to
(05:01):
perform a sex tape, and so alot of people have a lot of
opinions.
And so where I was starting toform my self was there's a lot
(05:21):
of information out there, a lotof people out there, a lot of
people out there, a lot ofopinions out there, and it's
good to take in information, butat the end of the day, we have
(05:42):
to decide how we're going tomove forward.
We have to decide how we'regoing to move forward.
Are we going to?
We're going to be, hopefully,on the side of helping others,
(06:02):
of being a voice for people, forindividuals, for organizations
who are trying to do the rightthing, and share their stories,
share their background, sharetheir experiences.
(06:24):
Their story, share theirbackground, share their
experiences.
How did they get involved withsaid topic or said thing?
And I don't I'm not able togive my opinion on what other
people's experiences are.
However, when it comes tohelping people, we're talking
(06:48):
about helping a lot of people.
We've helped a lot of peoplealready, and so, as an
organization, we can just closeup shop and just say, well, okay
, here's what we set out to doand we're we're helping people
(07:10):
and we have helped, and and youknow, there's different stories
and people that can vouch forthat, and some of it comes
public and some of it doesn't,because we realize that privacy
is a big, big deal and withprivacy, if we don't have the
(07:34):
privacy, then people will seekout to try to destroy an opinion
, a topic.
And again, there's only oneperfect person and that's God,
jesus, the Trinity, father, son,holy Spirit.
(07:55):
So for anybody that's out thereto say, oh, I'm perfect or I'm
close to it and you need tofollow me.
I hate to break it to you, butyou're wrong, I'm wrong.
And so for me to, for us toclose up shop with voices for
(08:15):
voices and say, well, you know,we've done, we've done enough.
Well, we know we're not perfectand we know that there are a
lot more people that need help.
However, that comes about.
As we all know, life isturbulent.
There's ups, there's downs.
There are things we can planfor, things we can in a distance
(08:43):
kind of think and out in theback of our mind, and then
there's things we can't.
And that's a lot of, really,what we're doing here, voices
for Voices, what we have andwhat we are doing.
Some things we had planned andsome things we don't.
(09:05):
But when it comes to helpingpeople, we're not discriminating
on that, saying oh well, we'renot going to talk about this,
we're not going to talk aboutthat.
We're going to do what we can,and I'm only one person out of 7
(09:30):
billion people in the world,same with you.
You're one person or family outof around 7 billion or so in
the world, and so we can do asmuch as we can try to do, but
we're not perfect.
There's never going to be a daywhere I'm going to say, oh well
(09:52):
, I was able, the organizationwas able to help, impact
positively all the people in theworld.
That's just not going to happen.
That's just not going to happen.
And so if you're out therethinking and and on the
platforms and showing it oh,follow me, I'll, you know, take
(10:17):
you to the promised land.
And and to compare yourself toChrist you're wrong, the Christ,
you're wrong.
And that's where, whenindividuals, for any number of
reasons, know they're vulnerable, they're looking for an
(10:44):
alternative way of thinkingabout things.
Maybe it's rebellion againstparents, what have you?
And they mistakenly think ohwow, I can follow, I can be a
part of, I can meet with aperson who says that I'll take
(11:08):
you to the promised land.
And so, as I've touched onnumerous times, that's just not
the case.
Just like everybody, right, weall have good qualities.
We all have qualities we could,we'd like to change, we'd like
(11:30):
to change.
A bully in school is the same asa bully out of school.
Taking advantage of somebody inschool or as they're growing up
, and taking advantage ofsomebody as an adult, fully
functioning adult.
There's no difference.
It just so happens that each ofthose events or experiences
(11:55):
happen at different points intheir lives, so there's no
difference.
So there's an adult that'sbullying another adult, so
there's an adult that's bullyinganother adult.
Bullying a child, a minor, thesame as being in school or going
(12:21):
to a convention and being toldyou're worthless, you're never
going to amount to anything.
You're nothing without me.
That's what we're talking about.
So, if anybody's out therewhich there's a lot of people
out there and again, I don'ttake these things lightly with
(12:45):
different topics, actually withall topics, but when we talk
about serious, I don't.
I don't take these thingslightly with different topics,
actually with all topics, youknow.
But when we talk about serious,really serious things, it's
because there's things that aregoing on that are very serious.
There's people that are beinghurt, there's people being taken
advantage of, there's peoplethinking that there's no outlook
in life if they're notfollowing said person or reading
(13:10):
said material that said personis is putting out there and, as
you've seen in our catalog of TVshow and podcast episodes,
there's all kinds of bullying.
(13:32):
I talked about a couple of theways.
You're no good.
You're too fat, you're too dumb, you're too slow.
What have you?
You're never going to mountanything.
Your writing is horrible.
You're too slow.
You misspell words.
You don't have the distributionthat I have.
I have the power.
You don't.
Nobody's going to believe you.
(13:54):
That's called an abuserStraight up.
That's an abuser straight up.
That's an abuser.
Now you may if you know.
God forbid.
You're one of these people thatare abusing people and you mean
(14:18):
, whether you think it's wrongor not, it it is wrong, and
that's not me trying to be Godor anything, that's just
straight up.
Abuse is abuse.
One of our episodes we had waswith Timmy and Tim Woods, and so
(14:42):
they are a couple mother,father and they had a son.
He's in heaven now and the sonhad a cell phone, smartphone,
whatever you call it.
Somehow someway the son was agreat athlete.
(15:06):
Somehow someway son was a greatathlete.
He was, I believe.
He was accepted to play sportsat various colleges, so
(15:27):
successful, but on the outsidelike a successful person, and
what the parents didn't know wasthere were messages and things
going on behind the scenes atthe house on his phone, where
somebody befriended him on hisphone, right, I mean I tried to
post a couple of things, butapparently social media doesn't
like when you tell the truth.
A couple of messages I've I'vereceived and A couple of
messages I've received and theygo something like oh, your child
(15:52):
left the toy at our house, canyou come pick it up, let us know
, and you can do that.
Or I just got a new phone,wasn't able to.
You know the contact, somethinghappened and you know how do we
know each other, and sosomething like that to some
(16:13):
people is all right.
There's something the farthestgoing on, so that's that.
And then there are people thatare vulnerable, like this
individual, tim and Tamiya's son, even though he's a great
athlete, had a lot going for himsome appearances, popular, a
(16:39):
lot of friends and he startedgetting these messages.
Some people were befriendinghim on the phone, right?
Not everybody they look attheir social media is actually
who they are, and we should knowthat by now.
It's not.
You know the whole thought ofoh well, you know, I stayed at a
(17:01):
holiday inn last night, so thatmakes me.
No, it's not like that.
These things can happen toanybody.
And so they happened to him andto me, his son.
Things were going on and he wasasked to send nude pictures of
himself to the person on thephone.
They were basically extortinghim and blackmailing him and
(17:24):
saying look, once you have thesephotos out here, we'll release
those if you don't pay us $100or $200.
I'm not sure the specifics ofthe amount of money, but the
fact of the matter was, is hewas doing that because he was
(17:44):
afraid that, oh, my photos aregoing to get out.
My photos are going to get out.
My photos are going to get out.
I got to pay the money, and sohe was.
Somehow he had the control tobe able to do it and he was
sending money.
You know people he's never metin his life, and these can be
people that are in the UnitedStates or they can be in a
(18:06):
different country.
What I've learned over the yearsis, historically, some of us
have had the opinion that, oh,that's happening in a different
country, different area of theworld.
That's happening here in theUnited States, and whether we
want to believe it or not,whether we want to think our
neighborhoods are the safest ornot, it's not the case.
(18:30):
So their son sent the pictures,started sending the money,
didn't want photos to come out.
One night his dad was goinginto work and he said hey, I
love you, see you in the morning, mom, kind of the same thing
(18:53):
she was.
I believe she was at home, thatshe, that she had a day job,
and so she was home at night.
One of the husband went intowork that's kind of how they did
things and in the morning theyfound their son dead.
(19:13):
He died by suicide.
So then they started bringing inall different law enforcement
agencies and come through thephone and find what I just said
to be the case.
Somebody texted them out ofblue, became friends over
(19:36):
somewhat of a period of time.
They felt like they couldconfide in each other, sent the
nude photos and then all of asudden the tune changes hey, you
need to send me $100 orwhatever that amount of money is
.
And it just got to the point.
And the son, as part of ourorganization, what we're trying
(20:00):
to do is talk to your familyabout things that are going on,
because our son didn't.
They didn't talk to the mom,they didn't talk to dad and all
outward appearances waseverything was okay, so he took
his life because of this.
(20:22):
It's called sextortion, it'scalled taking advantage of
people.
That's just one way individualstake advantage of others,
others, I mean.
We're going to spend hours onall the different ways people
(20:44):
can be taken advantage of.
And you know, another guest wehad on was our 2024 Voice of the
Year, elliston Berry.
She was at President Trump'sjoint address to Congress and
(21:05):
she was First Lady NelaniaTrump's guest of honor, and what
that deal is.
And again, we have two episodes.
We have one with Ellis.
We have two with Elliston andher mom, miss Anna, and then we
have one, which is the awardpresentation show that we did,
(21:27):
and what happened to her issomebody took an innocent photo
that she had on her Instagramaccount and ran it through a
free AI program, turned it intoa nude photo, posted it, got out
to the school.
She shows up the school thenext day, doesn't know anything
(21:51):
of it and people you know thestudents were I don't know what
they were saying or what, but uh, somehow she found out this,
this occurred, and we talk aboutnice people, not nice people.
Unfortunately, what we learnedfrom her mom is the principal
(22:12):
didn't want to do anything,didn't want to step forward.
That the authorities reallydidn't want to either.
So that's where we talk aboutgood and bad.
So we believe all people aregood.
It's just sometimes decisionsare made that are not good.
So it wasn't until her momreached out to all her
representatives.
(22:33):
Congress told her story.
Senator Ted Cruz took up thestory because it didn't just
happen to Elliston, there wereothers across the country.
Uh, you know, girls in in highschool and kind of the same
things was what was happeningand and so they were on the show
(22:58):
and they were talking about it,and so she got taken advantage
of by somebody at her own schoolthat took a picture that
thought they're being cute,they're being funny.
Um, and it turns out that thereare very few people that wanted
to support and be on her side,even though she was in the right
.
She had the proof, she had theevidence.
(23:19):
So, no matter what the topic is, you can believe something
until you're blue in the face,but when it shows evidence,
that's the truth.
That's what is real.
Yeah, and so Senator Ted Cruz'sbipartisan effort in the state
(23:46):
of Texas called the Take it DownAct, which goes after
individuals who do the photos.
So the individual at her schoolthat did it, they're going to
be prosecuted as well as bigtech is going to have to do it
for all people.
Big tech is going to have to doit for all people.
They're going to have to get intheir algorithms and find these
(24:07):
things and they're going tohave to take it down, I believe,
within 24 or 48 hours.
And so this is done with peoplelike Taylor Swift.
You know he's, you know he'sbillionaires, he's the high
profile people.
But now it's on its way to befederal law, because to be able
to affect change with big tech,you got to do it from the
(24:29):
federal side, not the state side.
So there was only so much thatcould happen in the state of
Texas.
Well, the US Senate passed theact and the House
representatives either has, orthey're going to very shortly uh
, the voting on the take it downact.
Uh, and then, once and again,this is bipartisan right.
(24:51):
You have a child, that thishappens to who?
It doesn't matter.
If you're Democrat, Republican,libertarian, whatever, uh, we
don't want people being takenadvantage of.
And if you're one of the peoplethat are taking advantage of
the people, shame on you.
Shame on you for doing that.
And so once the houserepresentatives signs their
(25:18):
votes on and it passes thelegislation I believe it was
unanimous in the in the Senateso once the House passes it, it
goes to President Trump's desk,he signs it, it's law.
And so Big Tech's not going tobe able to, you know?
Oh well, because Big Techdidn't do anything to Elliston
(25:41):
her case until Senator Ted Cruzgot involved.
And once his people, once hegot involved and he reached out,
the big tech, all of a sudden,oh yeah, we can change that, we
can do this and oh, we didn'tknow this occurred, um.
And so it doesn't matter howbig a business is, how big a
government, how small government, how law enforcement, we're
(26:03):
individuals and we all makemistakes, right?
We're not god, we're not jesus.
We all make mistakes, we allsin.
We don't like to sin, we don'twant to sin, we do sin, so that
those two stories of the abuseand the bullying that occurred,
(26:26):
that in addition to the otherepisodes we have and you know,
if we continue with this, youknow we're going to continue
talking about it because it'sreal, it's happening, it has
happened, it's going to continueto happen, it's going to
continue to happen.
(26:47):
And if you're one of the bad,bad guys, bad girls out there,
again, I'm not.
I can't make decisions, I can'tchange anybody.
The only thing I can do is tryto work on myself, and I know
I'm not perfect, I knoweverything I say isn't might not
always be the most eloquent, uh, and I've, like all of us,
(27:08):
we've all made mistakes and done, done things, uh, and in the
past, and so it's really one ofthese moments.
Right, we have these moments.
We can choose the same path,which we call that insanity,
where we do the same thing overand over and over and over again
(27:30):
, thinking something's going tochange.
Well, it's not, because we'vedone the same thing and the
result hasn't changed.
You're going to have to make acourse correction, You're going
to have to pivot, you're goingto have to change.
I'm going to have to change.
I'm not any different than thanyou.
I'm not any different from anyother human out there.
(27:51):
We all have faults and there's,we all have things that we do.
Well, uh, and so what?
The?
The hope is that if you're a badguy, bad girl out there, that
you stop what you're doing.
You stop abusing people Again,no matter where that's at,
(28:12):
whether that's in school,whether that's at a convention,
whether that's in a one-on-onemeeting, whether that's with
parents and their children andminors, and what have you and
their children and minors andwhat have you?
There's so many different waysand things that can shape an
individual, and so what we'retrying to be at, voices for
(28:36):
Voices is we're trying to be onthe side of.
There's a voice in all of us.
Now, if you're somebody that'sbreaking a law or is abusing
people, well, again, I can'tchange anything other than
(29:02):
myself.
I try to.
So, yeah, as an organization asfar as who's on the show.
That's something that we talkabout and we go from there and
(29:24):
we go from there.
But what we do know is thereare things that are innately
good and innately bad, which, onthe surface, we can say, okay,
(29:45):
killing somebody, that's wrong.
So Helping, helping somebodywho doesn't have the money to
(30:07):
purchase a house or rent anapartment and and going ahead
and paying for that for a person, that would be more on the
positive side, right.
So that's what we're talkingabout.
There's things that are just onthe surface, bad, not good, not
nice, not Christ-like, and thenthere's things that are on the
(30:29):
more positive end.
So we all have decisions, right.
We all have decisions we canmake.
That we do make and we aregrateful that we have had, and
(30:51):
continue to have, listeners,viewers from all over the world,
new listeners and viewerscoming on every episode, not
only every episode, but everyday, and that's really just a
blessing day, and that's reallyjust a blessing.
That's something that we striveto help.
(31:11):
Some things may come acrosscontroversial.
That's in the eye of thebeholder.
So all the past episodes we'vehad, we've had a variety, a very
diverse lineup from all walksof life, and what we want to do
(31:38):
is to continue that which we are, which we are, which we will,
until our time's up.
And that's like everybody,because none of us are perfect.
And so, god and Jesus, they'll.
(32:04):
It's it's their will to be done, not ours, not mine, not yours.
There's things we can like andnot like, but it's uh, it's thy
will be done, not my will bedone.
It took me a lot of years to toget that across through my ego,
so that's something that we allcan think about Still rides on
(32:32):
my mind daily.
And just to know that there arethings that we can control and
impact more than others, like,oh, I want to get a shower.
Well, if I get up and go to thebathroom, I can impact that
more than the weather.
(32:53):
So we're doing the best we canwith the resources we have.
We thank you for joining in,whether this is your first
episode with us or you've beenwith us the whole journey.
We are grateful.
If you can subscribe, give us abig thumbs up, like let people
(33:17):
know that there's a pretty goodTV show and podcast that's been
out there and it might be worththeir time to a pretty good TV
show and podcast that's been outthere and it might be worth
their time to take a look, towatch it, to listen to it, read
the transcript.
However you consume it and then, however you consume it from a
(33:38):
platform, you know whetherthat's iHeart, whether that's
Spotify, whether that's iHeart,whether that's Spotify, whether
that's SoundCloud.
I mean, we all have differentpreferences, so what I may
listen and watch, the platformmight be different than you.
That's okay.
That's how we.
We have it like that.
(34:01):
So thank you for joining us.
Check out this episode as wellas the rest of the catalog.
We have the voices for voicesTV show and podcast.
And until next time, I'm JustinAlan Hayes, founder and host of
voices for voices.
(34:22):
Thank you for joining us andplease be a voice for you or
somebody in need.
Take care.
Welcome to this episode of the Voices for
Voices TV show and podcast.
I am your host, founder andexecutive director of Voices for
Voices, justin Allen Hayes.
Thank you for joining us todayon this episode.
We have in the books in ourcatalog, 214 episodes are ready.
(00:27):
We're on our way to 300.
We rounded the corner at 200,and we're just continuing on.
For our viewers, our listeners,for our screenshot takers, for
(00:48):
everybody who has taken aninterest in Voices for Voices,
thank you for joining us.
We have grown exponentiallyfrom a viewer listenership in
the last two months A prettysteep climb and not really sure
(01:13):
what the reason behind that is.
There's a lot of things that aregoing on in the world and so
we're just happy to have aplatform and a place where we
can talk and share and be in asafe spot where we don't have to
(01:38):
worry about anything but justtalking about what, what's
happening, the truth.
We we do a lot of organizationsdo this.
So this, this isn't just voicesfor voices, and I I think maybe
(01:59):
we're getting singled out alittle bit where some think that
we're taking too big of anactivist position on various
topics.
We can't control the minds ofothers, we just do the best that
(02:24):
we can.
And so, when the topics and thethe like do come up, uh, and,
and we do talk about them, uh,we, we know, just like
celebrities or our favoriteartist or favorite ball player
(02:45):
or actor, actress, what have youwe know that no matter how
popular a person, anorganization is, there's going
to be detractors, there's goingto be people that, for whatever
reason, want to hate, and that'snot something we can control.
(03:08):
It's been quite some time, manyyears, where, when I was
starting to come into my ownwe'll call it we talk about, you
know, with friends and familyand colleagues, about all kinds
(03:30):
of things, all kinds of allkinds of topics, and a lot of
people have an opinion, and thatthat's we see voices for voices
, right.
So we we have, we have lots of,lots of opinions, and and
that's really the goal, and so,when I harken back to many years
(03:51):
ago, when I started to comeinto my own, part of it was a
lot of people were given lots ofadvice, lots of thoughts in the
particular situations that Iwas going through had gone
through.
That may be on the horizon, butnot all those people are
(04:17):
looking out for my well-being,our well-being as individuals.
Uh, as we know, gossip is huge.
Uh, you know, there'spublications that are out there
that that talk about differentrumors that go on with
celebrities and the like.
(04:37):
Uh, you know, we have thesereality tv shows.
Uh, you know, started kind ofwith the kardashians with their
uh, you know, the sex tape, andthen all of a sudden they got
this empire and and they're someof the most powerful people in
the world uh, for for somethingthat they didn't go to school to
(05:01):
perform a sex tape, and so alot of people have a lot of
opinions.
And so where I was starting toform my self was there's a lot
(05:21):
of information out there, a lotof people out there, a lot of
people out there, a lot ofopinions out there, and it's
good to take in information, butat the end of the day, we have
(05:42):
to decide how we're going tomove forward.
We have to decide how we'regoing to move forward.
Are we going to?
We're going to be, hopefully,on the side of helping others,
(06:02):
of being a voice for people, forindividuals, for organizations
who are trying to do the rightthing, and share their stories,
share their background, sharetheir experiences.
(06:24):
Their story, share theirbackground, share their
experiences.
How did they get involved withsaid topic or said thing?
And I don't I'm not able togive my opinion on what other
people's experiences are.
However, when it comes tohelping people, we're talking
(06:48):
about helping a lot of people.
We've helped a lot of peoplealready, and so, as an
organization, we can just closeup shop and just say, well, okay
, here's what we set out to doand we're we're helping people
(07:10):
and we have helped, and and youknow, there's different stories
and people that can vouch forthat, and some of it comes
public and some of it doesn't,because we realize that privacy
is a big, big deal and withprivacy, if we don't have the
(07:34):
privacy, then people will seekout to try to destroy an opinion
, a topic.
And again, there's only oneperfect person and that's God,
jesus, the Trinity, father, son,holy Spirit.
(07:55):
So for anybody that's out thereto say, oh, I'm perfect or I'm
close to it and you need tofollow me.
I hate to break it to you, butyou're wrong, I'm wrong.
And so for me to, for us toclose up shop with voices for
(08:15):
voices and say, well, you know,we've done, we've done enough.
Well, we know we're not perfectand we know that there are a
lot more people that need help.
However, that comes about.
As we all know, life isturbulent.
There's ups, there's downs.
There are things we can planfor, things we can in a distance
(08:43):
kind of think and out in theback of our mind, and then
there's things we can't.
And that's a lot of, really,what we're doing here, voices
for Voices, what we have andwhat we are doing.
Some things we had planned andsome things we don't.
(09:05):
But when it comes to helpingpeople, we're not discriminating
on that, saying oh well, we'renot going to talk about this,
we're not going to talk aboutthat.
We're going to do what we can,and I'm only one person out of 7
(09:30):
billion people in the world,same with you.
You're one person or family outof around 7 billion or so in
the world, and so we can do asmuch as we can try to do, but
we're not perfect.
There's never going to be a daywhere I'm going to say, oh well
(09:52):
, I was able, the organizationwas able to help, impact
positively all the people in theworld.
That's just not going to happen.
That's just not going to happen.
And so if you're out therethinking and and on the
platforms and showing it oh,follow me, I'll, you know, take
(10:17):
you to the promised land.
And and to compare yourself toChrist you're wrong, the Christ,
you're wrong.
And that's where, whenindividuals, for any number of
reasons, know they're vulnerable, they're looking for an
(10:44):
alternative way of thinkingabout things.
Maybe it's rebellion againstparents, what have you?
And they mistakenly think ohwow, I can follow, I can be a
part of, I can meet with aperson who says that I'll take
(11:08):
you to the promised land.
And so, as I've touched onnumerous times, that's just not
the case.
Just like everybody, right, weall have good qualities.
We all have qualities we could,we'd like to change, we'd like
(11:30):
to change.
A bully in school is the same asa bully out of school.
Taking advantage of somebody inschool or as they're growing up
, and taking advantage ofsomebody as an adult, fully
functioning adult.
There's no difference.
It just so happens that each ofthose events or experiences
(11:55):
happen at different points intheir lives, so there's no
difference.
So there's an adult that'sbullying another adult, so
there's an adult that's bullyinganother adult.
Bullying a child, a minor, thesame as being in school or going
(12:21):
to a convention and being toldyou're worthless, you're never
going to amount to anything.
You're nothing without me.
That's what we're talking about.
So, if anybody's out therewhich there's a lot of people
out there and again, I don'ttake these things lightly with
(12:45):
different topics, actually withall topics, but when we talk
about serious, I don't.
I don't take these thingslightly with different topics,
actually with all topics, youknow.
But when we talk about serious,really serious things, it's
because there's things that aregoing on that are very serious.
There's people that are beinghurt, there's people being taken
advantage of, there's peoplethinking that there's no outlook
in life if they're notfollowing said person or reading
(13:10):
said material that said personis is putting out there and, as
you've seen in our catalog of TVshow and podcast episodes,
there's all kinds of bullying.
(13:32):
I talked about a couple of theways.
You're no good.
You're too fat, you're too dumb, you're too slow.
What have you?
You're never going to mountanything.
Your writing is horrible.
You're too slow.
You misspell words.
You don't have the distributionthat I have.
I have the power.
You don't.
Nobody's going to believe you.
(13:54):
That's called an abuserStraight up.
That's an abuser straight up.
That's an abuser.
Now you may if you know.
God forbid.
You're one of these people thatare abusing people and you mean
(14:18):
, whether you think it's wrongor not, it it is wrong, and
that's not me trying to be Godor anything, that's just
straight up.
Abuse is abuse.
One of our episodes we had waswith Timmy and Tim Woods, and so
(14:42):
they are a couple mother,father and they had a son.
He's in heaven now and the sonhad a cell phone, smartphone,
whatever you call it.
Somehow someway the son was agreat athlete.
(15:06):
Somehow someway son was a greatathlete.
He was, I believe.
He was accepted to play sportsat various colleges, so
(15:27):
successful, but on the outsidelike a successful person, and
what the parents didn't know wasthere were messages and things
going on behind the scenes atthe house on his phone, where
somebody befriended him on hisphone, right, I mean I tried to
post a couple of things, butapparently social media doesn't
like when you tell the truth.
A couple of messages I've I'vereceived and A couple of
messages I've received and theygo something like oh, your child
(15:52):
left the toy at our house, canyou come pick it up, let us know
, and you can do that.
Or I just got a new phone,wasn't able to.
You know the contact, somethinghappened and you know how do we
know each other, and sosomething like that to some
(16:13):
people is all right.
There's something the farthestgoing on, so that's that.
And then there are people thatare vulnerable, like this
individual, tim and Tamiya's son, even though he's a great
athlete, had a lot going for himsome appearances, popular, a
(16:39):
lot of friends and he startedgetting these messages.
Some people were befriendinghim on the phone, right?
Not everybody they look attheir social media is actually
who they are, and we should knowthat by now.
It's not.
You know the whole thought ofoh well, you know, I stayed at a
(17:01):
holiday inn last night, so thatmakes me.
No, it's not like that.
These things can happen toanybody.
And so they happened to him andto me, his son.
Things were going on and he wasasked to send nude pictures of
himself to the person on thephone.
They were basically extortinghim and blackmailing him and
(17:24):
saying look, once you have thesephotos out here, we'll release
those if you don't pay us $100or $200.
I'm not sure the specifics ofthe amount of money, but the
fact of the matter was, is hewas doing that because he was
(17:44):
afraid that, oh, my photos aregoing to get out.
My photos are going to get out.
My photos are going to get out.
I got to pay the money, and sohe was.
Somehow he had the control tobe able to do it and he was
sending money.
You know people he's never metin his life, and these can be
people that are in the UnitedStates or they can be in a
(18:06):
different country.
What I've learned over the yearsis, historically, some of us
have had the opinion that, oh,that's happening in a different
country, different area of theworld.
That's happening here in theUnited States, and whether we
want to believe it or not,whether we want to think our
neighborhoods are the safest ornot, it's not the case.
(18:30):
So their son sent the pictures,started sending the money,
didn't want photos to come out.
One night his dad was goinginto work and he said hey, I
love you, see you in the morning, mom, kind of the same thing
(18:53):
she was.
I believe she was at home, thatshe, that she had a day job,
and so she was home at night.
One of the husband went intowork that's kind of how they did
things and in the morning theyfound their son dead.
(19:13):
He died by suicide.
So then they started bringing inall different law enforcement
agencies and come through thephone and find what I just said
to be the case.
Somebody texted them out ofblue, became friends over
(19:36):
somewhat of a period of time.
They felt like they couldconfide in each other, sent the
nude photos and then all of asudden the tune changes hey, you
need to send me $100 orwhatever that amount of money is
.
And it just got to the point.
And the son, as part of ourorganization, what we're trying
(20:00):
to do is talk to your familyabout things that are going on,
because our son didn't.
They didn't talk to the mom,they didn't talk to dad and all
outward appearances waseverything was okay, so he took
his life because of this.
(20:22):
It's called sextortion, it'scalled taking advantage of
people.
That's just one way individualstake advantage of others,
others, I mean.
We're going to spend hours onall the different ways people
(20:44):
can be taken advantage of.
And you know, another guest wehad on was our 2024 Voice of the
Year, elliston Berry.
She was at President Trump'sjoint address to Congress and
(21:05):
she was First Lady NelaniaTrump's guest of honor, and what
that deal is.
And again, we have two episodes.
We have one with Ellis.
We have two with Elliston andher mom, miss Anna, and then we
have one, which is the awardpresentation show that we did,
(21:27):
and what happened to her issomebody took an innocent photo
that she had on her Instagramaccount and ran it through a
free AI program, turned it intoa nude photo, posted it, got out
to the school.
She shows up the school thenext day, doesn't know anything
(21:51):
of it and people you know thestudents were I don't know what
they were saying or what, but uh, somehow she found out this,
this occurred, and we talk aboutnice people, not nice people.
Unfortunately, what we learnedfrom her mom is the principal
(22:12):
didn't want to do anything,didn't want to step forward.
That the authorities reallydidn't want to either.
So that's where we talk aboutgood and bad.
So we believe all people aregood.
It's just sometimes decisionsare made that are not good.
So it wasn't until her momreached out to all her
representatives.
(22:33):
Congress told her story.
Senator Ted Cruz took up thestory because it didn't just
happen to Elliston, there wereothers across the country.
Uh, you know, girls in in highschool and kind of the same
things was what was happeningand and so they were on the show
(22:58):
and they were talking about it,and so she got taken advantage
of by somebody at her own schoolthat took a picture that
thought they're being cute,they're being funny.
Um, and it turns out that thereare very few people that wanted
to support and be on her side,even though she was in the right
.
She had the proof, she had theevidence.
(23:19):
So, no matter what the topic is, you can believe something
until you're blue in the face,but when it shows evidence,
that's the truth.
That's what is real.
Yeah, and so Senator Ted Cruz'sbipartisan effort in the state
(23:46):
of Texas called the Take it DownAct, which goes after
individuals who do the photos.
So the individual at her schoolthat did it, they're going to
be prosecuted as well as bigtech is going to have to do it
for all people.
Big tech is going to have to doit for all people.
They're going to have to get intheir algorithms and find these
(24:07):
things and they're going tohave to take it down, I believe,
within 24 or 48 hours.
And so this is done with peoplelike Taylor Swift.
You know he's, you know he'sbillionaires, he's the high
profile people.
But now it's on its way to befederal law, because to be able
to affect change with big tech,you got to do it from the
(24:29):
federal side, not the state side.
So there was only so much thatcould happen in the state of
Texas.
Well, the US Senate passed theact and the House
representatives either has, orthey're going to very shortly uh
, the voting on the take it downact.
Uh, and then, once and again,this is bipartisan right.
(24:51):
You have a child, that thishappens to who?
It doesn't matter.
If you're Democrat, Republican,libertarian, whatever, uh, we
don't want people being takenadvantage of.
And if you're one of the peoplethat are taking advantage of
the people, shame on you.
Shame on you for doing that.
And so once the houserepresentatives signs their
(25:18):
votes on and it passes thelegislation I believe it was
unanimous in the in the Senateso once the House passes it, it
goes to President Trump's desk,he signs it, it's law.
And so Big Tech's not going tobe able to, you know?
Oh well, because Big Techdidn't do anything to Elliston
(25:41):
her case until Senator Ted Cruzgot involved.
And once his people, once hegot involved and he reached out,
the big tech, all of a sudden,oh yeah, we can change that, we
can do this and oh, we didn'tknow this occurred, um.
And so it doesn't matter howbig a business is, how big a
government, how small government, how law enforcement, we're
(26:03):
individuals and we all makemistakes, right?
We're not god, we're not jesus.
We all make mistakes, we allsin.
We don't like to sin, we don'twant to sin, we do sin, so that
those two stories of the abuseand the bullying that occurred,
(26:26):
that in addition to the otherepisodes we have and you know,
if we continue with this, youknow we're going to continue
talking about it because it'sreal, it's happening, it has
happened, it's going to continueto happen, it's going to
continue to happen.
(26:47):
And if you're one of the bad,bad guys, bad girls out there,
again, I'm not.
I can't make decisions, I can'tchange anybody.
The only thing I can do is tryto work on myself, and I know
I'm not perfect, I knoweverything I say isn't might not
always be the most eloquent, uh, and I've, like all of us,
(27:08):
we've all made mistakes and done, done things, uh, and in the
past, and so it's really one ofthese moments.
Right, we have these moments.
We can choose the same path,which we call that insanity,
where we do the same thing overand over and over and over again
(27:30):
, thinking something's going tochange.
Well, it's not, because we'vedone the same thing and the
result hasn't changed.
You're going to have to make acourse correction, You're going
to have to pivot, you're goingto have to change.
I'm going to have to change.
I'm not any different than thanyou.
I'm not any different from anyother human out there.
(27:51):
We all have faults and there's,we all have things that we do.
Well, uh, and so what?
The?
The hope is that if you're a badguy, bad girl out there, that
you stop what you're doing.
You stop abusing people Again,no matter where that's at,
(28:12):
whether that's in school,whether that's at a convention,
whether that's in a one-on-onemeeting, whether that's with
parents and their children andminors, and what have you and
their children and minors andwhat have you?
There's so many different waysand things that can shape an
individual, and so what we'retrying to be at, voices for
(28:36):
Voices is we're trying to be onthe side of.
There's a voice in all of us.
Now, if you're somebody that'sbreaking a law or is abusing
people, well, again, I can'tchange anything other than
(29:02):
myself.
I try to.
So, yeah, as an organization asfar as who's on the show.
That's something that we talkabout and we go from there and
(29:24):
we go from there.
But what we do know is thereare things that are innately
good and innately bad, which, onthe surface, we can say, okay,
(29:45):
killing somebody, that's wrong.
So Helping, helping somebodywho doesn't have the money to
(30:07):
purchase a house or rent anapartment and and going ahead
and paying for that for a person, that would be more on the
positive side, right.
So that's what we're talkingabout.
There's things that are just onthe surface, bad, not good, not
nice, not Christ-like, and thenthere's things that are on the
(30:29):
more positive end.
So we all have decisions, right.
We all have decisions we canmake.
That we do make and we aregrateful that we have had, and
(30:51):
continue to have, listeners,viewers from all over the world,
new listeners and viewerscoming on every episode, not
only every episode, but everyday, and that's really just a
blessing day, and that's reallyjust a blessing.
That's something that we striveto help.
(31:11):
Some things may come acrosscontroversial.
That's in the eye of thebeholder.
So all the past episodes we'vehad, we've had a variety, a very
diverse lineup from all walksof life, and what we want to do
(31:38):
is to continue that which we are, which we are, which we will,
until our time's up.
And that's like everybody,because none of us are perfect.
And so, god and Jesus, they'll.
(32:04):
It's it's their will to be done, not ours, not mine, not yours.
There's things we can like andnot like, but it's uh, it's thy
will be done, not my will bedone.
It took me a lot of years to toget that across through my ego,
so that's something that we allcan think about Still rides on
(32:32):
my mind daily.
And just to know that there arethings that we can control and
impact more than others, like,oh, I want to get a shower.
Well, if I get up and go to thebathroom, I can impact that
more than the weather.
(32:53):
So we're doing the best we canwith the resources we have.
We thank you for joining in,whether this is your first
episode with us or you've beenwith us the whole journey.
We are grateful.
If you can subscribe, give us abig thumbs up, like let people
(33:17):
know that there's a pretty goodTV show and podcast that's been
out there and it might be worththeir time to a pretty good TV
show and podcast that's been outthere and it might be worth
their time to take a look, towatch it, to listen to it, read
the transcript.
However you consume it and then, however you consume it from a
(33:38):
platform, you know whetherthat's iHeart, whether that's
Spotify, whether that's iHeart,whether that's Spotify, whether
that's SoundCloud.
I mean, we all have differentpreferences, so what I may
listen and watch, the platformmight be different than you.
That's okay.
That's how we.
We have it like that.
(34:01):
So thank you for joining us.
Check out this episode as wellas the rest of the catalog.
We have the voices for voicesTV show and podcast.
And until next time, I'm JustinAlan Hayes, founder and host of
voices for voices.
(34:22):
Thank you for joining us andplease be a voice for you or
somebody in need.
Take care.
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