Reena Friedman Watts - Today's America, Media, and Fear

Reena, host of 'Better Call Daddy', and I discuss the current Political Climate and how our everyday lives come into question as political violence, especially after the Charlie Kirk Murder, has become elevated. We also discuss free speech and the unchecked social media epidemic plagued by bots and bad actors, and how this constant information has affected our youth. Reena also discuss the fear and challenges of living as a Jewish-American today and her concerns as a mother and what the future may hold for her children.

https://bettercalldaddy.com/


Support:

https://buymeacoffee.com/worldablaze

Email: [e-mail]

Web: https://www.worldablazepodcast.com/

X: https://x.com/fontesablaze

Threads:https://www.threads.net/@worldablazewithgeorgefontes

FB: https://www.facebook.com/worldablazewithgeorgefontes

Please like, follow, and share the show!!!!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Okay, so I have the wonderful Raina Creteman Watts. I
knew at some point i'd be talking to you, but
I didn't really know when, especially given the nature of
my show being mostly politics, not something you're usually commenting on.
I'm not saying that you don't pay attention, but not
usually part of what you do in terms of your

(00:27):
show and whatnot. So I wanted you here because I
wanted a voice that is known, because honestly, in the
podcast rule, just about everybody knows you from what I
can tell, and you're you're extremely known as far as
independent podcasters two are trying to come up and make
things happen. They look up to you, and so yeah,

(00:48):
and so so with that, with that going, you know,
all that out of the way and what being said,
I I had the discussion with you a little bit
the other day, right, and what I wanted to do
was get from your perspective someone who's not in growth
twenty four to seven in politics, you know, I see
as someone who's like, look, you got your thing going.
You're doing you're paying the bills, you're doing the job,

(01:08):
taking care of the kids, you're doing everything you got
to do. Holding the house down, and I don't think.
I think like you're like most people. You're not waking
up every day politics top of mind. It's like if
something's in the headline, I'll oh shit, what happened? Let
me look into that. But totally, given the climate, given
everything that's going on, I wanted to understand where someone

(01:28):
like you would come from, because I think you might
speak more towards the everyday person rather than the person
who's engrossed in politics twenty four to seven has an
opinion and it is always commenting it someone like me basically, So,
given everything going on, especially what just happened with Charlie
kirk assassination, I wanted to know what you think of
the climate right now in America. How does it make

(01:51):
you feel? What? What about that's going on? I mean,
do you have any fears concerns?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, dude, I'm scared, you know, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
So I wanted to see what you thought. I want
to see what you thought and see where this goes.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
I mean, I went to a concert last night. I'm like,
I hope the security is good, that's my thought. I'm like,
oh my god, if you get too close to the stage,
you could maybe get shot if you're the one that
gets hugged or who knows. I mean that's my thought
as a mother. I'm like, I'm going, Yeah, it's like
anywhere I go with my kids, I'm feeling like I
need to be on the lookout and.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
I mean, it's good to be situationally aware, but now
I feel like it's like on steroids, you know, like
I'm becoming paranoid. Like looking out my windows at my neighbors,
I'm like, are there any people I need to be
concerned about?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah? Really, is this something that she felt for a
while or is it something.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
You've been over the last couple of years. Yeah, it's weird,
but yeah, everything happening in the news is scary and divisive,
and I really feel like kind of like the theme
of the show that I do with my day, you know,
better call Daddy. We need to get back to family values,
Like we need to get back to being good role
models for our kids and kind of insulate a little

(03:10):
bit like in our families, like teach them good habits,
good principles, good morals. Although, yeah, I know you want
to talk about the Charlie Kirk thing, I mean that
has been painted two different ways, right, Like one side,
from my understanding, is like a straight a student and
conservative parents and get upbringing. And then the other side

(03:34):
is like trans boyfriend and extremist and look what he
wrote on the rifle and this is planned.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, a lot of us kind of my interpretation, I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, it's been a lot of assumptions and fingerpointing for
the most part. In America these days, everyone wants to
compartmentalize and put everybody in a box to make them
feel comfortable about how they feel. But the thing I've
seen is, you know, we're too often being told how
to feel and how we're supposed to approach things, and
we're supposed to be careful in what we say. And
as you said, you know, getting back to family value

(04:06):
seems to be taboo, Like you're not supposed to want
to raise your children the way you used to be
able to raise them years ago. And so what do
you think was the trigger for you in terms of
where you or at least where you thought things were
starting to take a change. I know you said it
was about a couple of years ago, but from your
perspective as a mother, because I'm sure that there's a

(04:27):
lot that maybe children also bring home from being in schools,
Like what they hear is also a good way to
get a pulse on what's going on, as far as
you know, once you drop your kids off, they come
back and it's like, wait a minute, you said what
who said? Like where'd you hear? This? Is any of
that factor in what you're picking up on what's happening?

Speaker 3 (04:46):
For me, it was October seventh for you as autism
made me feel unsafe, and I could not believe the
social media response to that, and even some of it's confusing.
Some of it you don't know what to believe, and
a lot it seems like propaganda on both sides. And
I went to go get a facial this week to

(05:06):
like relax and just kind of like do something for myself,
and the girl who has given me a facial was
giving me her take on Charlie Kirk and Israel, and
I'm like, this is crazy. It's everywhere, Like I can't
even go relax and put some red.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Light on myself, but yeah, yeah, it's what the hell?

Speaker 3 (05:27):
And then she's using language like genocide. I'm like, stop
using that word. Yeah, like that word is inaccurate.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
So even even for someone who's not looking to engage
in political speak, it's like you can't escape it.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
These days, you cannot escape it.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
And even I was standing next to another mommy at
the concert last night. She's a math teacher, she's divorced,
single mom, and you know, she's got a son, my
son's age, and a daughter at the Benson Boone contest
with my daughter or concert with my daughter, and they're
pushing their way to the barricade together and we're like,
we want.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
To be close to our daughter. Excuse me, you know,
like we want to each other.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Fine, And yeah, we got on the subject of Charlie
Kirk at two in the morning.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'm like, what in the world.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
And we were both talking about how our teenage kids
watched a murder on a screen, and how they don't
even know how to process that, like, you know, whether
they were fans of him or not watching that for
a child with a developing brain, a teenager. It's when

(06:33):
I watched that, when my son passed me his cell
phone and I watched that, it literally took my breath away.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I was like, I gasped. I was like I wasn't
even like I'm like, are you okay from watching that? Please?
Don't watch that again?

Speaker 3 (06:47):
And immediately I was like I don't think he can
recover from that, and my son was like, oh no, no,
you know, like and then we were both just in shock.
And then after that it was kind of like, oh
my god, are my other children going to see this?
Like everywhere this is on social media? Like why are
we drawn and mesmerized by watching that?

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Like I'm like, can can someone take that down? Like
that is horrible?

Speaker 3 (07:11):
And then finding out that the daughter like heard the
shot and when to run to him, Like I've interviewed
people on my own show that have watched their father
being murdered and it's something that they've never I mean
it's a young child, but like never been able to
get over like that is the hardest thing. And hearing
that shot, Oh my god. So yeah, that's kind of

(07:31):
like my thoughts. It's just like why are our kids
being desensitized to this horrific thing? And why is this
on social media? And then you're like, how can I
get my kids.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Off social media? How can I get them to play
the piano?

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Right? You know, you made a good point though, being desensitized,
because it's not just desensitization, it seems like this normalization
really in general, it's gotten to the point that you know,
we also as adults, like if we're talking about social media,
no matter what, it seems like violence is not looked
down upon. It just looked at as entertainment. And in

(08:10):
my opinion, a lot of this started with you are
wars in Iraq, desert storm in the Iraq War, where
that was the first time you would see all of
this widespread, you know, violence on mainstream television on the
news twenty four to seven, without ever giving you a
chance to like shut it off. Like if we take
them to the channel, the war was on and they
were showing the atrocities of it, people getting blown up, shot,

(08:31):
they're showing what was happening with the drones and how
they were using them when they were introduced back then
and ever since then, it just never shut off.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
It's and even nine to eleven I was thinking about that.
I'm like, what would nine to eleven look like now?
I mean, there would be so much more convert of it.
I mean, it'd be so much more traumatic. I mean
even seeing the plane was traumatic enough, and like the
people jumping, but it wasn't up close. It wasn't like
people like saying, oh my god, I'm getting ready to jump.
Like I feel like if that happened today, it would

(08:58):
be so much more.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, honestly, that's that's a great point, because it would
have been it would have been way more. I think
I think they handled that carefully. I mean they tried
to They tried to show show, show what happened while
not exposing too much of all the footage like there.
It was very curated. Yeah, but I think today, if
that happened like you said it would, it would definitely

(09:22):
be a whole different story. I think I think the
US would be way more enraged. And I think that's
a problem that we're seeing. Like you were talking about
how your kids were watching the footage of Charlie getting shot,
and it's not like they could look away because everywhere
you go it was like that's what was going on.
It doesn't matter if you're on Instagram, if you're on TikTok,
if you're on x like it, that's what popped up.
It was like top top of mind, top of list,

(09:43):
that's all you saw. And it's not like they could
they could willingly shut it off even if they wanted to,
unless you physically took the phone away and said, hey, kids,
you're done. You know you can't have this. Did not
to put your kids on the spot, But did they
express any concern anyway they felt about that in general?
How that affected them.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, My oldest who's seventeen, was saying like it was
hard for him to connect like the shooting video to
the guy actually being gone, Like it almost seemed like
hard to imagine that that was really the guy who
made all of these other videos who's he's been watching.

(10:21):
So it just almost seemed and it almost seemed like
a horror movie. Like that's basically what he said. It
seemed it looked like a horror movie. And what is
our obsession with all these horror movies that came out
a pandemic? My god, it's like the only freaking thing
you can see at the movies. And I'm like trying
to bond with my kids and they want to go like,

(10:41):
you know, I'm thinking about that movie Thanksgiving where they
cook the lady like a turkey.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
I'm like, well, it's you know, good point. I mean's
we're obsessed with horror movies and we're obsessed with murderers
and so, you.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Know, yeah, I mean it's a little eerie. But the.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Real fear for me is like going to concerts or
going to sporting events. Like every time I'm at a
big event now, I feel scared. Even you know, going
to a basketball game with my son or going to
a concert with my daughter.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
I'm always like, are you are.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
You hold on? So? Are you scared for yourself? Or
you're scared for your family when you're out?

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Both?

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, Like I've even said to my kids, like going
to the gym at the Jewish Community Center, I'm like,
do you know where all the exits are? Like what
would you do if somebody came in here and started shooting?
Like would you pick up a plate and try to
attack them, cover your head, run for the exit?

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Like what would we do? I was like, how many
people in here do you think are armed? You know
what I mean?

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Like, you know what it's it's not. So that's something that, unfortunately,
in today's America, we do have to consider though these days.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
You know, I'm like, you wouldn't just freeze right, it's
do you know? I'm like your Taekwonda wasn't gonna work.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, And it's it's not just what happened to Charlie Kirk, right,
it's it's everything that we've been seeing on the news
with these unnecessary violent crimes or murders. You know, like
the Ukrainian refugee that was stabbed to death on the train.
Before that, you know, we had the shooting him in
Minneapolis at the Catholic school, and before that we had
other shootings and then there was an active shooter sited

(12:18):
at another university not that long ago. It's it's ridiculous
that it's kind of that point. And what you're saying,
the conversations you have to have with your children is
literally you know, walking in as if you were part
of the police swat force or whatnot, Like, hey, no,
your exits it can be used as a weapon, right,
what's your escape plan? And it's it sounds ridiculous, but

(12:39):
not really. I mean, I think these are constant things
that we should teach people regardless, and it's sad that
that is top of mind now, Like you can't go
to a large gathering without thinking, well, what could happen?
Because if anything, if we're looking at Charlie Kirk, which
I'm not going to talk about him just because he
was Charlie Kirk. It's just it was such a big

(13:00):
event that affected many people because after that it further
divided us as Americans. I thought it would it would
bring us together. I thought everybody would go, Wow, that
was wrong, what's going on? The same in to this,
But it didn't happen that way.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
All I did was put on my Facebook like Charlie
Kirk sad face. I did not say anything else, and
just from putting a sad face and like being so
sad about something like that happening in our country and
the fear I felt around it, Like I received hateful
comments for that, crazy one being check your whiteness, and
I was like, I need to sit with that for

(13:34):
a minute. And it's a whole other pout what that means.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
That's a whole other episode.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
That was a little shocking. I was like, Wow, that's
a hell of a reaction, you know that.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
That Yeah, that honestly, that's a whole other conversation. We
can go down at another time if you'd like. But
the thing that that happened with with Charlie Kirk and
led people to feel like how you're feeling, you know,
like how do I have to watch out for myself
and my family is We didn't think the level of
breakdown in security. He was very well known, he's a

(14:08):
prominent figure and it's not like he hasn't had threats before.
Like even Stephen Crowder brought that up. He said the
reason he stopped doing these advances because of all the
threats he would get, and so he stopped doing these
as well. A long time ago. He was said he
was surprised Charlie kept doing them. And so with all that,
it's like where was the security team? Where was the breakdown?
And if that could happen to someone as prominent as him,

(14:30):
it does make you wonder like how safe are you really?
How safe are you? Like where are the police? Where's
the security people at a large event like a concert?
Are they going to react? Because when we saw what
happened to Charlie Kirk, there wasn't much reaction. In fact,
there was no campus security, no campus police. Where's the
reports of what happened? He saw people walking out to
the tent, which is technically a crime scene, taking memorabilia,

(14:52):
taking cameras down that would have caught additional footage, and
so it's like the breakdown is ridiculous. And if that's
how he was treated and how that was handled, imagine
you or I right, if there was an actor shooter
that that happened to be in a public place. They're
not looking out for us. So yeah, you do have
to take it, take your own well being into your
own hands, just as you were saying earlier.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, it definitely makes me want to take a self
defense class, maybe learn that idea a bad idea.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Oh no, it's not run not a bad idea. Yeah no.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
My son's like, just run, just run, run fast. But
that's crazy too. Like I was even talking with my
thirteen year old and he was like, you know, if
a school shooter came into our school, he's like, I'm
not going to follow the rules, Like I'm getting the
hell out of dodge. Like but and then he was like,
but what about our youngest, Like he's six, Like he

(15:46):
would be completely helpless. And a lot of times kids
that are rule followers are completely helpless. I have a
couple that are rule followers and a couple that are like,
oh hell no, you know yeah, you know that. And
then you're like, would you go back for the little guy?

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Like that's scary though, to think that kids have to
have those discussions these days, right.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
It really is. How are you laughing about it? But
it's horrible.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
And when I talk to other mothers too, they're like,
oh my god, we need prayer, like we need family unit.
Like a lot of my middle aged friends are feeling this.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
How how do you feel about you know, how the
flames have been fanned by social media in and of.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Itself, right, Like, how much of it is even real?

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Well, there's that, of course, We've we've talked about that.
I think there's a lot of bots going, you know
a lot of bots and outside organizations that are intentionally
probably getting into social media and trying to spread rumors
and conspiracy.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
Water's a mess for that. Like Roseanne Barr even talks
about it. She was just like, I don't even pay
attention to the hateful comments because it's like once one
happens and it's just like an army of them. And
she's like, it's like the free can bought mafia.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
It is. It is.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Yeah, you're right, but you know, here's here's the other
side to that. So, so bots are written to respond
based on an algorithm, so they're picking up on this
rhetoric already and then they're just amplifying it. So wow,
the fact that that's happening says a lot about how
people really feel on social media, like they're using it
to express their feelings and use it as a free
speech platform, although we can argue that. Uh and and

(17:27):
if they're able to express his opinions, these bots are
picking up on it and they're going, Oh, this is
what's hot. Let me take this and let me just
keep perpetuating this and jumping on it. And we gotta
we got to address how America feels or how they're
how they're acting and using social media. So you know
this this kind is going to lead us to what
happened to Jimmy Kimmel recently. From your perspective, was it

(17:49):
just is that a speech violation?

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I think it is. I do you know?

Speaker 3 (17:58):
It's the First Amendment, right, And I don't think it's
good to cancel either side. I think it's better to
know what you're working with.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
I agree, I have another side to that, but I'm
not I'm not. This isn't a disagreement. By the way,
I'm gonna play I'd like to play Devil's advocates sometimes.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
So here here's the other side to that. Jimmy Kimmel
was employed underemployment law, you don't necessarily have freedom of speech. Also,
he's a public broadcast channel that's under f SEC regulation.
Technical I'm not saying this is the way it is.
He could have been making a joke whatever, But technically
what he said, if you wanted to really narrow in

(18:39):
on what he said in terms of the killer being
you know, a right extremist, maga whatever, he is a
blatant lie based on information that was released prior to
his statement. So that being said, yeah, FCC rules, and
I'm sure you know the way more than I do.
Could mean that's what you did for a living when
you were in TV years ago. It's they can hold

(19:01):
him accountable and the company can hold him accountable for
that for telling a blatant light to the public, which
is exactly what they did to Tucker Carlson and how
they got him fired from Fox. So there's that argument
as well.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
And compliance is a B I A T C.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah right, And I don't look, I think everybody should
be able to express their opinion. I believe in the
freedom of speech, but we also I think a lot
of people don't realize that once you punch that clock
and you're and you're working for that employer.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Oh yeah, you don't have much I think. Yeah, that
is definitely a good point. Yeah, there are lawyers.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Involved, right, Oh absolutely.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, you better have a good lawyer, friend.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
But is this is this going to set the precedent
for not just other entertainers or people in television, but
even like us. I thought about this because you know,
even what happened to Charlie right, uh, he was was
really a podcaster, yes, and he went out and he
did his debates, open debates, and we can walk and
walk up to him and talk and tried to prove

(20:00):
them wrong or whatever whatever the case is. You know,
they were open to discussion, which is to me, what
is great like having discourses where we're able to really
hash out our problems and issues and hopefully walk away
with each of us learning something. So when that happened,
it looked like there's a targeting of certain personalities or
people within our space. For example, I was kind of

(20:22):
concerned because it's like, well, what's that going to do
for other people in the podcasting space or independence or
in independent media. Are they going to shrivel up and
shrink away and be afraid to speak their mind? Are
they going to try to stay within a certain within
certain guardrails, for example, because they were afraid that if
they go down this path that they're in danger of
themselves being killed or targeted. How do you feel about that,

(20:46):
that it ever crossed your mind or do you have.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Anything definitely crossed my mind? I mean, I listened to
Megan Kelly say that she was going to go on
tour and that Charlie was actually part of her tour,
and she's like, I won't be canceling my tour.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
You know.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
She's like, I am more of a private person, and
Charlie was gifted at doing these in person gatherings, but
she's like, now I'm definitely not going to cancel. And
Ben Shapiro is talking about how he has twenty four
hour security and how he's going to continue to not
be afraid, and it was interesting. I saw Roseanne Barr
say like, hey, I was canceled. So I think people

(21:23):
that have been canceled are kind of like, yeah, like
let's talk about being canceled. Look at other radio hosts
that have been canceled. But I was thinking kind of
what you're talking about, like our comedians going to stop
being as you know, racist or edgie.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
I guess yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:44):
I had to take a break, to be honest, even
from going to comedy clubs because there's been so much
anti semitism where it's been too much. I'm like, it's
okay to make fun of like every group, but like,
don't just make fun of one group, Like that's not
fun to listen to. Yeah, a little bit, everybody is funny,
but not when.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
It's all one that's not right.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, it really isn't so when you were when you
were so you, did you have any concern at all
about people being scared to speak your mind? Though? In general?

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, I think that there's even things I don't talk about.
Like you said, I don't normally even talk about this
because I'm like, what if I like say the wrong
thing and then somebody tells me to check my whiteness,
Like I'm you know, gosh, no, you just don't want
to sound stupid or uninformed. But I'm like, since when too,

(22:35):
like have we all had to be historians and know
every single thing you.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Know that's right. Yeah, you're right. And that's part of
why I wanted you here, Rain is because you have
a good following. People recognize you. But since you're not
in on the other side of things, like you're not
doing what I do. You're not you're not talking about
it every day, right, And so I wanted your opinion
because I think it's important to get the opinions of
people like you. Like I said, you're not walking around

(23:02):
focused on on the screen every day going Trump, Trump, Trump, Democrat, Congress,
whatever you know, and just losing your mind over shit.
You're I don't I don't see who as that person,
but you definitely have an opinion because all this scared
scared your children, for example, they know how to process it.
You're concerned about your safety now given everything that's going
on the last few years October seventh for you, and

(23:24):
you're Jewish, right, so as it was as a Jew,
you're absolutely concern And then now we have the increase
of anti Semitism, which people say isn't there, but I mean,
come on, you can't even get away from It's all
over the place. So I wanted your opinion. I needed.
I needed another voice outside of everybody. I keep talking
to you because everybody, let's just be honest. And I
know you've experienced this a lot of people. They already

(23:45):
have their whole thing put together. I'll ask a question
and they give me their you know, predisposed basically their stick.
It's like they already have their thing. I feel like talking.
I've talked about radio broadcast for all of a sudden.
I'm just sitting here, you know, you know, don't tell
me what you think. I want to hear. I want
to hear what you have to say, you know. And
so that's why I appreciate having you here is I

(24:08):
want to get that out you. So let's go back
to October seventh. Since I didn't I didn't push that
because I wanted to, Yeah, get through a few things.
Can talk about it. I do want to talk about
that because it obviously changed your perspective as a Jewish American.
And from what I recall when you told me yesterday
on the phone is you do have people who live
in Israel right now?

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, my two sisters both live there. What else is
crazy is my birthday is October eighth, really and yeah,
so I had my phone off. It was like a
Jewish holiday. And you know, I keep the Sabbath and
I disconnect from electronics. I've been keeping the sabbath for
like eighteen years. I didn't grow up doing that, but

(24:50):
me and my husband have taken on that practice and
it's really healthy. Actually, Like we have family dinner every
Friday night and we are with our children and turn
off the world for twenty four hours and it's great.
My kids don't so much love the turning off the
electronics thing, but yeah, we read books, we go to
the park, we get outside, we go to synagogue. And

(25:13):
so my phone was off and then when I turned
it back on, I'm glad I celebrated like my birthday
the week before because I was just in you know,
like everyone else, just utter shock and horrified at what
was being said. I remember they were saying there was
like babies and cages and decapitations and rape and murder

(25:37):
and this stuff is like on social media.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yeah, like the videos of it actually happening, like atrocity's.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Of it all atrocities, like it seemed unreal and yeah,
like just trying to get a hold of my sisters
and what is it like there and like knowing people
that were being called up to serve, like you know,
my son's getting ready to actually have a bar mitzvah,
like his teacher is a reservist. And just seeing too,
like all of these young babies that like are going

(26:08):
to war and some of them look like they could
be my kid. They're just what beautiful boys, beautiful babies.
Anyone fighting at that age to me is just sad
and horrible.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, what what did your what did your sisters have
to say?

Speaker 3 (26:26):
I mean one of my one of my sisters is
a teacher, and she was having to teach and manage
her children like out of a bomb shelter. Like she
doesn't have a bomb shelter in her home. One of
my other sisters does have like a room. But I mean,
if you can imagine like having to share a bomb shelter,

(26:47):
Like they're hot, the kids are antsy, they're hungry, there's
nothing to entertain them with, and they're hearing missiles.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
I mean that seems bad.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Oh yeah, it is bad. So when when that, when
that all happened, how how did you feel yourself, like,
like cause you're living here?

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Yeah, I was like, are you sure, you don't want
to come back to America. Yeah, Like I definitely said that,
and they're like, how can you feel safe in America?

Speaker 2 (27:15):
It's going to happen there too.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
I'm like, uh, yeah, they may not be too far
off on that, and I have Yeah, I have definitely
things to say.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
It's interesting their perspective on that, like, yeah, they feel
like they're in the safest place.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
They're like, at least we have an army.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
But you know that iron dome has has failed. Okay,
So in October seventh, the way they came in really
didn't have much with an iron dome because now we've
got to look at the altitude of how they were
coming in, what they're flying in on. They weren't you know,
they were just small personal craft. But but when when
they were getting bombarded by Iran, Israel's iron dome couldn't

(27:54):
keep up with the with the volley of all the
missiles and rockets that were fired at them, and so
it did show that there are holes in their defenses. Now,
I'm I'm not advocating for Israel to fall, you know,
you and I discussed that, so I when I'm asking
these questions is not because I'm anti Israel or anything.
I just want to get your actual perspective. And you

(28:15):
have family members there, But how do you feel about
how the State of Israel has been handling things? Now,
you know, it's been a few years.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
I think it was such a large scale attack that
something like that had never happened, and there were you know,
it's definitely beyond my pay grade, but probably other ways
that I'm sure. I think that they didn't know how
to respond to that amount of people being taken. I mean,
that's it's just such a massive, horrific tragedy. Like how

(28:51):
do you even respond to that man militarily?

Speaker 1 (28:53):
I mean, my god, Like, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
I mean, it's and you're being judged by the whole
world by how you respond. And I feel like, you know,
they try to pass out leaflets and you know, avoid
civilian casualties, but at the same time, like they crossed
a border and they murdered and they did what they did,

(29:16):
you know, So, I mean, how do I feel about
how it's been handled? I wish that it all just
wouldn't have happened, and it's still happening. There's still hostages
that we can't get to I question, how come why not?
It's been a long time, almost two years. My god,

(29:38):
I can't even believe there are still people that are
alive from that. Like some of these hostages that have
been released, they look like Holocaust victims.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Makes a question as to whether or not hostage are
actually even.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Alive, right.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
And the one thing that really got to me too
is like the Biba's kids, those two redhead kids and
the mom and then reading that they were like stoned
to death. Like when I hear my kid like throwing
a fit that he doesn't want to go to bed,
Like imagine these kids that were taken by terrorists and
like how were they fed?

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Were they fed?

Speaker 3 (30:10):
And they were they were choked, they were stoned, they
were murdered, I mean babies.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Like there's been so.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Many moments or when those uh it was six hostages
were being held together and then they were all shot
on top of each other. I mean they had made
it so far and they had struggled so much and
then just shot point blank. I Mean there have been
some moments through this war of just like reading this
stuff and I'm like so inhumane, Like where did we

(30:38):
lose our humanity?

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Has?

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Has your family living over there. Have you gotten any
more information in terms of what's happening now, because, like
you said, it's been almost two years, right, and with
the constant fighting, is is it really a case of
from from their perspective, maybe and maybe from what you've
heard that Israel wants us to end, but Almas will

(31:05):
not let it end. Because the crazy thing is, and
I've said this many times, people are trying to criticize Israel,
but every time they turn around, they're being attacked by
someone else. I mean they were just yeah, they yeah,
they just had missiles fired at them from.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
The Hooties Iran.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I mean, my god, it's endless and there's still like
terrorist attacks like happening like weekly, Like if you read
Israel national news like.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Every week, doesn't see it's something?

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Why do you think, Well, first off, I'm sorry, I
interrupted you do do you have it? Do you have
any information you know that you know from your family
who lives there, and how how they feel about how
the government of Israel's handling this. I mean, does Israel
really want us to end and let everybody live in peace?
And they just can't because the fighting just won't stop.
Is that? Is that something that you've heard.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
I mean, I think the people that were attacked on
ten seven were piece next they believed and having good relations,
like that's why they were like having a dance party
of like peace like right on the border, and I think,
you know them being murdered has probably changed their perspective

(32:13):
on whether there can actually be peace. This is like biblical,
this has been going on for so long, and with
all the destruction on both sides, how can there be
I mean that's going to take some probably outside help
of like smoothing things over.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
I mean it's going to take a lot of help,
a lot of help.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
I don't know how things can go back to normal.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
I don't even know how people are like going to
work as usual.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I have friends that.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Are living there that are like, I don't even want
to say that I'm like an Israeli company because of
the judgments against Israel, like if they're doing business with America,
They're like, don't say that I live here. I mean
that's hard, Like how are people able to live everyday
lives in either place? I don't see how.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah, I'm not disagreeing with you there. I wouldn't imagine
it's It's been an area full of uh strife for
I mean thousands of years period. There's never been a
real agreement there between tribes, regardless if they were Jewish
or whatever you want to call them. Mull while it's
either going to be that or Arabs, you know, Muslims,

(33:27):
et cetera. But there's never been real peace. There's always
been conflict.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
When I went there, I think I was like nineteen
or something. I went on a trip and I hitchhiked
all the way from Tel Aviv to Egypt. And I
didn't feel scared then, Like I actually felt like Jews
and Muslims were getting along at the time, Like I
knew Arabs that worked on kibitzes and wanted to drink
and party and jump in pools with their clothes on,

(33:53):
and you know, I.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Didn't feel scared.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Although I had gotten in a cab once with a
a girlfriend of mine and I didn't realize that the
guy was an Arab and not in Israeli because I
didn't read the license plate well enough. Yeah, like you
even have to know like the differences between the cabs
you get in, or you could get kidnapped or taken
into an area or you know, get taken advantage of Yeah,

(34:18):
and I was like, stop this vehicle right now, or
we're going to jump out, Like he started talking to
us in a sketchy way, and I was like, oh
my god. So but I do feel like times were
better than they are right now, Like there is no
way I would ever walk across the border from Israel
to Egypt now or want my children to do that, right,

(34:41):
But I did it and felt safe and slept on
a beach in Nueba for a week and played beach
volleyball and it was beautiful and fun and didn't feel
scary at all, though it probably couldn't have been.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Could have could have been. Yeah, it's interesting. I just
see that, you know, for the most part, with Israel,
and this is my perspective is I'm not Jewish. I
just know what I read and what I research. But
it seems like most nations there do not want Israel
to exist for whatever reason. And I'm not sure if

(35:12):
it's just because it's the Jewish people who reclaim their
own state, or if it's the relationship between Israel and
the USA that really, you know, causes people to hate
so much, because I mean, the USA has been blamed
for much of what's happening in the Middle East as well.
I mean, we've done our things. We're not innocent either,

(35:33):
but I wonder if some of it has to do
with that. I'm not I don't know what your thoughts
are on that, or if it's just literally too much
of a difference between cultures and religions that keep that
area in constant, constant structule.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
But there are so many Arabs and Christians, and it's
like a melting pot, like there are Arabs and Israelis
that get along and foreign businesses and our neighbors and.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Work together, and so that has worked in some regard.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Okay, So then that that is that might take me
down this road I don't know you want to go down.
So is it? Is it true then that from your
perspective that there is an extreme side to Islam? And yeah, okay,
because a lot of people say there isn't any such
thing as extreme Islam, But a lot of that is
what's fueling these conflicts. It's not necessarily And I've always

(36:26):
asked a question, and you know better than I. I
can't not I can't believe that everybody who's a Muslim
is a bad person.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, I mean either I.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Don't want to believe that. I just I just don't
know that that's the truth. Because you're born into what
you're born into, you know, Like I was born in
the USA into a certain culture, and if I wasn't,
I could have been born a Muslim and I wouldn't
have known any different. It doesn't make you a bad
person automatically. And from what you're saying and what I've
heard from other people is like Israel self, Yeah, there

(36:55):
was Arabs that lived there, and there's Muslims live there.
There's there's many different people and they all respect each
other and live together other. So what's really behind all this?

Speaker 2 (37:03):
But there's tension there, I mean ensuring the old city, Like.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
I'm sure there is.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
There's time you're chopped.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Into the Arab quarter and been spin on. To be honest,
if you're not dressed the right way, if you're pointing
your camera and taking video of something that they don't
want to be in, you know, you'll be yelled at,
spit on.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
Well, there's always gonna rest.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, there's going to be a cultural division.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
But yeah, yeah there's death is some of that?

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Is it to the point of where we see like
Isis for example, who would go out and just want
to destroy and level a.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Place, right, that's the thing, like when take.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
It over and run it, and then you know, they
want to enforce their own brand of extreme Islam and
Sharia and whatnot. I think there's a difference between that
and people who are trying to live a good life
where you know, their extreme view of the religion that
which is really a political ideology at that point, they're
not trying to live their life based on this extreme

(38:03):
political ideology and subjugate everybody else, because it comes down
to it, it really becomes about whether or not you know,
it has less to do with the religious aspect when
you get to become an extremist like that, and more
to do with you just want power and you want
to rule over people. That's really what it is. It
has nothing to do with the religion at that point.
You're just using that as a tool to subjugate people

(38:25):
and to try to twist people's minds to get behind
you in this group, to support you so that you
have soldiers to take things over and rule. It's that's
I mean, that's as basic as I can put it.
But from my perspective, that's what's really going on with
these extreme Islamis, isn't I don't really believe it's just
the average every day Muslim trying to live a.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Life, right. I don't think so either.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
So what's the danger you think in the USA? We
kind of touched on that earlier when I guess I
think you said your sisters said that it could be
coming to the US next.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah, I mean, and she has been telling me for years,
and other family members too. They're like, it's it's hard
for me to leave. I mean, I was born and
raised here, and I don't speak Hebrew fluently. And you know,
as much as I love Israel and have visited there,
it's a different culture. And my kids are ingrained in

(39:23):
American society. You know, I'm forty five, my husband's fifty.
It's not so easy to just pick up and start
somewhere else. I guess if I had to, I do
think that I need to get my passport renewed just
in case I need to run.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
But what's the perceived danger though? What is that perceived danger?

Speaker 3 (39:44):
I mean, Jews are being murdered. There was one that
was murdered at a protest by a one of those
speaker things. And there's even somebody murdered in DC outside
the Israeli embassy. And look, I've gone to the Jewish
communit Center here and there's been protesters yelling baby killers

(40:04):
while I'm taking in my six year old and my
old people are going to work.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Out or what the heck? Like, yeah, that's real.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Are college campuses are a mess where my kid doesn't
even want to like go to a big university. Like
that's crazy. That's been going on now for years.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
Do you think do you think these protesters are literally
just a bunch of uninformed idiots just to put it bluntly,
because it seems like what I've noticed.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
With I think some of them are paid.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
I mean we know some of them are paid, right,
and yeah they have their slogans.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Right, so paid actors, Yeah right, I mean more more
literally than than than we probably realize.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yeah, is it?

Speaker 1 (40:50):
But do you think it may be people who feel like, hey,
this is the thing, like this is what I need
to get behind because there's a perception that the world
is behind it, and they just they just join these
protests not even realizing what it really means. Like these protests.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Oh yeah, kids are so easily influenced.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Yeah, I think. I think they don't even realize that
they're they're literally supporting a terrorist organization in Hamas by
half the stuff that they are saying and what they're
doing and how they present themselves, and they feel that
they're on the right side of things.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
They don't even know from what River to what see
like there's been plenty of videos showing that, you know.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
They don't do well. They don't even realize what that
statement means. People really don't. And that's the other sad thing.
It's like they're claiming genocide, but they have no problem
genocide and Jews if it came down to it, that's.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
What they're inter exactly.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
So it's literally what they're standing behind.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Or you know, with the Charlie Kirk thing, like calling
him a fascist, but yet.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
These people do not know what fascism is, you know,
they there isn't There isn't one instance in America where
you can say there was ever we had our Joseph
Stalin for example, right, it just hasn't happened. I think
a lot of the problem comes from how the youth
are being educated, especially when you're getting into the university level,

(42:17):
right when you're getting into higher ed. There's plenty of
videos out there of professors being caught saying how we
need to tear America down anti capitalism, you know, rhetoric
and speeches. They're literally molding young minds, and I don't
know why they're intentionally doing this. You know what's funny
with their arguments is they hate capitalism but have no

(42:39):
problem collecting their two hundred thousand dollars a year plus
salary as a professor exactly, and enjoying all the benefits
that capitalism has to offer, and all the safety and
freedom that they're afforded as a US citizen or even
just someone who resides in the US as a permanent resident.
They have no problem with any of that. So why
would you want to tear down what is a benefit
to you? I'm not understanding.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
It doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
No me either, It doesn't make any sense to anybody.
It's it's it's so easy to tear these arguments apart
if you if you just look at it logically.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
I've had friends reach out to me that are like,
why are these protests happening? Why is there so much
hatred for Jewish people, and I'm like, that's like a
question I'd like to know too, Like, yeah, but it's
funny that my friends reach out to me and say that.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
I think. I think though, you know, a lot of
this was I think October seventh, the reaction to that.
Because now we're two years in and Israel is still
fighting this war. I think this is just an excuse.
I think this anti Semitism has always been bubbling and
has just you just never went away. But they're using
this as an excuse to just ramp it up and.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Try to get no idea how prevalent it was. To
be honest, honestly, feel like we're back to like World
War two times.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
I don't understand how in America today that we're still
perpetuating and we're still we're still pushing the narrative of racism,
and it's it's it can either it could be it
could even be discrimination against an ethnic group. It can
be literally against the skin color, which we see a
lot of times. There's even arguments of what's happening with
these mass shootings and this violence, saying well, you know, statistically,

(44:25):
a white guy with a gun, a white this a
white that, and they're trying to further, you know, throw
this this wedge, not not even not even when it
just comes to Jewish people, for example, or Mexicans or Chinese.
It's just now that combined with white versus all other
colors in America, which is ridiculous. And what I find

(44:46):
is the people that don't let this go are the
older generations who basically make their money race hustling. I
can say a few names, but I'll stay quiet on it.
And and they're not letting it go. But I don't
think the younger, the youth of today are really buying
into it. It seems like it's a narrative being pushed
by the older politicians or people within these positions of

(45:09):
power that don't want to let it go because they
know it's a great tool to try to keep people
in disarray, keep them separated, and when you have a
people that are separated, it's easier to control those people.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Unfortunately, I think there's a lot of truth to that.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Very unfortunate.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
I mean, I saw memes that said this is war
after the Charlie Kirk thing.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Too ridiculous, ridiculous, that's a pretty strong statement.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah, but war against who right, like seriously against against
what someone who doesn't agree with you politically, like oh,
that's exact craft, Let's kill that person, or that's that's
a Republican lest kill that person? Like that is so stupid?

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Is that what it means? I mean, really, I know it's.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
It's dumb because and then you have you have this
idea of trying to put us into a civil war,
and it comes up. You see those posts, those memes
about a civil war. I don't think anybody actually realizes
what that means. Most people haven't even been in a
real fight or even seen the other end of a gun.
I'll tell you that. Nope, these people aren't ready. These

(46:15):
keyboard warriors have no idea what they're asking for, because
one day you're gonna be forced to make a decision
to look at your neighbor and stab them in the
throat or shoot them in the head because they're just
on the other side someone you probably live next to.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Funny, my husband thinks about that.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
He was like, how many of our neighbors would actually
help us if we needed it.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Isn't that crazy though, that these are the things we
have to think of now.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
I just wish that like everyone could meditate or something.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
I just yeah, I like that. I like that meme
ran of where it's where it going around? It looks
like it's Charlie Brown and Snoopy. It's like, you know,
I long for the days. We're basically saying, I missed
the I miss the times when I didn't really know anything.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Yeah, that's a good one, you.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Know, because the oversaturation of everything, you know, with media
and social media, I mean, you name it. You know,
it's like to me, it is psychological conditioning to make
us feel a certain way and push us to group
together and be able to basically further have us buy
into the narrative that they want us to so that

(47:23):
we act exactly how they want us to act. And
that's what I'm seeing. It's been this long, slow, steady
psychological conditioning of the people, and it's been effective because
we've been divided for how many years now? So as
a mother, how do we get out of this? Like,
how do we change these because it's gonna only change

(47:45):
if we can get our kids right to buy in,
if we get the children to buy in the next generation.
As a mother, what do you think, how can we
move forward and change the direction of this country.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
It's a good question.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
I mean, I try to draw from the wisdom of
the generations that came before me. I try to show
them that I still speak with my ninety six almost
ninety seven year old grandmother and go visit her and
hold her hand and show her that she still loved
and valued. They see me talking to my dad almost

(48:20):
every day. I think teaching your kids to honor and
do things that they might not want to do, but
then also like supporting their creativity, like you know, my
daughter said she went to play piano. My daughter wanted
to go to a concert with me. Try to just

(48:41):
like support your kid's interests and good habits and not distract,
but just yeah, I get them away from the negativity,
show them what really matters, like family and creativity and
good habits and good sleep and good food and the basics.

(49:01):
I think if more people like tried to focus on
good habits, that could make a big difference.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
And I like the idea of where you know you're
saying you observe the Sabbath and you have you know
on Saturdays, I believe is that correct, where you just
share an electronic I like that idea. I don't think
you have to be Jewish to buy into that. I
think that's just a good thing for every family to do,
like one day, Oh yeah, it's just us. We're hanging out,

(49:29):
We're turning off all the noise, and we're just gonna
live as actual human beings forced to interact with each
other and the environment around us.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
It's so healthy.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
It's funny because I started doing it when I was
on the third season of nanty nine one one, and
the first two seasons, I was working fourteen day straight
and working around the clock, and sometimes I'd work from
seven at night till four in the morning. And then
I stopped being available for one day a week, and
I realized that the world did not come out of
orbit when I was unreachable for twenty four hours. A

(50:03):
lot of problems fixed themselves. And then I started like
adding things to it where I was like, Okay, I'm
gonna have all the dishes done by Friday night, so
I don't have anything in my sink. And then it
was like what can I buy to cook that I
would not cook during the rest of the week, Like,
let me buy something like a pot roast or some
you know, nice thing you're.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Talking about, a complete disconnect, like a complete like break
from all of it.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Yeah, that's a good idea. I think a lot of
people need to adopt that.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
They really think the day, like make one day a
week special where like during the week it's like chicken
nuggets and fish sticks and fast meals and you know
you're lucky to get in a workout, but like take
one day where you're like, I'm going to cook something
delicious and hearty and.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Like make like a three course meal for my kids.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
Like and it's not just it's not even just that
disconnecting from from media and electronics and everything and and
and as we're talking about with family, but even I
heard you on I forgot what episode it was. I
was listening, but you brought up and your guest did
as well, where even in marriage it's like you take
that one day like a date night sort of thing,

(51:16):
which a lot of people do, but nobody's consistent with
it or not a lot of people are. I think
that's a great idea too, that more people should adopt.
I mean, these these things that we're talking about will
keep families and people rooted and just maybe I don't know,
help us turn back into reasonable human beings again.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Me and my husband did date
night for like seven years and then I had another kid. Yeah,
it's it's even something that I need to like re
implement because yeah, we did Second City like improv classes
together for a couple of years. That was great, and
I feel like as a software engineer, he kind of

(51:54):
like came out of his shell a little bit and
did something creative and I think that was so much fun.
And the kids in there were like half our age,
so it was interesting to just interact with a different generation.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
And then.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Another year, we did.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Like CrossFit together for a couple of years agoin in
like really good shape. Well, and before that, we were
like eating at different restaurants, so that's why we needed
to do CrossFit. But yeah, we were checking out different
restaurants over Chicago. It's like, okay, now we need to
do a healthy habit.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
I mean, I like, I like food and good drink myself.
Let's let's since we've already started, let's do you have
anything else you want to say about the anti Semitism
in America and whatnot? Because I want to get a
final word in so we can steer this. I want
to talk about your show. I want to try to
go into a lighter topic now, because everything we talked
about heavy.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
What was really eye opening to me was actually a
conversation that I had with Scott Pain. He wrote a
book about going undercover to expose American Nazi groups, and
he was talking about like, I guess this isn't really lighter,
but you know these acceleration groups here in America, and
he just like released this book over the last year.

(53:07):
I am glad that there are people like putting their
lives on the line to try to do better for
humanity and protect families and things like that. But also
it's like, even if you take some of these groups down,
like they just keep replenishing themselves. And I even asked him,

(53:28):
I was like, where is it safe for you to
live in America? He was like the South to southeast?

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Really.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
But I think just continuing to have open dialogue like
this and try not to be judgmental towards people. And
I haven't had that many conversations on my podcast that
actually scare me. I did talk to a former KKK
guy who it's interesting, has now like had a conservative

(53:56):
Jewish conversion. Really, he was saying, even aboutter or how
hateful he was, the Jewish people were always.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Nice to him.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
I mean, imagine if you hated someone and then you
decided to actually like sit down and put the hate
aside and like try to hear their story or their
perspective and relate to them as a human.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
I mean that's kind of cool. I think we need
more of that.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah, I think we all need to do that. I mean,
too many people, like you said, they want to they
want to well, too quick to judge. Basically, Yes, they
want to prejudge people and not engage people in conversation
because they already assume what they're gonna say or what
that person. And you know, it's it's easy to always
judge a book by his cover. Let's just like you can't.

(54:42):
I mean that that's saying is just ring so true.
And we got to get past the cover and actually
start reading the pages, right, you know. And that's that's
just what discourse is about. And I think you're right.
We need to have more conversations like this. Definitely. We
need to be able to talk about things, whether we
agree with them or not. You know, we need to
know how the other person's feeling what you're going through,

(55:04):
because we don't know it all. We assume we do,
but we don't. We just don't. So here's where we're
going to turn it lighter. Let's I want to talk
about your show a bit. I want to talk about your.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Show because Daddy, who he is always who I call
I am like my father's daughter, and my dad, God
bless him, has listened to over four hundred and fifty
hours of me interviewing people, and then he weighs in
at the end of every episode. My idea behind that
was really kind of modeled after the Jerry Springer Show,

(55:37):
where I was like casting these wild and crazy stories
and then Jerry would weigh in with his final thought.
So I was like, oh, my dad could do the
final thought piece. He's a total character. And it's turned
into being like my gift to my guests. It's really cool,
like when a guest afterwards is like, Wow, I really

(55:57):
appreciate your time in the interview and your dad's time
and his perspective and how he related to my story
and how he answered my question.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Like they look forward to like is my dad gonna
like them? Right?

Speaker 1 (56:10):
That's a cool concept though. I like that because from
what I from what I heard the episodes I have
heard from you, is like you just you just bring
out natural, honest conversation. You know, it's it's it's not
And that's why I like to try to do. You know,
sometimes that doesn't happen, you know, depending on who the
guess is. But I like that you're able to talk

(56:30):
to people. They get comfortable and they just start being
themselves and then you have these interesting stories about their
journey and where they've been and where they've gone and
maybe what the future holds. And then your dad just
like they either have a question for him or he
just assesses it. And it's like you know, you know,
based on my experience, and it's really cool. It's a
cool concept. I'm sure. I'm sure I'm gonna want you

(56:50):
to take this episode and give it to him and
see what he says.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Oh yeah, for sure, because I've definitely not done an
episode like this, so I would love to do that.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Well, you know, and honest I appreciate you answering the
questions I and I hope you don't feel I was
trying to put you on the spot on anything. I
just wanted to pursue your perspective. That's all just just
something from somebody who's not, you know, totally ingrained at
this political freaking shit storm. Let's just put honest. But yeah,
i'd like to get your father's opinion. I like to
I like to know.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Yeah, I'm gonna send it to him for sure.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
And you know, here's the thing, like I haven't even
really like unfriended people like through October seventh or through
these hateful comments that I've gotten, you know, after the
Charlie Kirk sad face post. I want to continue to
have conversations and I leave an open door for that,

(57:43):
but just don't like personally attack me.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Right, are you gonna? I mean, is in light of
what's been happening lately and how you yourself been treated
on social media, are you inclined to have these tougher
conversations like like the type we're having on your show
as well, or is it something that's you would like
to still you know, have separately not not run from

(58:06):
them because you're not. It's just I think I.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
Would depending on your person you know, as long as
it wasn't like a troll type of conversation, you know,
where they're like trying to like honestly have an agenda.
Like if they were really wanting to just understand where
I'm coming from and me try to understand where they're
coming from, I would be open to that, But I'm
not into the goatcha.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Yeah, how do you how do you filter the trolls?

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Sometimes probably a pre interviewer too, Yeah, right, you would
have to. And also looking what they're posting on social media,
Like I mean, I've had people on my podcast that
when the war broke out, I was like, oh my god, maybe.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
I should have asked how they felt about is all?

Speaker 1 (58:47):
That's true? That's true? Well that one I had, I
had one guest. I won't name them. I mean, people
go back to the episodes where I think I think
he thought that. Okay, The reason I had him on
is because you wrote book and he had a theory
based on the root of evil basically and and how
in the root of evil in society and how how

(59:08):
it starts, how it gets into society, and how people
buy into the messaging like it was it was a
really it was a theory that he became known for.
He's published and I want to talking about that. But
instead of us being able to discuss that, which is
originally what I wanted him on the show for, he
wanted to turn the whole show into a political conversation.
It was like, well, I have enough of those. I

(59:29):
wanted to understand how from his perspective, based on what
he's done, how our society has been driven to where
it is now. But instead it was literally I think
he had the assumption I'm a hardcore maga righte guy,
and he was a hardcore Democrat. He's a psychologist too,

(59:49):
so I and look, I'm not too I'm not pad
myself in the back, but I can read stuff pretty well.
And I knew what was starting to happen. I didn't
let it get there, but we actually ended up. In
my mind was like, cool, I'll go down this road.
And we ended actually actually ended up having a good conversation,
and by the end of it, we're both like, you
make some great points. You make some great points. And

(01:00:11):
it ended up very amicably and we were good and
we didn't really cuss each other out or anything. It's
just we we started listening to each other. And I
think the problem is, like, if you were to have
these conversations on your show, you know, more often is
you will run it to be like that. That like,
they're very good at hiding their intentions, so sometimes you're
going to run into.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
That, and maybe it's better to have it offline.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Yeah, I think. But I think you're smart enough to
see it coming too though, while you're while you're discussing it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Yeah. Wow, Well I'm glad that worked out well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
It was just an example of how if somebody really
really wants to be that person, they will they'll find
a way. Yeah, and I didn't expect to coming from
that person.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Uh So.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Here's what I want to do. I don't want to
keep too much more of your time if we don't
have to, because I know you're busy and you got
another recording to go to. Right, I have to ask
your dad a question, right? Is that how that works?

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Yeah, do it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
I'm going to ask him a question based kind of
on what we were talking about from his perspective, because
he's old enough to have had parents who lived through
a lot of anti Semitism from his parents' side, I'm sure,
Oh yeah, and he's lived through a period where it
kind of went away in and out's coming back, like

(01:01:34):
in a really big way, not that we've seen in years.
So I'm wondering. I just want to know how he
feels about this anti Semitism that's starting to resurface of
all things in America by the way, which I didn't.
I didn't think that we would see it in the
USA as it has been lately. And where he thinks

(01:01:57):
the future is in terms of us repairing that relationship,
in educating people as to why we need to respect
each other more because Israel has offered a lot, the
Jewish people have offered a lot to America, and in turn,
we have supported the Jewish people and Israel. So from
his perspective, what does he think is causing this and

(01:02:18):
how do we repair it? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Great question. Yeah, I am excited to hear what my
dad has to say about that. Thank you. That's a
very thoughtful question.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Yeah, I would love his perspective, someone who's lived through
different eras of having to deal with his anti Semitism
and watching the wave of it go up, down, up down,
and then now here we are and it seems like
the world is against you guys again. It's like what, like,
how do we get back here, How did this happen?

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Oh yeah, he's definitely lived it right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
So I want to thank you, and I'm not trying
to rush off. I'm just trying to be respectful the time.
I would like to you more, but I want to
thank you for coming on, and I appreciate your insight.
And again, I know this is not stuff you usually
talk about, but I liked your honest response and I
liked your perspective because I think a lot of people
will be able to relate to everything you had to
say as a Jewish American, as a mother, as someone

(01:03:14):
who's not twenty four to seven waking up thinking politics
top of mind. But it's gotten to the point where
you just can't ignore what's happening. So appreciate everything that
you had to say. And hey, hopefully, you know, maybe
down the road we'll have you back, or maybe I'll
be on your show, who knows, but we'll see what happened.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Yeah, for sure, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Appreciate it. Rna Ta your content feel detention, Devil behind
Redemption understands on