BLOG

Jordan Peterson: Don’t Compare Yourself to 'The Facebook Version of Everyone Else'

Social media can be helpful, but it can also be addictive and destructive. On today’s show, Dr. Jordan Peterson talked about some of his “12 Rules for Life” in the context of a world ruled by Facebook and YouTube.

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today” is Rule No. 4 on the list of 12 rules in his book. When you’re scrolling through your News Feed, you can’t compare your life to “the Facebook version” of everyone else’s life.

“No one else is really like you in any deep sense,” Peterson said. “The conditions of your life truly are unique.”

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: If you've been listening to this program, about -- I think maybe 2005, 2006, I started doing my research on the Twelfth Imam, which is this crazy end of times theology of -- of some people who live in the Middle East, specifically Iran.

And it's -- it's scary. They're very dangerous. As I did my research on it, the goal to hasten the return of the Promised One is to wash the world in blood and create chaos.

And I said in 2006 and I've been saying it ever since, run from chaos. Put order in your life.

The world is going to start moving towards chaos. This is what Russia and Aleksandr Dugin is also pushing, is his chaos theory. Chaos is the work of darkness. For I don't know how long, people have been saying, you've got to get Jordan Peterson on. He's the greatest guy in the history of the world.

We're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll get to him. Then finally we sat down and we watched him. And we understand why everybody was saying, you've got to have him on.

He's just written a new book. The 12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Welcome to the program, Jordan Peterson. How are you, sir?

JORDAN: I'm good. How are you doing?

GLENN: I'm good.

If I may describe your book this way, tell me if I'm wrong, people right now feel this chaos and they feel they're overwhelmed. And they feel like everything they do or have done doesn't make any difference. And so they're starting to unplug and they're starting to throw up their hands and get frustrated and angry. You are saying that, "No, no, no. Forget about the big picture. Do these 12 little, pretty simple things, and you'll change the world -- at least change your life.

JORDAN: Yeah. Well, that's a good place to start. And you won't do any harm either. So first do no harm. The positions have it.

GLENN: Right.

So, first of all, let me just give -- or have you give your credentials.

You are a clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology. And you have really been found -- and kind of a worldwide sensation on YouTube. And you're really --

JORDAN: Yeah.

GLENN: Go ahead.

JORDAN: Oh, no. So far, you've got it right. Yeah, I've been a practicing clinical psychologist for about 20 years. I've spent tens of thousands of hours talking to people about their deepest problems. And I've worked as a business consultant. And I helped entrepreneurs. I've helped companies find entrepreneurs to help run them.

I've done all sorts of things.

GLENN: I want to go through -- I want to go through the book. And we have some time with you today.

JORDAN: Yeah.

GLENN: I want to go through the book. We can't go through all 12. I'm going to give you the advice, and then you tell me exactly what it means and how to apply it.

Rule number two: Treat yourself like someone you're responsible for helping.

JORDAN: Yeah. Well, people are harder on themselves -- you know, everybody is aware of their own flaws and faults and inadequacies and failures to live up to even their own ideals.

And we're also painfully aware that we do things purposefully wrong from time to time, just out of spite and a desire to produce misery.

And because of that, we don't feel as positively predisposed towards ourselves as we might, and so we don't take care of ourselves very well.

It's deeper than that. Even -- we kind of have contempt for ourselves because we're fragile and mortal and subject to the tragic conditions of life. And we're not exactly sure, I would say, that we deserve the best or that we deserve to be taken care of properly.

People will often treat their animals better than they treat themselves. And that's not good. That's not good. You have to detach yourself from yourself a little bit and understand that you deserve to be cared for like -- at a level of basic decency, just like any other living creature, let's say. You should want the best for yourself.

GLENN: So I've always been fascinated by the human race. Because we are -- we really are self-hating egomaniacs.

We build ourself up into these all-powerful, but as individuals, we -- we also have this self-loathing.

How do you -- so it doesn't sound like --

JORDAN: People have a hard time with it. You know, we're the only creatures that are self-conscious. And we're aware of the fragility of life and our own flaws. And so it's very difficult for us to regard ourselves properly. And so chapter two, rule two -- treat yourself as if you're someone that you should take care of -- is a description of why it is -- a deep description of why it is that people have doubts about their own being. And then also what you should do in the face of that.

I mean, the fact that we're faced with our own mortality constantly and with the human proclivity for evil means that we have a very large burden to bear. But we're also very capable of doing that. And you should regard yourself positively as someone who is able to face the tragedy and malevolence of existence and still move forward. And sometimes move forward with great nobility and grace. I mean, people can operate under horrendous conditions and do so well admirably. And that's something really remarkable.

And so chapter two, rule two is about asking people to treat themselves with some respect. And see what might happen as a consequence.

GLENN: Do you think that -- I just read a study this morning that shows depression rates of teenagers are up -- I think 48 percent. Suicide is up 24 percent since 2010. And the study showed that it coincided with the use of a smartphone. You know, and all of the social media.

Do you think this is helping us -- because we're -- one of your other rules. Let me see which one it is. Rule four, compare yourself to who you were yesterday and not who someone is today. Do you think this is coming from, we're not good enough because we don't have the life that we think everybody else has based on their bogus Facebook page?

JORDAN: Well, I -- I think there's a couple of things going on there.

We're undergoing sequential technological revolutions, and it's not easy to keep up. And so I think we don't know what to do with all the magical technological devices that are being thrown our way. It's a very, very steep learning curve.

And social media -- all the major social media outlets, Twitter and YouTube and Instagram and so forth, they all have their advantages and their pitfalls. They're quite addictive. And they do throw you out into a massive realm and allow you to prepare yourself to the Facebook version of everyone else. And that definitely is rough.

I mean, you don't -- and you pointed out rule four, compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone is today. That's a good maxim to live by.

Because no one else is really like you, in any deep sense. I mean, obviously people have their similarities. But the conditions of your life truly are unique. And what -- the way to -- you need an ideal pursuit. Compare myself to other people, to establish that ideal. But you don't really -- you have to figure out who you are and be better than that. And that's something you can always do too.

And one of the things I tried to do in that rule is outline why that's good enough. You can make incremental changes over who you are right now. And those incremental changes will compound and transform you across time. It's a really, really powerful way of looking at the world. And it stops you from being bitter and resentful.

Part of the problem is when you look at someone who you think is doing better than you -- I mean, look, perhaps they are. We don't want to be naive about it. You don't know everything about their life. You know, if you're admiring a celebrity and you think, "Well, I would love to have a life like that," you see the celebrity as a very low-resolution hero. You don't know the details of their life. You don't know how they're doing across ten or 11 dimensions of comparison, dimensions that are important.

It's better to think about who you are now, to take stock of your flaws and your virtues, and to move forward from that foundation. That way, you can have an ideal. I'm going to be better than I am. And you don't have to be bitter and resentful because you're not who you think someone else is. So maybe the social media feeds that, you know

GLENN: Professor, I'm a 22-year-old recovering alcoholic, and I've discovered something about myself that I wonder if it isn't true about most people. When I first started my journey into figuring out really who I was late in life, in my 30s, I -- I stopped. And I really didn't -- it wasn't a real conscious stop in some ways. And then I -- I was motivated to continue to look deep inside of me.

And I realized at that time, the reason why I think I was afraid. And I don't know if this transfers to other people, but I was afraid because I was afraid there was nothing really of value inside of me.

JORDAN: Yeah, right. Well, and that is people's deepest fear is that there's -- really, there's nothing valuable (cutting out) -- and I truly believe that is deeply, deeply wrong.

Like, one of the things I've tried to do in 12 Rules For Life is to take a very stark appraisal of human existence. I do believe our lives are fundamentally tragic. You know, we grow old, we get sick, we die, we lose the people we love. All of that. We're finite creatures, you know. And there is real malevolence and evil in the world, and not only in the hearts of other people, but definitely in our own hearts.

And so the conditions of existence are very dire in some sense. Tragedy and evil.

But I do believe there are ways of living in the world that enable us to transcend that. And the old idea that we each have a light inside of us, that if turned on will illuminate the world. I believe that to be true.

I think that the human spirit is more powerful than death and evil. And that if you live a truthful life and if you live a life that's oriented towards the highest good, that you can withstand the burden of being and you can discover within yourself something that's -- it's that spark of divinity that unites you with God.

(music)

STU: Back with more from Jordan Peterson in just a moment. He's @JordanBPeterson on Twitter. The book is called 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

GLENN: I may have been a little esoteric here. If you don't know who Jordan Peterson is, he is so right in where people live right now. I fear I'm doing him a disservice. He is -- he's controversial right now because he's saying the things that we all know where true, but have not been said for a long time. What it takes to be a man. And many of his followers on -- on YouTube are young men. They're starving to hear, what does it mean to be a man?

More in a second.

GLENN: We covered the presidential speech last hour, and we will continue here in about 34 minutes with some more analysis on what happened in Washington last night. It was absolutely amazing.

But we're joined now by Jordan Peterson. He has a new book that is out today. It's called 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos.

Jordan, I've been watching you now for a few months. And I saw something that you just did on the BBC where the presenter was after you from the beginning. There wasn't an honest question, I didn't feel, from the get-go. She was trying -- it was almost like every question was like, come on, fight with me.

What is it that you're saying that is making so many people just angry? Because I don't see it.

JORDAN: Well, I'm calling out the identity politics types on the left. And in a really -- in a really blunt way. And so they're not very happy about that.

GLENN: But you're doing it with facts. You're doing it with ease and gentleness and kindness.

JORDAN: That's worse. That's worse. You know, because --

GLENN: I know.

JORDAN: Because the radical leftists have to paint everybody who opposes them as some sort of super villain because if they don't -- if the person who opposes them isn't unreasonable, then they're reasonable. And that means reasonable people can critique the radical left. And I am a reasonable person. And that makes me more threatening rather than less.

And, I mean, I believe the radical leftists have pretty much destroyed the humanities. And that's a terrible thing. Because they're at the core of university. And I also believe -- and there was an article in the Boston Globe just this last week making exactly the same case, that corruption of the humanities is now spreading out into the broader public and into corporations and so forth, often through the back door of human resources.

And I'm pointing all this out, the pathological legislation that's been in Canada, for example, requiring compelled speech that results in inquisition of a teaching assistant at Wilfrid Laurier University.

And, yeah, people aren't very happy with me as a consequence. Because I'm describing what's going on. And also why it's wrong. It's really wrong for us to degenerate back into tribalism.

GLENN: So I want to -- I want to go into that. We have to take a quick break. And I want to go into that. Why it's wrong. We are in several tribes. And we're all really doing it. Why is it wrong? And how do we -- how do we change that in our own life?

GLENN: Whether he knows it or not, there is a movement -- a global movement that is building underneath Dr. Jordan Peterson. He's Canadian. He is now sweeping the world on YouTube, a lot of young people are -- are really listening to him and following him.

And he is -- he is articulating universal principles that that haven't been articulated this way in a long time, in his new book for life 12 Rules For Life.

He says things like this: Confront the chaos of being. Take aim against the sea of troubles. Specify your destination and chart your course. Admit what you want. Tell those around you, who you are. Narrow and gaze attentively, and move forward forthrightly.

STU: We were talking about, before the break, something that -- and this was kind of reminded me of a recent article about sort of an alt-right conspiracy gathering in New York City. And a bunch of reporters went to it. And they started asking -- trying to fish around for what their ideology was. And one of them said this: We're not ideological. We're tribal. We don't care about the politics, as much as we care about pissing people off and trolling and shaking things up.

Doctor, before we went to the break, you mentioned our -- the way we're starting to degenerate into tribalism. I think people now are starting to look at tribalism as a positive. Why isn't it?

JORDAN: Well, people, when they lose their unifying (cut out), they degenerate into tribalism. You saw that happening, for example, in Yugoslavia when the wall fell and the Soviet Empire collapsed, people degenerate into their tribal groups.

Now, look, you know from being a child to being an adult, you have to pass through a period of time where your primary affiliation is to the group. That's what happens when you're a teenager and a young adult. You have to become socialized. You have to take your place as a member of a group. But that isn't where your development should end. You should then transcend the group and become an individual. Then you're part of the force that establishes and renews the group, as well as just being part of the group.

And it's that transcendent identity as an individual that enables different groups to live together on the same territory peacefully. Because I can come out of my group as a forthright and honest individual. And you can come out of your group the same way. And we can communicate and negotiate. And we can figure out how to cooperate and convene peacefully and to trade and all of that without degenerating to tribal murderousness.

Now, what's happening in our culture is that the radical left is attempting to establish the narrative.

GLENN: You're saying this globally. You're not just talking about the United States.

JORDAN: No. No. No. This is happening all over the world. But particularly in the West. It's everywhere.

And that the radical left narrative is that there's no super ordinate narrative. There's nothing that really unites us. The world is a landscape of competing power interests. And those power interests are --

GLENN: Wait. We lost you. Hang on. Those power interests. Are you there?

JORDAN: Can you hear me?

GLENN: Yeah, I can hear you now. We just lost you. You said those power interests are...

JORDAN: Are based -- ethnicity, race, or gender, these essential elements that no one can change. And that the entire world is just a battleground of power between those competing groups. And that some of those oppress the other. The right wing looks at that, the radical right and says, okay. If the world is nothing, but a battleground between power groups, then I'm going to pick my power group, whatever it happens to be, and I'm going to win.

And so they end up playing this extraordinarily dangerous group identity game. And there's nothing at the end of that except catastrophe.

GLENN: So can I ask you this question? And I ask you this as a Canadian because that way you're not getting into politics.

As an outsider, we don't -- we've lost our national identity. And we don't know who we are anymore.

As an outsider looking in, what is the identity that all Americans could and should unite around. Who are we?

JORDAN: Well, it's the old American dream. It's that America is a place where people are judged on their competence and are able to compete --

GLENN: Doctor, I don't know if you've moved into another room or something. But we're losing you and we can barely -- we can barely understand you. So let's try this -- is that -- I don't know what's wrong with the connection.

GLENN: No. That's -- now you're gone again. Can you hear me now?

JORDAN: I can hear you pretty well.

GLENN: All right. So go ahead. And I'll tell you if you drop out. We'll try one more time.

JORDAN: Okay. So, well, the United States is a beacon to the world, as far as I'm concern. (cuts out)

GLENN: We're going to -- we're going to have to stop and see if we can get a new connection with you. We're going to call you right back and see if we can get a new connection.

STU: Yeah, it's unfortunate.

GLENN: We're going to take a quick break and come back with Jordan Peterson.

Canadian phone systems.

STU: Blame the Canadians. Typical Glenn.

Jordan Peterson is the author of 12 Rules For Life. We're going to have him on in just a second. It's an antidote to chaos, which clear your cellphone connection is also --

GLENN: Yeah. A little chaotic.

GLENN: We're talking to Dr. Jordan Peterson from Canada. He is a new favorite of mine. And really -- I mean, just so clear in his thinking. He has a huge global following that has been building for a while. And a lot of them are young males. And he is not spoon-feeding them stuff. You know, the average person in the media or in universities would say, you know, oh, that's what they want to hear. And you got to coddle them. He doesn't coddle them. He tells them, grow up. Be a man.

What does that mean, Jordan, when you're talking to these guys, what is it they're starving for?

JORDAN: Well, they're starving for the idea that their life has purpose. A recognition of the idea that their life has purpose. And so I tell them, well, there's things to do out there in the world. You know, there's chaos to confront. And there's order to establish and revivify. And there's suffering to ameliorate. And there's evil to constrain. And that the world is a lesser place if you don't take your place in it. And that the consequences of that are dire.

You have an important destiny. You know, I tell them that they're made in the image of God like the old stories say. And that they have something beneficial -- God, every time I talk about this, it breaks me up. But they have something beneficial that they have bring into the world. It's that, that stops the world from degenerating into hell.

And it truly is important for you to get out of bed in the morning and to -- and to face the world honestly and to set your family straight and to work for your community and to aim at something great in the world.

This is vital. Without that, everyone -- everyone suffers stupidly and miserably. And why bother with that? It's like, you can't just hide in the basement and shirk your responsibilities. It makes you miserable and bitter. And even murderous. It's not a pathway to take.

It's just good to stand up and take on the burden of the world. And to pick up your damn cross and walk up the hill.

You need to do that. It's important. It truly is important.

And people aren't one dot and one speck among 7 billion. We're all networked together. We're all in this together, and we could do something remarkable together, if we aimed high and spoke the truth.

STU: Some of your prescriptions are pretty tough for this, though. Rule six is one that pops out to me. Because this is something I've -- I've found over and over again that people absolutely despise doing with themselves, which is set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

That is something that people don't want to do. It's very difficult to do. How do you make them do it?

JORDAN: Well, I think what you do is what I tried to do in that chapter, is that chapter is about kids who shot up the Columbine High School and about a mass murderer named Carl Panzram. And I try to describe in detail the motivations for doing such things.

And people who do such things have very powerful motivations for doing them. They're very angry about the conditions of existence, the tragedy that constitutes existence. And they get bitter and resentful. And then they want revenge. And they're willing to take it -- well, they're willing to take revenge on the most innocent.

I mean, that's what the guy who shot up the school in Connecticut did. He went and shot kids. It's like, well, how the hell do you get into a situation like that? You brewed on the horrors of existence. And you get resentful for your part in the tragedy. And there's no excuse for that. I mean, life is very, very difficult. There's no doubt about that. And unfair things happen.

But to retreat and to become resentful and bitter is only to multiply the problem. So chapter six is an injunction -- anti-activist injunction, I would say, to some degree.

Like, for the last 50 years, we've encouraged young people to go out there and stop the people who are doing bad things from doing them.

And I just think that's a counterproductive way of living in the world. It's like, you should stop the bad things that you're doing. And you should straighten up your life. And then you should straighten up your family's life. And then your community's life. And then everything will be straight and proper.

And that's all to the good. And then maybe we won't degenerate back into that brutal tribalism that characterized the 21st century and wipe ourselves out.

GLENN: So I am -- I'm -- I'm sitting here. I have found these things myself over the last few years. And to be true. And people will say, well, you can't surrender and retreat. And you can't just let it go by. And you're like, no, I'm not letting it go by. I'm not surrendering. I'm just not playing that game because it gets us nowhere. And I can make an impact in my own home and in my own life. And that changes things.

JORDAN: It's not trivial either. Like, you know, it's not that easy to set your family in order. And if you do that, you'll learn something deep. You know, if you can make peace with your brothers and your sisters and if you can make peace with your parents and your past and you can make your own house peaceful and productive, then you've learned some deep psychological and practical truths. And then when you go out into the world and attempt to do things, you're going to be first on a very solid footing because you'll have lots of support and you won't be tortured by a never-ending stream of domestic hell and idiocy. And you'll be ready to do things in the world that are -- that are appropriate and proper. You'll have practice.

GLENN: You do --

JORDAN: It's not like setting your house in order is trivial. It's very difficult.

GLENN: You admit that there is evil in the world. And it is profound. And I think that's --

JORDAN: That's one of the most self-evident things about the world.

GLENN: I know.

And people who hear this -- because I've heard this from people. Glenn, there is evil, and it has to be stopped.

Yes, it does.

And, you know, just a retreat from evil because that's just not going to stop. Can you connect the dot to the -- the chaos in our own life and then the -- the evil that is out?

JORDAN: Well, look -- look to yourself first. That's the thing, is that the best place to begin the process of constraining evil is in your own heart. It's like, you know, I've studied totalitarian brutality for 30 years.

And one of the things that I taught my students -- well, since the early 1990s is that if they were -- if each of them was placed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, there's an overwhelming probability that they would be Nazis. Like everybody thinks, no, I would be Schindler rescuing the Jews. I would be the Dutch family that hid Anne Frank. It's like, no, you wouldn't. That's not true. You would be on the side of the majority, just like you are now, in all probability.

And if the temptation was put in front of you, to do the terrible things that were offered to the people that were offered to the people who did the terrible things the Nazis and the Communists did, then it's really probable that you would do those. And it's also really probable that you're doing such things already on a smaller scale.

You're torturing the people that you love. You're betraying your friends. You're not working up to your potential at work. They're all sorts of things that you're doing in your life that are small examples of the things that get out of control in tyrannical societies. Lots of people are tyrants in their own little domains, or they're tyrants to themselves. That needs to be stopped.

GLENN: I'm sure that you've read the book Ordinary Men, on how men in Poland --

JORDAN: Yes.

GLENN: They did with compassion at first. And they turned into monsters. It's a slow, gradual thing that you just don't see.

JORDAN: Yeah. Oh, that's a great and terrible book, Ordinary Men. That's one of the ones I have on the reading list on my website. And that's one of the books that's on the reading list because that is a great example of how you move to perdition one step at a time and how perfectly ordinary people can be trained, even against their own will in some sense, against their own better instincts to become, well, committers of atrocities.

When I read history, I don't read it as an innocent bystander. I read history as a perpetrator. And that's the right way to read history.

GLENN: We have a list of books to read as well. And it's quite long. But move this to the top of your list: 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos.

Move this up on your list of things to do or watch. Jordan Peterson on YouTube. He is so well-spoken. So well-thought out. And a voice of common sense that you just don't hear very often anymore.

Dr. Peterson, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And we'll talk again. God bless.

JORDAN: Thanks very much for the invitation. It was good talking with you.

GLENN: Good talking to you. Jordan Peterson again. The name of the book, 12 Rules For Life.

TV

Dr. Oz DEBUNKS government shutdown lies about health care

Democrats are playing "high-stakes poker" with the government shutdown, and they’re "running out of chips," says Dr. Oz, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator for President Trump. He joins Glenn on this week’s "Glenn TV" Friday Exclusive to debunk the Left’s lies — like is the shutdown REALLY about providing "lifesaving" care for illegal migrants? (Hint: No, no it’s not.) Plus, Dr. Oz explains why Americans are paying higher prices for medicine than Europeans and what the Trump administration is doing to remedy the situation, WITHOUT losing medical innovation here at home (there’s a reason why wealthy Europeans come to America for cancer treatment). He explains how TrumpRx — to be launched next year — will "bring transparency to the process" of finding affordable medicine, in an effort to ensure that no U.S. citizen has to "decide between groceries and medicine." Plus, Dr. Oz explains why the initiative will begin with Pfizer, despite the dark cloud COVID left over the pharmaceutical giant.

RADIO

Why national divorce or civil war must NEVER be considered

Over the past few months, Glenn has heard a lot of talk about national divorce, a great reset, or even civil war coming from both the Right and the Left. Glenn lays out in blunt terms why that “must NEVER be considered.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: People are throwing around things like national divorce.

People are saying, let it all burn! We need a great reset. As if we're talking about a new season of television. But we are not. Let me be very, very clear of what we are talking about. That must never be considered.

In 60 seconds. First, Real Estate Agents I Trust. It's more than just a -- you know, a sign, or a website.

It's, you know, a real estate agent that has their name and your sign. On your front yard when you're selling. It better be more than just the name. A good agent can read the listing and tell you what the location will be like for you and your family, five years from now.

RealEstateAgentsITrust.com is a service that handpicks local professionals who do more than just list your house. They spot the hidden problems before they become surprises.

They negotiate with a very steady hand. Navigate the contracts, so you're never left guessing with what happens next.

They vet track records, reputations, agents who care about the long game. Then they match you with somebody who fits your goal: Buying, selling, downsizing, or investigating.

Our agents move fast when they need to.
But think in terms of years, not days. So the decisions you make today, don't become the problems of tomorrow.

How do you find these people?

RealEstateAgentsITrust.com.

A free service to you.

Just tell us where you're moving to and from. And we will help you find the right agent.

RealEstateAgentsITrust.com.

Ten seconds.
(music)
I want to hit this early, before this becomes a trend.

Because the algorithms will reward talk like this!

National divorce.

You know, Civil War. Et cetera, et cetera.

We're not talking about a season of television, that you watch from your home, when you're talking about things like that.

We're talking about your life. Your -- your ordinary, miraculous, taken for granted life ending.

Everything you grew up knowing, believing, in, having -- having the opportunity to have, be, do, over!

It won't change. It ends!

That's what Civil War means!

The world your children expect to grow up in.

The one with school plays and Little League. And the birthday parties in the backyard. Gone!

And it doesn't come back with an election or a speech or a victory parade.

It doesn't come back at all. This is very fragile. This has never been done. A government with of, for, and by the people.

Has never been done before.

And I don't know if you've noticed this, but the entire world system systems to be against people, that want to rule themselves!

So it doesn't come back!

Civil War is not, you know, Gettysburg reenactors with quotes on social media.

It's neighbors!

It's culled sacks. It's the grocery store. And the gas station.

And the pharmacy.

It's the lights you never think about. Until they don't turn on. The water you never worry about. Until it comes out brown.

If it comes out at all.

I need you before things get crazier than they are, I want you to be firm on what you believe.

I want you to picture, not for shock. But for absolute clarity. Your day begins. And your bank app says, service unavailable.

Your ATM says, out of cash. The trucks have stopped coming to the grocery stores, because the highways have checkpoints and ambushes and rumors of both.

The gas station is a rumor too. One station has a line that is three blocks long. The other has a hand-lettered sign that says, cash only. Limit five gallons. You think, well, I've got some cash, until you realize, everybody else had that same idea, yesterday!

You must have a prescription for somebody in your family. Insulin, heart meds, chemo, whatever it is.

The pharmacy is closed. Why?

Because the pharmacist couldn't make it through the roadblocks. And the chain's distribution centers can't risk sending a truck without a police escort. And the police don't escort trucks anymore!

Because the police that do show up for work now, are triaging their own neighborhoods!

You call 911 about a domestic disturbance down the street. And the dispatcher says, if anybody even answers, we'll put you on the list. These aren't front lines in a modern Civil War. They are the intersections. They are our neighborhoods. They are the algorithms. The algorithm that sells rage by the pound! And it's being fed to both sides until both sides are blind with rage!

When the governor -- person running, Spanberger, running for Virginia, for the governor says, let your rage fuel you. No!

Rage will make you blind!

And we won't be fighting in uniform!

You'll be avoiding a rumor. The rules of the road become rules of the rifle.

Whoever controls the intersection controls that day!

Hospitals are now fortresses. Then targets.

Then shells.

Food becomes scarce. Then it's currency. Your children's school becomes a shelter. Do they even have school anymore?

No, your children now have memories of school and a new job of staying quiet when they hear a drone or a truck backfire. Childhood shrinks down to the safest room in your house.

Now, you think you're going to pick a side. You think you know what side you'll be on.

You think your side will protect you. But here's the truth: Sides protect themselves.

And both sides will ask you to prove your loyalty with things you promised yourself you would never, ever do.

Good people, just like you, will do them.

Because fear is a sculpture, and it carves away at conscience first. You think you know how the market works, until the market dies.

Markets die when trust dies. Pensions evaporate, not because of a bad quarter, but because the bond market can't price what's coming tomorrow!

The currency on your counter is now canned food. Bottled water, diesel, antibiotics. Your home value.

What's a house worth if there's nobody to ensure it? Nobody to mortgage it. Nobody to drive to it, without risking their life. And then there are the guests who are arrive when a great house is on fire. The cartels, the opportunists, the foreign intelligence services, the war tourists with passports and GoPros. They don't choose sides. They just choose opportunities and openings, and they open the opportunities you didn't know you had. Your grid, your water plants, your data center, your port, and they don't fly flags, they fly yours.

And then let you blame one another, to fuel the fire. Let your rage know, don't! Listen to me. There's no clean ending to this.

No, there's, there's -- there's no clean Gettysburg. Especially in a world of encrypted chats and weaponized rumors, there is just grinding. Bone-grinding pain.

There's the settling of old scores under new slogans. There's the permanent loss of innocence.

The moment you stop seeing your neighbor as a neighbor, that can never quite -- that you can never quite unsee the enemy that you have imagined.

I can't ever think of that person, any way other than that. Then you are headed for that outcome.

And if you imagine glory, war doesn't wound bodies. It wounds time. Ten years from now, the men and women who survive will still hear the sound of a truck at night and think checkpoint. Your children will flinch at fireworks. Weddings will be smaller. Funerals will be more frequent.

And hope -- real hope will be spoken in a whisper because it's learned to hide.

It is reasonable to ask what do we have in common anymore? But the next reasonable question is: How can we find common ground? How can we understand each other?

Before you retweet bravado, count the cost of where we could be headed.

And not in abstract numbers, but in faces. The old man on your street who needs oxygen, the single mom who works at night.

The kid who just made the team.

The clerk at the corner store, always remembers your brand, your face, your needs.

These are the casualties that -- that never make the headlines, because they disappear, one inconvenience at a time.

These are the times that try men's souls. That used to be a phrase, I didn't understand it. And it belonged in the past.

I say it to you today!

These are the times that try men's souls.

Those who stand today and shoulder the burden, who those stand today, and do the hard work, God's work of love and peace making. And uniting. And speaking the truth!

They will be owed a thanks for generations to come.

Turn town the algorithm and turn up the conversation.

Teach your children the difference between courage and recklessness!

Between justice and vengeance!

Make your county and your town resilient.

So relationally thick, that an outside arsonist. Foreign or domestic, will only find damp tinder there.

You must get serious about peace. Not the sentimental kind.

The muscular kind. Form covenants with churches and synagogues and community groups and clubs and counsels. And say it out loud. No violence in our name. It's not acceptable.
Not here. Not here.

RADIO

Virginia Democrats' shocking text messages EXPOSED

Glenn reviews disturbing leaked text messages from Democratic Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones about political violence and a concerning statement made by Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger. Glenn advises Virginians and all Americans: these Democrats warned you what they supported. So, don’t be surprised about what might happen if they gain power.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: It is shocking and shameful, especially in this day and age. With what we have seen with violence. And yet, there are those on the left that believe that violence is an okay answer.

Jay Jones, the guy running for attorney general, the guy would be enforcing the laws in Virginia.

Thinks that it's okay -- he says, to joke about killing people. But the way he did it, does not seem like a joke to me. He was asked by the person he was texting, to stop!

Stop. This really bothers me when you say things like this. Don't -- don't say those things.

Well, you know what, only when people feel the pain personally do they change their political opinions. You were just talking about killing this guy's children! So you get here, and you think, okay. What is headed our way?

Let me start with this: Back in 1999, I was on WABC, and I warned of Osama Bin Laden, and nobody listened to me. Nobody would listen to me.

They thought I was crazy. They thought I was actually, you know, sticking up somehow or another, for Bill Clinton. Because Bill Clinton was the one who said, you know, Osama Bin Laden, he's got to be eliminated, blah, blah, blah. And I went on the air at WABC in New York City. Nobody believed me.

And I said, in frustration, I said, at the end of the hour: There will be bodies and buildings and blood in the streets of this city in ten years! And the name on that will be Osama Bin Laden. Will you care and listen then?

So after September 11th, people started going, how did you -- how did you know that?

Very easy. This is life lesson number one.

If someone tells you, they are going to kill you, or they joke about it, but not retract.

Like, get -- hey. Don't joke about that. I know.

I'm sorry. I'm out of line.

Just stand by it. When they say things like, their children should be killed. Or in their case. Jay Jones not only said that. He said, his wife should have to hold his dying children. And maybe that will change his mind.

Okay? You must take those people seriously. You must believe them!

Because anything short of that is madness itself!

Because if they start doing -- this is Germany.

If he says, you know what, I've got a solution for those Jews. And you're like, eh. He doesn't really mean it. It's your fault!

He told you. When you're dealing with life and death, you always take it seriously. Always!

And we all say stupid things.

I've said stupid things.

Everybody has said stupid things.

And what do you do?

You immediately mea culpa. You immediately apologize. Oh, my gosh. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. But the guy running as the AG, the chief lawmaker for Virginia, he hasn't apologized.

In fact, he kind of doubled down in the -- in the throes of it! And he hasn't said anything about it.

And the woman running on the same democratic ticket for governor, in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, she hasn't distanced herself.

Well, that's wrong.

Well, should we drop out?

I don't -- what do you mean? Yes! The answer is yes. We don't threaten people.

We don't say, their family and their children should be killed.

That's an easy call. If your governor, your AG cannot make a simple call like that about life and death, about people who disagree with them.

They cannot have any power in government. They cannot.

It's easy. If Virginia makes that mistake, when there's bodies in your streets, I guess you will come to me, and say, how did you know?

And I'll say, you disregarded rule number one. Somebody says those things. You take them seriously, every single time!

You must!

The governor actually has said, let your rage fuel you!

Now, good people in Virginia, when was the last time you went to church?

When was the last time you went to church, and you heard your preacher say, let -- Jesus says, let your rage fuel you!

My guess is, never!

Because Jesus said the exact opposite. What would Jesus do?

Not that! You have a politician that says, let your rage fuel you! In conjunction with, the other politician that they're linking arms and campaigning together. Saying, I would be happy -- happy if we killed him, his children, and his wife.
If they died, I would piss on their graves.

That's a quote. And let your rage fuel you. Virginia, you will get what you deserve!

They are telling you who they are. I don't want George Soros, nor any member of his family killed. Ever! And I think he's the biggest destructive force in the world for freedom.

I don't want him killed.

I want him exposed!

If he's broken laws, I want them to go to jail!

But I at least want the truth to be known about them.

I don't want to kill them.

If you've gotten to that place, to where your political enemy is somebody you want killed, you have a psychiatric or deep spiritual problem going on with you.

So now, we have people on our side. And I can say, I know what you mean.

Glenn, how do we work together?

How can -- we're running out of principles. To agree on.

I don't want to -- we can disagree all you want about policies. But principles must be universal.

That's our a plurbis unum. All men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They're all codified in our unum.

That's the one thing we all used to agree on. We don't anymore.

And we are running out of things to agree on, that are principled-based. I don't care if you like Game of Thrones or hate Game of Thrones. There's no relationship that is worth anything. That will withstand any storm, if that's what we have in common.

You know, I love trees. And you love trees.

When the storms come, we're all blown off.

People are throwing around things like national divorce.

People are saying, let it all burn! We need a great reset. As if we're talking about a new season of television. But we are not. Let me be very, very clear of what we are talking about. That must never be considered.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

TikTok Is the New Tobacco | Jonathan Haidt Warns of a Generation Lost

Social media was supposed to connect us, but it’s destroying an entire generation instead. Glenn Beck and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt expose how TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat engineered addiction, rewired our kids’ brains, and created what Haidt calls “The Anxious Generation.” From collapsing attention spans to skyrocketing anxiety and loneliness, this conversation breaks down the devastating social, emotional, and spiritual fallout of the smartphone era and what parents can still do to fight back. This is the truth Big Tech doesn’t want you to hear.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Jonathan Haidt HERE