Podcasts/Sacred Tension-Sacred Tension House of Heretics

Sacred_Tension_House_of_Heretics SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, taylor swift, rage, gay, anger, point, thought, shuts, chaplain, transcend, position, samuel, left, twitter, issue, heretics, act, feel, called, black SPEAKERS Justin Dozier Bryant, Stephen Bradford Long

Stephen Bradford Long 00:00 Hey everyone, Steven here. So the following podcast is not actually going to be a sacred tension episode. It is a feature from my podcast on Patreon called House of heretics, it is only accessible to my patrons, I thought I would share it with you, to give you an idea of what you're missing over on Patreon. And if you like what you hear, then please go to patreon.com forward slash Steven Bradford long and consider donating for $1 A month or $5 a month you get house of heretics, you get other content from me, and you get access to me as a creator. So this is really, really important to me, because I am way below the poverty line right now. And I'm working full time. That's just the reality we live in these days, that you know, I can work full time and still be poor as fuck. And so I really need your help. And I believe in what I'm doing, I believe in getting my work out there to the world. And it's a lot of work and I need your help to do it. So if you believe in what I'm doing, and if you find yourself really looking forward to sacred tension every single week. If you also like the work we're doing at the Rock Candy Podcast Network, if you listen to bubble and squeak, or Bible bash, or eleventy life, all of that is going to be helped through my Patreon. So not only it will help me pay the bills, it will also help ensure a better and brighter future for my work as a creator. And for those who work with me. By the way, the the co host of House of heretics is my assistant Justin Dozier Bryant, he's a great guy and go support his work on Twitter and Instagram. He also has a podcast coming out he blogs so i'll post all of that stuff in the description. So by the way, House of heretics is very unedited, very raw and a lot of people say that they enjoy it as much as the main show if not more so. So without any further ado, I give you house of heretics. Okay, and we are recording Can you hear me? Okay?

Justin Dozier Bryant 02:39 I can hear you. Great. Can you hear me?

Stephen Bradford Long 02:40 I can hear you just fine. All right, so you're doing Navy stuff? Oh, hold on. Just a second. Why hello, everyone. Hello my kittens.

Justin Dozier Bryant 02:51 I feel like every week it's like the intro is you like

Stephen Bradford Long 02:55 Oh, I forgot we were recording. Oh, oh, I forgot. I forgot that. This is a show.

Justin Dozier Bryant 03:00 My appcake cakes. And then I laugh I do my my like, I can't breathe. Let

Stephen Bradford Long 03:08 your asthmatic smokers laugh. Okay. Well, hello, my kittens, my unicorns. I'm so glad that you're joining us this week. This is house Fairtex The show where Justin I drink coffee and give on edited rambling for the week. So today is Thursday, the 20th The day after my birthday. This will air on the this will air on Saturday. So like the 22nd Yes, the 22nd. Okay, so you're doing Navy stuff? Yeah.

Justin Dozier Bryant 03:42 And let's recap. I feel like a piece of shit because I didn't know that. Your birthday was

Stephen Bradford Long 03:47 oh, I don't care. I don't I don't give a fuck. It's fine. It's the 31st It's my 31st birthday. And no one cares about 31 Like I'm not going to the only birthdays that are going to matter from here on out are like 3540 5080 Like, no one gives a 100 like, from here on out. No one gives a fuck.

Justin Dozier Bryant 04:13 Well, I care so Oh, that's very sweet. 31st birthday. Thank

Stephen Bradford Long 04:16 you. I'm very I'm very much a Jehovah's Witness. When it comes to birthdays, I just don't give a fuck. I really don't care. Also, I have to say it was very encouraging seeing the cross section of people on Facebook. wishing me happy birthday. Because it was Satanists. Radical far right conspiracy theorists, Goths, yogi's trans people, LGBT Christians. Like it was a it was a pretty crazy mix people. It was fun.

Justin Dozier Bryant 04:52 That's awesome. But yeah, I'm doing Navy stuff. So if nobody knows I tried to join the Air Force. I Um, not too long ago, the guy was being really difficult with me. And I was like, Okay, I guess I can't go into the military. So I looked, my house, may he joined the Navy and was like, Dude, you could literally get it. I'm like, no problem. And I'm like, Okay, let me try this out. When talk to the recruiter and got interested, they have a position called RP, which is religious personnel. So basically, if I went in, it's a super badass position. So not only would I be helping conduct services for multiple religions under the chaplain on his on his right hand man, or her right hand, man, because their right hand man, or their right hand, man. And so you basically do all the admin work, you do, you help put on the service. So you set up for services, whether that be Hindu, Muslim, Wiccan, nice Buddhist, in any religion, okay? Or any denomination, you set up the service for it. And on top of that, you also go through combat training. So while the chaplain can't hold a gun, you can hold a gun.

Stephen Bradford Long 06:17 So you're going to be so you're going to be the chaplains, like armor bearer, you're going to be as his armor bearer. So you're going to, like shoot people. If they attack the chaplain, that's what I'm getting from this,

Justin Dozier Bryant 06:30 basically. So if you are deployed and like Afghanistan, Iraq place where radical terrorists are. You have to be able to protect the chaplain at all costs.

Stephen Bradford Long 06:42 And what mental note that there are radical terrorists everywhere, not just in Afghanistan. There might be a greater concentration of them there. But they're everywhere. Anyway, going through.

Justin Dozier Bryant 06:55 But the likelihood of me if I if I did RP, the likelihood of me ever seen combat would be

Stephen Bradford Long 07:00 Oh, yeah. Very slim to none. Very, very, very slim. Yeah, most of it is just like, and when I say and when I say that there are radical terrorists everywhere. I don't mean Islamic radical terrorists. Come on people pull yourselves together. I mean, I mean, they're Buddhists terrorists of all stripes. Exactly. So okay, well, this is exciting. So I assume that you would have to do like the boot camp and all that stuff. Okay, well, yeah, fine.

Justin Dozier Bryant 07:28 Two months of boot boot camp. And then

Stephen Bradford Long 07:34 I am far too delicate for that. I am, I am a powder to unit who could never do anything like that.

Justin Dozier Bryant 07:44 The current the two craziest things for me? Well, there's three crazy things. So one would be you have to get this thing called the peanut butter shot, which is like just a massive lump of penicillin that stick like peanut butter that they shoot in your butt.

Stephen Bradford Long 07:58 Oh, great. Okay.

Justin Dozier Bryant 08:01 Then there's a, there's a training, or that you have to do where you jump off of a 10 foot ledge into the pool, and you have to tread water for five minutes. So I don't do well with heights. So it'll be interesting seeing that goes nice.

Stephen Bradford Long 08:16 Well, that's exciting.

Justin Dozier Bryant 08:19 Then there's the third part is I get to be put inside of a gas chamber. And they you go in with a gas mask on and then you take your gas, your gas mask off, and you you inhale it for somewhere between 30 to 60 seconds.

Stephen Bradford Long 08:37 Okay. Great. Good, good times. Well, so when will this be happening? If you do this?

Justin Dozier Bryant 08:49 I'm not quite sure. Okay. I have to get paperwork together. I have to pay off debt at my school. So that way I get my transcript from college. Because if I have any kind of credit hours, I could potentially get a pay raise. Yeah. So I would rather not go in as a private. Yeah, for sure.

Stephen Bradford Long 09:05 Cool. All right. Well, keep me updated. We'll see what happens. Excellent. All right. Well, so we have some there's been some interesting stuff in the news lately. The Taylor Swift music video came out and it's apparently causing all kinds of uproar, all kinds of insanity. So for people who don't know, what's the what's it called again? You need to calm down. Yeah, you need to calm down. So Justin sent me this music video. I'm sure that you have all seen it by now. And I mean, it's a fun video. It has a bunch of queer camp in it. And like there is so much gay royalty in it like the Fab Five or is it the Fab Four or this Fab Five fab seven. Okay, Fab Five. I don't even I've never seen queer I, oh my god, you need to do your queer responsibility and watch it. No, it doesn't horror so I'm never gonna watch it.

Justin Dozier Bryant 10:08 Oh my god, but it's like, I don't like, Okay.

Stephen Bradford Long 10:13 I think I'm clear enough. I you know, I think I'm, I think I, I mean, I have a partner who I have sex with. I think I'm queer enough.

Justin Dozier Bryant 10:25 You wear your breastplate of rainbow.

Stephen Bradford Long 10:30 Okay, so, yeah, so and then RuPaul is in it. And then quite a few other I think YouTube stars are in like Ellen Zina. Yeah. Ellen's in it. Like there are a ton of LGBT icons in this video. But what is the uproar over it?

Justin Dozier Bryant 10:51 The uproar is, there's a lot of people who are like, Oh my gosh, this straight white woman is making money off of us making money off of our community. And a lot of comments have been, you know, this feels degrading to me. And she needs to either come out or be quiet. And then on the flip side of it, though, there's these comments that are like, Okay, well, you know, we asked her to be vocal and she wasn't it. And now that she is vocal, you want her to be quiet. And there's all kinds of drama around that. And I'm like, it doesn't make any. Oh, sorry. Hiccups, it doesn't make any sense. Like, she's she's openly being an ally. She's openly saying that this is something we need to do. You need to just grow up. You need to, you need to shut up. You need to grow up. You need to

Stephen Bradford Long 11:42 jitsu to the far right is because it's basic. Yeah. So basically, the video shows like a ton of protesters, like conservative protesters, protesting LGBT people, and it they are, and she's basically telling them you need to calm down.

Justin Dozier Bryant 12:05 Right as what it reminds me of as I was explaining this to Audrey, I was because I've talked to Audrey about Matthew Shepard quite a bit and his significance. Yeah. So that reminded me at the protests for him, because they all started, like blocking the protesters and the music video. And it felt like an allegory to the Matthew Shepard story where they came out in the angel costumes with the, with the big angel wings, and they made a curtain blocking them out for his funeral. Like, that's what it reminded me of. And I was I'm like, there's just so much powerful symbolism in here that acknowledges so much deep history within the LGBT community. Yeah, that it just doesn't. It doesn't make sense why people are upset about it like, yeah, why can't Why can't allies be allies? Why can't allies speak? Why can't see my position is like, if you have privilege, why don't you use that privilege to help other people?

Stephen Bradford Long 13:00 Yeah, absolutely. So I've, so situations like this are really fascinating to me. And they're really complicated. Um, so I was having a conversation with my really good friend Matt Langston, of eleventy, seven eleventy life rock candy recordings, he is my boss, daddy, who produces sacred tension. And we were talking about the show, Sabrina and this was when I was in his studio, I think, several months ago, or last year, and the movie Sabrina, or not the movie, the show, chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which I happened to really like, I really enjoyed it. I mean, it was it was cheesy and stupid and campy. But I thought it was self aware. And I really enjoyed it. But there there were things in it that I thought were frustrating. For, for example, the fact that a black you know, that black characters were in it and I in many ways, I thought Sabrina was very, very progressive, very, very, you know, aware of identity. And, but there but even then, you know, the the fact that the black characters were these kind of mystical care, magical, black tropes, who just support the white with the white girl on her journey on her hero's journey. That's a trope, that's, that's annoying to me, but at the same time, but then Matt was like, okay, but But when is it enough? You know, like, sure that's an issue but but when are people going to be happy? When is it enough? And when when and my response was, just because that there are problems doesn't mean we can't enjoy it. You know, there's going to this is this is a commentary on society. This is a commentary on our world on our culture. And just because someone like a Anita Sarkeesian comes along and says, you know, video games are sexist, that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy those video games. And of course, this is what launched GamerGate. You know, people people really respond badly, to criticism of art to kind of woke progressive criticism of art. And what I think is often misunderstood is that that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it, like some of my favorite pieces of art Dickens. I am a Dickens fan girl, Charles Dickens is one of my favorite writers on the planet. He's horribly sexist. Like, he's all of his, all of his female characters are meek, mild, plain, demure ing, women. I mean, he's just, he's horribly, horribly sexist. And we can still enjoy Dickens. Like, this is the complicated relationship that we can have to art, we can acknowledge that there are problems, and we can enjoy it. And so I have not investigated the Taylor Swift thing at all. I don't care. I don't give a fuck. Like, I have never cared about Taylor Swift. But I wouldn't surprise me if there's some issue in there, it wouldn't surprise me if there's, if there's a problem in there somewhere. And we and we need to be able to talk about it, we need to be willing to embrace the fact that there is a problem and there may be I don't know if there is or not, but then it's also okay, if we enjoy it. It's okay. We can hold those things simultaneously. It's okay, if there's something problematic in there. And it's okay, if there is an awesome positive affirming message in there. And we can hold all of that simultaneously. Clearly, the Fab Five and route Paul and LN and all of these people, they thought that there was something valuable in there to be included in the video. I mean, granted, they were also probably paid a bajillion dollars for their appearance. But, um, yeah, that that's my thought I to really try to resist this purifying impulse to see things in in just absolute stroke, you know, in absolute black and white, I think that there's probably a lot of good stuff in the video, I think there's probably some some negative stuff that maybe some cultural critics are, are genuinely pointing out. And all of that is great. Like, we can we can hold on to all of that. I'm also just not interested in telling people how to feel about something. You know, like, if people are pissed about that, that's fine. Who cares? That's fine. People can be pissed. If people love it, that's fine, too. Who cares? I don't have I don't know, in a lot of ways I don't have the energy for the anguish that people I don't have the energy for not the anguish, I always have energy for anguish, because it's real. But I don't have the energy for the single minded myopic, intense focus that people have on issues, like on a video, when the reality is that I as a gay person can still get fired in the state of North Carolina just for being gay, or I can still be evicted just for being gay. Or, you know what I mean? And so I those are my those are my ambivalent thoughts about this.

Justin Dozier Bryant 18:43 That's, I agree with you that everything isn't black and white. The thing is, is that like, so you look back on history at all of the amazing figures who have done great things. So I will take somebody kind of in Meister golf so think of Gandhi. Yeah, Gandhi led a revolution of peace against the British Empire and liberated India. Yeah, like he had. Okay. Can you hear me? Yep. Hi. Okay, cool. So he led peaceful protests in ways that were just unthinkable that were so wise, unprecedented. He did a lot. Yeah, you know, I mean, one man who got the religious title of Mahatma which is extremely high. I mean, he he was basically viewed as as a guru. And it's crazy to me that you know, now history is showing that he was also very sexually active sleeping with a lot of his followers doing this doing that. Yeah. Yeah, be leading young women. But that doesn't mean that he didn't do good work. And I'm not saying that what exactly actions were inherently like? I'm not I'm not saying that what those actions were good. And you can say the same thing about MLK Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. He had affairs. He was a womanizer. He did all of these crazy things that history doesn't die. Like if you actually do the studies, you find these these out, but you're not going to learn it by you know, your eighth grade.

Stephen Bradford Long 20:21 Culture. Yeah, precisely. Yeah, exactly. I mean, this shouldn't complicated. It is

Justin Dozier Bryant 20:27 and morality isn't black or white. There is no way for there to be a right or a wrong, there is a better way and there is a less better way. I actually had a conversation with this. I don't know if he's been on my Facebook very much. But

Stephen Bradford Long 20:39 no, unfortunately, whenever there's always there's always exciting drama on your Facebook. Oh, we just got a patron. We just got a patron literally, I just got the email Samuel Haber. Hello, Samuel. It is so nice to Oh, we've been actually exchanging emails over the past few months. So welcome aboard. I'm so glad you're here. And so, so over you and rainbow Yeah, so like, we will paint you paint you In Rainbows. And unicorns, we will fess dune you and fucking rainbows and unicorns. To the point that you're gagging on it. Okay.

Justin Dozier Bryant 21:21 You have you lost me at gagging. I was like, I can't.

Stephen Bradford Long 21:27 I'm sorry. Was that creepy? Was that rapey? Oh, dear. I'm sorry, Samuel. We're not going to chase you away. Thank you so much, Samuel, you're a doll. Like, I need this money so bad. You have no idea. You have no fucking clue. We're buying a house by the way. Yeah. John and I are buying a house. Actually more, more to the point John is buying a house. And I'm being a gay housewife. And so my finances are a bit tight right now. So every little bit helps. I really, really, really appreciate it. Okay. Justin's talking to his wife to his dearly beloved wife. So his audio is down. Okay. Are you back? Okay,

Justin Dozier Bryant 22:12 so yes. So what's what's interesting to me is communication that they see just gets really loud. Sounds like a monster in the hallway. Oh, that's cute.

Stephen Bradford Long 22:24 Yeah, it sounds like a heavy breathing. Monster. In the background.

Justin Dozier Bryant 22:31 I have two heavy breathing monsters in the background that are my my peppers.

Stephen Bradford Long 22:34 Oh, good. I'm glad you didn't say your wife. I'm glad I had one of them was not your wife.

Justin Dozier Bryant 22:40 But the morality issue. So on my Facebook, so whenever I get like, a lot of the times I do like mind yoga. So I'll I'll do a lot of yoga with the mind. It's a jhana yoga, which is just mind work knowledge, meditating wisdom, that sort of thing. Yeah, the head. And that's what I can do during my day, whenever I'm at my day job. So I like, I have these insights. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, this is just amazing. So I'll like tweet it, or I'll make like a graphic for it. Or I'll post it on Facebook. And one of them was like, here, let me pull it up. Just let me read it off. Because I don't want to butcher it because it was it was just really, really great and insightful. Whenever I had typed it. It says no matter what you think you're not better than anyone. And when I posted it, I was like, okay, a lot of times we have judgment. And we think that we're better than people like these positions with like MLK being a womanizer and Gandhi sleeping with women, and even though you know, his position and status, and all of these different things. So it's like, you know, everybody's trying, everybody's trying to do the best that they can and nobody's perfect because we're all going to be human beings. Yeah. And somebody mentioned, they were like, at least we can all agree that we're better than pedophiles. And I was like, okay, so how do I handle this? Because obviously, this is a really sensitive topic, to be able to even speak on. And so my, my response was, that all depends on if you see the actions of the person is separate from the self. I think molesting children is quite awful. And it could be helpful to put that aside and recognize that the action is wrong. But that doesn't mean that the person deep down is awful. Psychology and Neuroscience leans towards an issue in the brain makes it pedophile who they are. Yeah. Does the mental illness make them less than someone who doesn't have this condition? Does that make them less than someone who has bipolar, multiple personality disorder, autism or any other brain disorder? The Act itself is evil, but as the person doesn't watching porn, fetishize other's bodies and puts ideas that can have objectify them as well. There's a lot to deconstruct when it comes to these issues, but yet still, we are all human and equally human trying to make means of our existence. That's not me defending pedophilia or justifying it either. I want to make that clear. The problem points to the pride that manifests when we compare ourselves as better than another person. And so it was like, morality is not a black and white issue. Yeah.

Stephen Bradford Long 25:25 Well, also a lot of what I've say, well say that someone does does live with pedophilia. And it is a it's a paraphilia. I think, according to the DSM five or whatever, which, whatever which one we're on, I would have to ask John, he's the he's the psychologist and the family. But so if someone has pedophilia, or has the orientation, no, I'm not going to say the word orientation, has those attractions has those inclinations, and chooses not to act on them, I would say that they are actually more moral. Because they wake up every day and choose to deny themselves knowing the harm that they would do. And I would actually say that they are that they have more integrity than someone like me. He know that that takes a lot of strength that takes a lot of courage and strength to confront that within yourself. Right. And so, I would say that there, they are actually pretty, uh, you know, I listened to an interview, I've listened to interviews with people who live with pedophilia, but decide not to act on it. And what I've walked away from is wow, that's really tragic. Wow, that's really awful, that that people are just, you know, that people have this quad this cross wiring in their brain that makes them want this. But I also think it's really noble and heroic that they the way in which they confront their inner darkness and, and choose to not act it out.

Justin Dozier Bryant 27:12 Yeah, it's science. And blanc actually touched on this topic, because one of his his listeners just like admitted saying that. He's never acted on it. And he doesn't go searching for kiddie porn, but it's something that he really does struggle with. Yeah. And the fact that he lives with it? Because it is it is a mental disorder. It

Stephen Bradford Long 27:32 is a medical disorder. It is. Yeah, it is a medical issue. And it's, and so I think that we can hold both things equally. Like yeah, this is a horrific, horrific, horrific thing to do to children. And there's absolutely nothing that I mean, the damage it causes not just on children, but also on society is unprecedented, and disgusting and horrible. Like we can say all that and we can hold in the other hand. People don't choose to have this desire, and it and we need to treat people humanely and with understanding and not stigmatize their condition. Yeah, I think we can hold both of those equally. Right.

Justin Dozier Bryant 28:18 A lot of what I've been focusing on lately is I started, I've started seeing like, this need for transcendence. Like, what happens when we go beyond black and white, what happens when we go beyond? Right or Left issues? What happens when we go beyond all of this? And a lot of this, I don't know if I've touched on this or not, I probably have. But it goes back to like this one page and be here now where the cops create hippies and hippies create cops, and it's infinite symbol. And it's like when we transcend this bipartite, bipartisan, black or white left or right up or down, when we transcend that, not only can we be a part of it, but not but we can also go above it and see it from an above view from a different perspective where we can see both sides, we can act justly and accordingly to what needs to be done and find some sort of truth within that. And so it's like, it's, I don't, it's just like this, this overpowering this empowering thing. Because when you start to see that the left creates the right and the right creates the left and this the struggle and this tension creates this and you're able to transcend beyond that. Then you're able to bridge the gap between the two and I'm not saying being centralist or you know, being meek and between the issues. But it's it's going beyond that and seeing okay, what is what's going on here. And how can we figure this out? Above everything, how can we step out of the box How can we step out of the labels, how can we step out of everything, shed everything and see everything as it truly is Yeah, and I think that would help out a lot in those situations. Even even when it comes to things like that Taylor Swift video that we had just talked about, whenever you're able to transcend beat on that, and you see what's actually going on within this, and you're not focused on the good or the bad, the right or the wrong or, or the past or the future, and you see what's going on here and present in this moment. And what what it's capable of, like, I think that there is a huge example of, I guess, pleasantness, yeah, and a D. Yeah. And really seeing things for what they are.

Stephen Bradford Long 30:46 Yeah, I think that's probably true. And, you know, I, I get why people are upset over Taylor Swift, like I really do, um, especially when people are feeling already hurt and angry in their personal lives, you know, like, when, when, when those wounds are festering, a lot of stuff triggers it, and so I'm not going to tell people who are upset by Taylor Swift, that they're wrong, you know, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to take those feelings away from them. I think that those feelings are probably valid. And I'm not interested in I don't know, demeaning, denying, whatever. I get the frustration over. I don't know, I also feel like Taylor Swift has a particular she she represents commercialism and capitalist society in a way that maybe other pop stars don't, if that makes sense.

Justin Dozier Bryant 31:57 Kinda I know she. She, for the longest time wouldn't have any of her music on iTunes because an earth okay, because she refused to because she said that artists weren't getting the proper pay that they deserve.

Stephen Bradford Long 32:13 Yeah, us. Okay, good. Good, good. Good. Well, that's great. That's awesome. Yeah. And I mean, she's just one of those people I don't know anything about but what's really interesting to me, I, you know, at the same time, I'm not going to also tell people that their feelings of validation from that video wrong, like, I'm not going to do that. And is there problematic stuff in there, I'm sure there is in it. And I'm sure that there's stuff that we could dissect at the same time, I appreciate that she's trying to put in an effort. You know, I appreciate that. She's trying to be an ally, and putting in the effort. And I appreciate that at the same time, we can still criticize, and both of those are true. What's really interesting to me is I wonder if Lady Gaga got similar criticism for Born This Way back in 2012.

Justin Dozier Bryant 33:00 You know, that's something I'd have to look into. Yeah, the thing is,

Stephen Bradford Long 33:02 and that was eons ago now, like that was in 2012. And Born This Way, 10,000 years. Yeah. And gay years. That's like, eons and internet years. That's ancient history. And internet years, that's like, forever ago, but did like centuries and centuries. But you know, I, there are times when I feel like, okay, my thoughts aren't fully formed on this. So there are times when, because I did not, I did not hear that outcry with Lady Gaga. And maybe because she did something right. Or maybe it was a different time. Or maybe there was, you know, when she did Born This Way, and did that amazing Born This Way music video, and it was just like the clearest thing on the planet. There, I don't know, was there something different that Lady Gaga did? Or was the context different for Lady Gaga than what Taylor Swift did? And this is what this is what leads me to think that maybe people aren't just being trigger happy, and being easily triggered and being like, Oh, she's just a white woman co opting our story maybe because Lady Gaga is also a white woman talking about LGBT issues, and she had lots of people of color in that music video. And, and so that makes me think that maybe there's something there. Maybe there's maybe there is something about Taylor Swift that is upsetting. That isn't upsetting about Lady Gaga, you know, and, or maybe it was just a different time. Maybe it was a different culture. Gay marriage wasn't wasn't federally legal yet. But you know, there's all kinds of stuff maybe, maybe the culture has shifted, I don't know. But this is stuff that's really really interesting to me that is kind of lurking Beneath the surface of all these questions, you know, you're on mute. There you go. Yeah.

Justin Dozier Bryant 35:07 It could be. It could be that the times are different. I know that with Taylor Swift, people are talking about, you know, she said racist things in the past. She said, Has she? She seemed kind of homophobic in the past and things like that. Okay, which is, which is, I guess valid, valid feelings? I'm not gonna discredit Oh,

Stephen Bradford Long 35:28 yeah. Feelings. Yeah. People care about that. For sure. It's,

Justin Dozier Bryant 35:33 I also think that people's positions can change. Absolutely. Look at look at your story in my story, like you are gay. And you were anti gay?

Stephen Bradford Long 35:43 Yes, I was. I was. And I was a conservative douchebag, Libertarian, Christian. I mean, I've been a lot of things in my life. And I've been a conservative Catholic. I've been, you know, I've been all kinds of things in my short 31 years. And so people do change. And I will also say that I think I do. And I want to be careful saying this, because goodness, I've been on the receiving end of the left, and it is not fun. But, but the but the left does get trigger happy sometimes the left does. On the left, especially on Twitter, I mean, Twitter just turns us all into monsters, it really does. The Internet turns all of us into assholes. And the left is no exception. And I do think that people on the far left, do get angry in a way that is not always helpful. And part of it is just my temperament. I don't experience anger. Anger is not a reaction that I often often have. I'm more melancholic, my experience is more grief, sadness, remorse than depression. Those are those are my go to feelings. When shit goes wrong. I don't experience rage that that isn't I have before. I, I still do sometimes. But it isn't any emotion that I readily experience I find it exhausting. And that doesn't mean it's a bad emotion. It's just means that's not my temperament. And so I don't relate to this. To this rage that the internet, Twitter left seems to constantly be embroiled in, in part because it that emotion is not as accessible to me, I experienced sadness, I experienced grief. And that doesn't make me better than anyone else. But I think that there is something about rage, that's very blinding. I think there's something about rage, that's very intoxicating, and, and I see people acting out of rage. Okay, so for example, I have a friend who shall at this point remain nameless, but he has he is kind of a kind of a big figure in the conservative gay side be celibate world. And he's recently changed his views he can't he has now side a he has a boyfriend and he's in the process of coming out to the community. Well, now as well, there's this guy on Twitter who I know who was like now that your side a Okay, so for people who are clueless side a is the belief that people that gay marriage and and gay relationships are morally equivalent to straight relationships where SAP is the belief that you can't change your homosexuality, but you can, but it is sinful to engage in it. Okay? So he changed from side to side to an affirming position of gay relationships. And this guy on Twitter breaking confidentiality, because he's only talked about this to close friends and to like, and within private groups. And this guy publicly on Twitter in front of everyone before my friend is ready is like Well, now that your site a are you going to apologize for all the, for all the harm and all the destruction that you've wrought against LGBTQ people. And I'm like, my friend, has been one of the most charitable, kind, thoughtful people I have ever known. Like, for real he he's an extraordinary human being. And he did not choose to be to he did not I choose to find himself in a conservative traditional church that indoctrinated him in a particular way. And as far as and I told him this, I was like, as far as I'm concerned, you're choosing to change sides amounts to an apology, because it's the acknowledgement that you are wrong. But as for personal attitudes and actions, you've been nothing but but kind and generous and long suffering, and you have struggled and, you know, sure, we can all apologize for the consequences of our beliefs, that's fine. And, and I've done that, I recommend everyone do that. And I think part of that apology, part of repentance means turning away, doing, doing a complete turn away from that belief system, that action and behaving in a different way to make reparations. And my friend is doing that. And, and I get that this guy on Twitter was angry, I get that he was that he's hurt. I get all of that. At the same time. I'm just like, what's your goal? Do you want to win? Do you want to win this culture war? Do you want to be effective? Do you want to win people to your side, then this is the absolute wrong strategy. I and I know this, because I and you know, I will only say this on, you know, this kind of private stream, this private podcast, because we're among friends, I have watched dozens of people come to an affirming position, in part because of my witness. And you know how I do it, because I'm kind, I'm kind on long suffering. These relationships take place over the course of years. And the number of people I have watched come to an affirming position, primarily, or in part because of me, is dozens now. So many, I can't keep, I can't keep count. And I just want to be like, how many? How many do you have? Like, how many people have you convinced by being a bitch on Twitter, like for real, how many? You we have to this is a war. This is a battle. This is a war for the soul of our culture. This is a war for the lives of innocent people who are being destroyed. And I get lashing out. But if we but if this is a war, we have to be a bit more shrewd, we have to be a bit more clever. We have to be a bit more conspiratorial, for lack of a better word. And I look at so many people on the left, and I'm just like, do you want to fucking win this battle? Because right now you are losing because of how you are? Because of how you're talking, you have to use a bit more strategy. And I can say that because my strategy has worked. Anyway, Thus endeth the rant things that I won't say publicly but I but it's true. And there's a place for rage. There's a place for calling people out there's a place for all of that. Just Just be mindful. Use it strategically. Don't let it be the the only tool in your in your kit, you know?

Justin Dozier Bryant 43:37 Yeah, there's there's a few thoughts I have on that. So the first thought that I had was, you know, one with with anger and rage when you study neuroscience. When you get angry, your amygdala flares up.

Stephen Bradford Long 43:53 Exactly. And it shuts. It shuts down the prefrontal cortex. Yeah.

Justin Dozier Bryant 43:58 And so all of your reasoning all of your rest.

Stephen Bradford Long 44:03 Up up, you're just froze up. Are you still there? Hi. Yeah.

Justin Dozier Bryant 44:09 Hi. Okay. The when the amygdala flares up, all of your rationing and your reasoning and your Will it shuts down? There's, there's no way for you to be able to respond or react in a in a manner that could be productive. I mean, there's a chance that you might, but chances are like, I mean, you just you're unable to think because you're just an utter rage. And yeah, most of the time people make horrible mistakes whenever they're in this horrible right. Yeah,

Stephen Bradford Long 44:39 I have. I've said shitty stuff. Yeah.

Justin Dozier Bryant 44:42 And it just doesn't. It doesn't cause anything. That's good. And that's not saying that anger is bad or inherently bad or anything like that. It's just like when you look at the science of it, you're unable to judge and you're unable to have awareness or any it's just it's just One is a ology. Yeah. You just you blow up, you shut down black. That's what happens. Yep. And a lot of a lot of bad things happen whenever your amygdala flares up because your entire brain at that point shuts down.

Stephen Bradford Long 45:13 It does. And here's the thing that I that I tell people is, you know, in the first Star Trek reboot, there's that point where Spock says, I am emotionally compromised. Do you remember that? What it's with Chris Pine and, and Zachary Quito, and Zachary, Quito is balk. And, and there's a point where Spock gets over overly emotional or something, and, and he says, I have been, I've been emotionally compromised, I have to, you know, basically opt out or step down. And we have to do that to, you know, if we are grieving, if we are dealing with with horrible, horrible pain, you know, Rachel Held Evans, you know, may she rest in eternal memory, said to, to write out of scars, not open wounds. And that's a really wise thing, to, to make a boundary with, there are things that I don't talk about, because it's just too fresh, it just hurts too much. It isn't time. And, but there are scars that I can write from, and that and so I feel like for this sake, you know, the main concern that I have when I see people on Twitter the two main concerns I have when I see, you know, people on the left responding really intensely and viscerally. And I think, not strategically. One concern is that it isn't strategic, and it isn't going to help us win. But the other strategy, and this is okay, this isn't this isn't to say that we can't, this isn't about tone policing. This isn't sometimes people need to see that rage. Sometimes people need to see that hurt and anger like, like the hurt and Black Lives Matter, the rage, the anger, people need to see that like white people need to get over it and see that shit. Like, that's not what I'm saying at all. But what I'm saying is there's a time there's a time and a place for it and and getting get it responding with the same level of rage and intensity and, and bitterness and anger and vindictiveness to say, Taylor Swift, versus, you know, policemen killing unarmed young men. Those are out that is not an appropriate reaction, you know, you see what I'm saying? Like that is not appropriate, people getting in, you know, people getting into a rage over a public figure saying something just sly Lee off color, or sly li problematic. Let's, there's a difference. There's a huge difference. And, um, but but when I and so when people respond in a rage to something, the other concern I have is, you look like you're in pain. This is clearly hurting you. Like the fact that you are responding with such visceral, visceral pain to a movie that did something problematic. It's appropriate to criticize it, but the level of anguish that I see is worrying to me. And I worry about people who are experiencing that level of and I've been there, I have been in those shoes, and it's awful, where it's like, you don't have any skin like, and you're just wrong nerve and anything that lays a hand on you, it feels like you're on fire. Like I get that. And I think that's when when people have to when you have to retreat and retreat to your safe space retreat to your secure place where you can heal and because it it will ultimately at the end of the day do more damage to you. And that's what I came to. That's what I realized is, you know, back in 2013 I am and I was in too much pain, I was reacting with too much hurt and anger to literally every single thing under the sun, you know, to straight allies, you know, to straight allies trying to help and I would just respond with rage and hurt and bitterness. And it got to the point where I was like, you know, I just have to step down. I just have to, I just have to get off the internet. And I did for about a year and a half. And that's exactly what I needed.

Justin Dozier Bryant 49:59 I Um, I had two more thoughts

Stephen Bradford Long 50:02 from sorry, I totally derailed. You're No, you're good. Your train of thought anyway going?

Justin Dozier Bryant 50:08 No, you didn't derail it. So, my second thought was, you're, you're definitely a Satanist that shows the fruits of the Spirit pretty well. Yeah, you, you definitely encompass the Christ. I'm glad I try. And you're Satanists to ways. It's so paradoxical. And I love it. Also, there was a another thought that came to me. And this was my third thought out of it all was, I had a conversation with my good friend Johnny, at one point, whenever it was a time where I was really angry and speaking out a lot. And he said, you know, oh, we him and I, just to give a background, we had had a lot of conversations about like, stepping, stepping into prophetic roles and speaking out and doing things like that. And he said, You know, I think that in the future, instead of, in the past, we've seen a lot of prophets of anger, and you look in the Bible, and a lot of the prophets are angry. And yeah, you see prophets throughout history, that just speaking out in anger, but he was like, you know, I think in the future, we're going to need to see prophets of love and prophets of compassion. So that way, we can actually see some good change happen, because everything's changing. And anger is not going to get us very, very far. Whenever it comes to handling issues. Rather, if we become prophets with love and compassion, the world is going to change rapidly and amazingly.

Stephen Bradford Long 51:49 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, I think that anger has a place, I think it is real, and I think we should get angry about shit. And I think that we need to panic about stuff, you know, emotions that we often emotions that we often deem as negative and that we don't want to live in something, those are necessary, like, we need to panic about climate change, like it's time to panic, it is time to freak the fuck out. And World War Two as David Wallace wells points out, was not out was not fought out of this calm serenity, it was fought out of panic, that we're going to lose the world that we're going to lose the modern world to the most to a horrifying regime, you know. And so, we often feel like, there is not a place for these emotions, but there is. And this is something that I can't that I'm, this is like, a balance that I'm constantly trying to deal with is I my temperament is towards. gentleness and serenity. And, you know, and, and not rage. And I think that that has served me very, very, very well. And I think that has helped me enormously in a lot of my activism. But I'm also not going to tell people how to do their shit, you know? So, but so, yes, and

Justin Dozier Bryant 53:27 yes, and

Stephen Bradford Long 53:30 so, um, there was an I think we're actually almost done, there was an article that I wanted to discuss, but I don't think we have time. So we might save it till later, basically, the 2050 climate apocalypse thing, which has, you know, terrified both of us a lot of scientists are coming out saying it's a bit there the data on this is not on that particular study is not very good. And so, to tailor looking

Justin Dozier Bryant 53:59 farther out as a so I know I know the general consent, this is really happening. Oh,

Stephen Bradford Long 54:08 you fro say that one more time.

Justin Dozier Bryant 54:11 The general consensus I noticed we have 12 years before drastic stuff starts happening like before shit hits the fan?

Stephen Bradford Long 54:18 Well, I think it's actually more so. So what is more, so is we have 13 year well now 12 Or is it 11 year that Jesus Christ, we have little over a decade before certain things are locked in. So okay, so So that doesn't mean that the apocalypse is going to happen by 2030. What it means is that irreversible damage is going to be locked into the system that will then play out over time. Does that make sense? So we will still have time to mitigate the damage we will but but there's a certain but there is. I mean, a lot of damage is all already locked in. And even more damage is going to be locked in horribly. If we don't make immediate action, but that damage is not going to be immediate. In some cases it will feel very, very swift like, you know, gigantic fire, you know, Firestorm sweeping through California that's going to be swift. That's going to be immediate. But it's more complex. In other words, but but basically what, what scientists are saying, and we can look over this, this paper more deeply. I was looking for it. And I actually can't find it right now. But if I remember correctly, hold on, hold on. Let me let me see if I can pull it up. I put it in my files here. But up at up a purple potatoes. No, that's for hoppy. Let's see here.

Justin Dozier Bryant 55:53 purple potatoes.

Stephen Bradford Long 55:54 Yeah, someone is someone has asked keeps calling the store asking for these purple potatoes that we had at our other store before that other store closed. And it's been a whole thing because they want their fucking purple potatoes. They need those purple potatoes, they're going to die. If they don't get those purple potatoes. It is the end of the fucking world. And so, you know, I'm doing my best. I'm trying to get them their purple potatoes. Okay, let's see here. It's probably under my to review file calling atheists America on Saturday make easily move it up. No, it isn't Jesus Christ. What did I do with this article? Well, I'll find it. I'll find it and we'll discuss it later. But basically saying that the numbers are really inflated, and that the science in this particular study is not good. That the drastic that that saying civilization is going to end by 2050. That's not true that there is no evidence of that. The numbers put based, basically, they said that, you know, 50% of the global population is going to be subjected to Deadly Heat waves. What? They really messed that up. And basically what scientists are saying is, ya know, the numbers that they're drawing from our numbers that say, if one person in the population usually elderly and very weak dies as a from a result of heat, then that is considered a Deadly Heat Wave. And so degrees as high as 86. Fahrenheit.

Justin Dozier Bryant 57:31 Oh, well, I mean, I work outside and 100 degree weather.

Stephen Bradford Long 57:36 Yeah, exactly. So do you see what I'm saying? So saying that 50% of the human population is going to be exposed to Deadly Heat waves. And then the threshold for that heat being at six degrees. That's that's really bad science. That's very, very bad science. It said that a billion they're going to be a billion climate migrants. The UN has put the number at 10 million. Okay. It's still bad. Like 10 million is a fucking nightmare. Like that is That's horrific. That is absolutely horrific. It's not a billion. Like these, like these numbers matter. And

Justin Dozier Bryant 58:17 people is there a 10 million people that that's that's a large number. That's, that's basically like, that's an entire

Stephen Bradford Long 58:27 country. That's an entire country worth of displaced people.

Justin Dozier Bryant 58:31 Yeah, I was gonna say that's like, the whole set. The whole Southeast is like wiped out.

Stephen Bradford Long 58:37 Yeah, it's I mean, it's, it's bad. It's horrific. And, but it's not a billion. And so you know, these numbers matter. And it gets to the point where these numbers feel so huge. They all kind of conflate into each other. But they, but they're, there's still differences, and we need to keep our head screwed on, you know, and so it's still bad. We still need to act. It's it's still very, very, very serious. But human civilization is not going to end as far as we know. So anyway, but but we can cover that article in greater depth next week. So we are coming up to our hour, as usual. Thank you so much, patrons. Thank you, Samuel. Thank you, I and thank you for Hold on. Let me back up. Thank you, everyone else. Thank you, all of you. So I'm just going to read through all my patrons here. So Arthur Westwell and Brian Hager and David dashef and keys and David Limca and D. Sanders and Donald Guffey and Elaine Dillingham and Grace utqiagvik I can't say her last name. I'm so sorry, grace and Lauren and Laurence, Benjamin and Matthew Lutz and Michael Edwards and nio I'm a demon and Rachel tan and Samuel Haber and Sebastian and Stephen and Timothy and Tyler thank you all so much you are the best and we will see you next week bye

1:00:13 bye