Episode 3: Lockdown Lemming Identity Test

Join Andy and discover which lockdown character you are with the Lockdown Lemmings Identity Assessment! Are you a Cock-eyed Karen or Sarcastic Sam? Brandon Hall (Healthcare and safety industry) joins the show to discuss the negative effects of the lockdown has on families. Plus, our favorite dad jokes!

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Episode three, lock down lemming identity test, do you think your liberty is being put in shackles? Do you feel that your freedom of speech is being choked out? We are discovering the lost art of conversation. I'm Andy Caldwell, an Asian-American who leans conservative and embraces a liberal attitude. You're listening to Chat Up America. Welcome to Chat Up America with your host, Andy Caldwell. Welcome to Episode three with Chat Up America. I'm your host, Andy Caldwell. Tim Helmes is on assignment down off the coast of Florida with Discovery Channel filming the next episode for Shark Week. So, Tim, we hope you stay safe and take a lot of good pictures. So I have a guest host today, co-host. His name is Brandon Hall. Brandon, how are you doing, buddy? And I'm doing blessed. How about yourself? I'm doing great. Brandon, I met during the covid this past year at a cookout bonfire and we hit it off pretty well. We've had we've met a couple of times, had breakfast at the local Sun Valley Cafe here in Indian Trail, North Carolina. And we just found out we have a lot of common ground on some issues over politics or life. And and we I said, you know, I should get you on the podcast. You overheard me talking about my podcast, of course. And we got to thinking, let's let's get you on here. And it just so happened that there is open space because Tim is traveling. So thanks for joining me. Yeah, man, I'm not going to lie. I'm a little bit jealous that he's filming for Shark Week. I think I would prefer to be there than here, but definitely, definitely glad to be our man. I love what you're doing. I think, you know, just just embracing a liberal attitude. I think we've gotten so far away from that. I mean, liberal is is defined as willing to respect or accept behaviors or opinions of someone that's different than yours. And I think our country on both sides, left and right, we we've forgotten how to respect someone else's opinion and just have that conversation. So, I mean, I think what you're doing is just just open to other people's opinions is something that we need at this time to share. Well, I appreciate that. And, you know, with your background in health and safety in the in that industry here in the southeast and just the way you speak about how you care for people in people from different backgrounds who said, I have to you know, that's why I think we really hit it off. Well, we're kind of on different we have different stories and it's just not you know, we have the same backgrounds or whatnot. So I appreciate you joining the team and giving your feedback for what we have to discuss today. So we have a fun show lined up for you. We'll see how far we get until people cut us off. But some of you, if you listen to my episode number two, I had a reference of a poem from Abraham's that you might remember. It was the four. Some men die by shrapnel and some go down in flames. But most men perish inch by inch by inch, play at little games. That's from the night they burned Shanghai by Robert de Abrams'. And I wanted to remind people to we need to keep the eye on the ball versus, you know, we the goal for this podcast is to find common ground with other people. Yeah, we can sit here and Brian and I could talk all day and agree, which we're going to agree on a lot of things. We might agree to disagree on some things, but we have a like mindedness on a lot of the current events going out there. And and so I really want to nail down that we are bringing up these issues because we want people to learn to to look through all the stereotypes of that, the far left or the far right put on the normal day average Joes who are going out trying to work late, our families, you know, leading our employers or employees excuse me, and in your place of work. And so I something that what got me to think about this is I put a post out just to kind of a snarky spot where I get in trouble about the should we even listen to the CDC anymore because of all the bureaucrats that lead it versus being scientists? And to me personally, they they lost all credibility. Branon when they started changing their their tone and moving the goalposts as far as the lockdown's were concerned and early on. And it just started to cause me to doubt what they do. So I just put that out there, says, should we trust the CDC unless there's a zombie apocalypse or whatever? But then again, we know how that worked out. And as a friend said on Facebook, on the walking, the walking dead. So the CDC just blew up because the zombies took over. So anyway, so all our illustrations, you know, have a loophole. Right. And so with that being said, it got me thinking some of the comments people made Brandyn were worth. Still, in a sense of, well, we here are the stats that show we should wear masks and and then we got other people who come around and say, well, you should see all the stats of the people who were in lock down wearing mask. And there were more cases. And so I would say we could all find articles and stories that could back up what we say. For the most part, I think everyone can agree that over 500000 people who have had covid-19 related deaths. Right. And when we were preparing for this show, I appreciate the links you were sending me as we look through this is overwhelming. Was like, man, we don't have enough time to discuss all the the negativity and the positive things. Of course, good stories of happen out of the lockdowns. But I just sit I want to try to get a point across today's it's not just I don't think you're weird because you wear a mask or I feel like people are judging me sometimes when I don't put on my mask before I go into a store. I think it's the undertone, that's the underlining feel that we as a society have become like before 2020 happen. No one walked around thinking, Oh, man, I wish that person was wearing a mask. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. I mean, hundred percent, man. I mean like like what you said about the CDC, their information from the very beginning has been kind of scattered all over the place. You know, we were first told not to wear masks and you're told to wear masks now we're told to wear you not to masks. And, you know, it just went to the absurdity kind of stop. When are we allowed to think for ourselves? And like he said, there's a lot of bureaucrats or law politics to go into the CDC. But what I will say, we're all going through this together. I don't think anybody prepared for covid-19 nobody prepared, you know, for any of this. So we've had pandemics before, but I don't think we've had anything to this scale unless you want to talk about the flu. But but I mean, yes, I think that as the CDC goes, they're trying to learn just as we are trying to learn. But I don't think that they should make guidelines for everyone. And I think, you know, it's the big government, but mean it's it's the the government that's close to home, the governors, their local mayors, the city councils, those things are the ones are really pushing it that we've really got to be wary of. I'm kind of an anti massacre. I will wear masks, especially if I go into a small business, if I go into one of those family owned businesses as well, I'll definitely wear masks one day. That kind of hit me as I walked into a business and I said, you know, we have young employees that work for us. Please don't put themselves. Please do not put them in an uncomfortable situation by wearing your mask. So that kind of hit me like, man, I've never thought about it that way. So especially when I go to small businesses, I definitely wear the mask. Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe's, man hands off, man. I'm not wearing a mask. And they're like, whoa, man conglomerate. OK, I just don't. You went there didn't you? OK, I did. I did, man. You know, they're not hardened. They were hard for me not wearing a mask, but I just but at the same time, you know, their facilities are so huge. I mean, hundreds of thousands of square feet, tens of thousand square feet. I'm not getting close enough to somebody within six feet. And I have not shared any type symptoms with kids in the entire time. But as you said, man, there there is some Mashinini out there experience some of it a little bit. I know a lot of times people like to pick on my wife even if we're together, which doesn't make sense, maybe because she's a helpless woman. Not sure. But we walked into the Wal-Mart one day right past the guy. He didn't say one thing to me. And then my wife was a couple of steps behind me and he started heckling her for not wearing a mask. But he didn't say one thing. No, no. He did not wear a mask. Yeah, yeah. My wife, like we spoke about, man, she she she's she sticks up for her own for sure. So she handled it pretty, pretty aggressively. But at the same time, my wife's nine months pregnant. So for her to wear a mask, it's a little bit difficult. Is this is this the one in Monroe? We need to go down there now. Martin Monroe, I'm giving you locations, but metro area. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that man, because I love to take jabs and the people who face shame or face shame, the people who mask Seamus and I have a little assessment to go through and see what we can. And who who do we identify as is a lock down. Let me just a little teaser there. And but I do appreciate you sharing that, because while we make jabs, we do you know, I got pushback back about wearing masks and stuff with my Facebook friends. And I said, I'll I'll give you the mask wearing in the in the surgery room if I'm going to sit with you for more than thirty minutes or fifteen minutes or whatever the CDC guidelines is, says. And, you know, I can understand that, but it's the it's the part where we start. Shaming or judging people with with our freedom of choice, does that make sense? There's a there's a weird there's an interesting and I'll say there's a dangerous tone that goes on with the thinking of America today where we are entitled to tell people what to do. And and I think that's a dangerous, dangerous topic to discuss. And further and further episodes, the whole idea of you could get in a critical race theory, you could get into my entitlement is my individuality. Is that a word, individuality, a good thing for me? You know, as an American, you know, not to sound all. Yeah, I'm patriotic and all that. But there is a there's a sense which someone is trying to tell me what to do in my own home. And I think that's something that's that's not who we are as Americans or human beings. We're definitely not. I mean, we in America, I mean, we talk about our freedom and whatever that looks like for each individual person, you know, whether it's the amendment's constitution, whether it's outside of that. I mean, we have freedoms in America that a lot of other countries I've had the pleasure of visiting and living in other countries. And I can tell you there's no freedom like America. But like you said, when when people start infringing on what we do with our families, with our friends, with our own personal lives, that's kind of where I feel like it's a little bit overreaching. And, you know, I grew up with what's the saying? And I've said it plenty of times, but stay in your own mind, you know, stay in your lane. If it's not a fact that you stay in your lane to stay, stay what happens? And I think we are very fortunate to live in a place in rural America. Maybe it's not a role, but North Carolina itself is pretty rural. And so so I'm outside of the Triad, the triangle and Charlotte. I mean, North Carolina is very rural. So we don't oftentimes see some of the same things that I have friends. I have friends in Colorado. And she has been berated for not wearing a mask. And once again, she's seven, eight months pregnant. And it's difficult for her to get around and age and for any women listening to podcasts kind of understand that seven, eight, nine months, I mean, you're difficult to get around. It's difficult difficulty breathing. I mean, everything kind of becomes difficult. But, you know, she was berated in a store one time and pretty much was told that I hope your kids get coronavirus and and that's just not needed. I mean, it goes down into the golden rule, right? Treat others as you want to be treated and how I want to say one thing very clearly. If I am in a business like outside those big three that I spoke about, if I'm inside of a business and someone comes to me and says, listen, can you wear a mask wholeheartedly? Hey, I'll put on a mask. I think it comes down, as we discussed before, this podcast is it comes down to relationships. You know, if I walk into a business, someone greets me and they're polite and they're kind and they're loving and they say, hey, do you mind putting on a mask? I will be the same. I will be kind, I'll be loving. And I'll say, you know what? I'll definitely put on a necessary. Yeah. And plus they're they're trying to abide by the the you suggest strong suggestion or, you know, the mandate of the local authorities. The governor and I have to remember that to and not be prideful self and saying why is I have my rights? And so I appreciate you sharing that. Just we got to continue to stay humble and in and understand and serve our brother and sister across from us. You're listening to Chat Up America, follow team chat up on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Andy called what your co-host on Chat Up America. Join with my co-host, Brandon Hall. And we are going to continue to talk and do a speed round about the lockdown and the effects of it. And most of it's going to be negative, like you might predict and might want to share with some of your friends. You still think a lockdown can be positive. And let's talk about a few things, Brandon, about schools or children that have been impacted by the lockdown because of a Corona virus. I know my kids go to school and they've had a great experience. And I'm thankful for our school where our kids go and have been able to, you know, do some remote learning, but. One of my daughters are there better at face to face, hands on learning and other other teenager, I can't believe how old they're getting. Teenager does better, is fun on the computer. You know, Zoom calls all day long. Tell them tell them to be quiet when I'm walk around the house during the today and I'm gonna I'm gonna zoom called out, keep it down anyway. So we've had some positives during the the lockdown, but I just my heart goes out to those those kids in poverty stricken areas or school systems around the country who, you know, the teachers more concerned about themselves and want to go down to spring break and posting pictures and and saying, hey, I'm having a good time, but I'm not going to go back to school because I don't want to get the Korona. You know, it's so it's kind of sent some mixed messages to me. And I know all teachers don't do that, but there are some unions out there who are trying to milk it. The lockdown as far as they can go and get a nice paycheck when they're sitting at home fussing and not leading our kids. And so have you had any observations with your peers around you, Brandon, as as we talk about this? Yes. I mean, we we moved back to we were outside of the Charlotte metro area up until like 12, 19 about November. And then, you know, the pandemic happened in March. We actually started homeschooling at that time. So we didn't really see the effects of, you know, kids being displaced from school initially. But I mean, socially, I mean, I think it's affected everybody, whether I'm getting involved not just in school, but in churches and some of those things. Our kids didn't have opportunity to get involved in some of those activities, to meet other kids their age, to meet peers. But when you talk about schools, I mean, yeah, there's been plenty of studies that showed that school districts lost kids that never came back when this pandemic happened. They went home. It wasn't a safe place for them. They didn't have access to the Internet and technology that they needed to continue going to school. So they lost kids. I know the Charlotte Metro or Mecklenburg County schools lost over one hundred students that they never got back throughout the rest of the school year. So, I mean, we don't think about those second, third and fourth order effects. We don't think about how it's affecting them emotionally, mentally. We don't think about how they're how are they eating? How are these kids in poverty stricken, low income areas? How are they eat? And a lot of times they're on government. Assisted meals, and they're just not receiving those because they're not in school and I know a lot of times there is a safe haven for kids to be able to go to school. And you talked about it, man. I mean, if I was a teacher and you're telling me that I'm getting paid from working from home and not having to interact with these children and discipline them and, you know, sometimes be their mom or dad on certain aspects, why would I want to go back? I mean, and that's that's the sad thing, is that we live in a country where it's a world we live in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Personal accountability. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for sharing that, Brandon. I think everyone jokes around the phrase to say today is follow the science. And you know, my family was joking the other day. I was telling what I was, you know, what we're planning to share about the lockdown's. You know, one of my daughters said, Dad, that's just everyone's over that. Just get move on. I said, honey, there's a there's a it goes back to how people are thinking in in shaping us to think as a collective whole. And everyone has to agree. And if you challenged that, that thinking, that ideology, then you're going to get screwed. And and so that's what the point I'm trying to drive home is. It's just not, hey, we're still in a lockdown. We got to abide by the rules. But it comes there's a sense where we have to start using a common sense, Brandon. And the science is showing that the cases are going down and into to our governors credit. I heard just the other day he he loosened some restrictions. Again, a lot more people to go back into restaurants and up to maybe, what? Seventy five percent, I'm not sure. But more people at larger events, at sporting events. And I'm thankful for that. But there's always that. Well, we still got a ways to go. You were almost there. And so that the bet now is how long are we going to stay in lockdown is going to be into 20, 21, 22, you know, the end of the fourth quarter of twenty twenty one. And so we'll have to see on that. So I was just sitting at a I was at a soccer game yesterday at it, you know, incredible high school campus. And our girls are were the visiting team soccer. And we were amazed at how many athletic activities were going on on that campus. It was like a mini college campus. It was amazing. And so I hoped students there feel blessed to be able to go to a private school like that. And as we were watching our girls get pummeled by the soccer team, you know, a lot of girls were D1 level and like, oh, man, they're going to put in the second string yet. Hurry up. And, you know, it was fun to watch the game. Our girls played well, but I notice they were like other than the fact they had like ten, ten boys and girls just for the pole vault team, it was pretty cool. Was like, is this the Olympics? And everyone was wearing a mask. So every five seconds you'll see some guys doing hurdles or girls doing sprints around the the the turn and they're wearing their mask. And, you know, man, I can't wear a mask for fifteen minutes for a pass out. Brandon and so I was like, this is this is ludicrous. This this is outside. You know, of course the soccer players were wearing their masks too. And so every now and then we'll see a little rebel go by with their mask below their nose like I do every now and then. So, oh, there's a rebel. Look at that. But to to have to say you got a red card or yellow card because you got you had your mask on when you're playing is a little bit absurd. But that's happened. And so where do we stop? Where do we say, OK, guys, we let's let's move on, let's move on with our lives. And it doesn't have to be a mask mandate forever. And that's that's what got me thinking of why we need to do this podcast is talk about the lunacy that happens and how or arguments, you know, are put in place and and people to start being divisive again. And so just adds to the the stress. You say, you know, your heart breaks for those kids who really are missing out of school and they disappear from the school system. Or I was looking at a stat earlier and how the lockdown has caused more stress for those in poverty stricken areas. It happens across all levels, economic levels. I get that. But did you want to say something on that brain? Yeah. First I'll say no, you're good. Those days when athletes probably have a massive lung capacity having to run around in those masks. I remember those elevation masks that people used to put on the to make it. And that's what all these kids are wearing nowadays. Yeah. You go back to the science man. And, you know, when I hear a doctor will just Dr. Falchi will throw out his name. When I hear him say something about, you know, the two mask thing and he says it probably will help. Well, when does probability or probably come into the scientific method and may not really. You know, it's been a long time since I went through science class. But let's talk about a scientific method where apostasies, where's the control? Where are these things? I know we're going through an active pandemic, but I feel like a lot of times in science we get away from the scientific method. So so are we just trying to go through this and figure out what what is working best, what is our controls and some of those things? But like you said, I mean, there's been studies about the coronavirus dies due to the rise being outside. And how does that affect the virus? There are so many things that could be affecting the virus to where do we really need to put masks on these these low risk children? Let's let's talk about that. These children that are in middle school and high school, they are at a low risk of getting the coronavirus. And if they do get it, they're in a very, very high probability, their population, that they will survive, that they will have limited symptoms to the coronavirus and that they will be healthy. So all of that comes into play. But but like you said, there is a big disparity between middle class and upper middle class and even higher class population versus lower income. I know one thing that you have talked about is that there is a higher mortality rate that is associated with economic recession. So whether that's access to food like we discussed, whether that's the capability of these people getting food from a food bank, I mean, these food banks that that a lot of these low income families really depend on, they are completely wiped out. They're not able to get access to the food that they are. I know my wife and I have talked about, you know, we're getting these big stamey checks and everybody's blowing it on spring break or whatever they lost, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, man. I mean I mean, my family, we're a family of five, so, I mean, I got seven grand. I mean, that's common knowledge. But, you know, that's a lot of money. And my wife's looking and we're like, we don't see the economy hurting. And I think that comes from where we are at in life. We are very thankful, very blessed and very privileged to have the job and the income that I have. And so we don't see those things. So I think a lot of times we put blinders on, especially if you are in that middle or upper middle class or notice what's going on around us, especially in those poverty stricken and low income communities. And I think those, like you said, are really the ones affecting because they're the ones that lost their job. They're the ones that maybe they work for. A restaurant in that restaurant is now closed or that bowling alley had to close or that movie theater had to close. And they've lost those jobs. And now we have an influx of people needing jobs and jobs, just not being there. Yeah, I was you reminded me just to the I was trying to remember the article that we were looking over off of Brookings Edu and the author of this article is Credit Where Credit's Due, Carol Gram. And she quotes about the whole pandemic affecting different people from various economic backgrounds. She says, Our analysis suggests that the emotional cost of the pandemic are much higher for the poor and vulnerable than they are for the rich, heightening deep preexisting inequities in well-being in the US and many other countries. And so, yeah, I'm sure if you could go to every city in the US not we're just not talking about the world as a whole, another layer. And to to see where the whites and the blacks and the brown people are are being affected in different economic backgrounds. And it's unfortunate. It just shows, I think, what it does. It's not like it's the cause. All of a sudden everyone's struggling. It just heightened. It just it just peeled off the layer of our what we assume we're comfortable. And it just shows, you know, how how fragile we are in the US. And so that we've we've got some major issues we have to deal with and to work through where there's talk about the economy, a racial reconciliation, corruption, you know, you name it, it's all there or addictions. We haven't even talked about addictions. And so I know you came up with some articles and something you might want to want to speak to based on addictions or suicide rates. Do you have did you have something you want to speak to on that? Yeah. I mean, I think when you take anyone out of their environment, their typical day to day, they're going to they're going to fall back on, you know, what they know and want. One statistic that's been thrown out there is domestic violence has risen because that domestic partner that is violent is now home. The entire time with the people that they are abusing addictions is a lot higher. You know, they may not have to go to a job or maybe they don't rely on a job where they have to take a drug test or something like that or or just depression. Depression affects so many people in those addictions, specially alcoholism. You know, a lot of people turn to alcoholism because they're looking for an upper, but they don't realize that alcohol is actually it brings you down a depression and then suicide man. I mean, I've read different statistics and wants to. They said, you know, suicides have not jumped dramatically, but gun sales have risen and a lot of times guns are like the number one way people commit suicide. So so are people buying guns to commit to while they're contemplating suicide. And it's really tough. But like you said, there was one article and there's a young man named Kristian in Arizona, and he took his life because of, you know, not being with his friends and not being able to just discuss with his peers and with maybe maybe he wasn't able to turn to his family for some of these issues. And he turned to a teacher or guidance counselor at school. He didn't have those avenues to speak to them. And another aspect is when a lot of this kicked off, we closed a lot of the nonessential health care departments. So that could be your psychologist. It could be some of those avenues which in young teens and young children are able to speak. But but that article did show that just in young adults, there has been a 15 percent rise in suicides, 15 percent rise in suicides just by young adults. That's not taking into account adults, you know, 18 years and older, but that's just young, about, you know, 13, 14 years old, up to 18 years old. So I think we forget about those things. When we when we went on a lockdown that was only supposed to be two weeks and now we're in a lockdown for nearly a year over year. Yeah. We don't think about those second and third order effects. And, you know, I spoke about was Wal-Mart and Target. Those companies were allowed to stay open during the lockdown, but so many different people lost their jobs. They lost their revenues. They lost their access to a lot of things that brought them joy in life, whether it was church, whether it's their passion, whatever it was, they lost that. So where do they turn? They turn to avenues that don't bring them joy. That is not healthy for them. And a lot of times it may be a demon that lives inside of them that that, because of the pandemic, was able to reach back into their lives. Right. And that man, that just breaks my heart. And I was I was as I was researching this brand and I I'll just get an overwhelmed with speaking looking out after our own people here in the US. You know, that's not including the abuse that continues to happen in India, China. And unfortunately, it's a sin in our lives and and how our governmental how our government's handling this. What kind of programs are they doing? Are they opening them back up? You know, I can only imagine if you're a counselor or in work in social services and how loaded your plate is right now. That might be something to look into. And seeing as restrictions are loosened around the country so professionals can continue to, you know, counsel someone other than being on a Zoome call, you know, tell me how you're doing, Brandini. No, you can't. There's only so much you could do versus getting face to face with a professional counselor or a pastor that you trust or a friend you can confide in. So if you're out there and you are struggling with this, please, you know, reach out to us and we could find you some help or go talk to someone you you trust who is professional in counseling a local minister or rabbi. You know, there is help out there and you don't have to go through this alone. People do care for you if you're out there struggling with these addictions or depression. Yeah. And just one last thing. You know, if you are thinking about suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is always there and it's eight hundred two seven thirty eight to five. But thank you for listening to Chat Up America. Keep in touch and send any questions or feedback to team chat up and chat up America. Dot us you're listen to Chat Up America with Andy Caldwell, your host and co-host, Brandon Hall. And we're going to lighten the mood a little bit. We've talked about some serious issues and our thoughts on the lockdown. Guess what I did, Brandon? I created a cool design PDF on InDesign and put a metal on me. It's called the Lockdown Lemming Identity Assessment. We were talking earlier about people who wear masks or even double masking and, you know, how serious are you? So I came up with a I'm not a psychologist or a sociologist, but I play one on TV. And I came up with the five identities and let's see who you identify, identify with. All right. You ready? I'm ready. OK, which lock down lemming do you identify with the most? There's. Paranoid Phil, this lemming, you might as well live in a survivalist bunker, every story you hear on the news or Internet is a conspiracy. You care more about getting your point across with friends more than listening to them. You are a bridge burner. Hence you are an unhealthy Enneagram type for after a bad hit of Scooby Snacks, laugh a little. Treat yourself to an essential oils starter kit. All right, let's I'm going to go right through these and you can decide who you might if you're one of those characters. All right, then there's sarcastic. Sam, you are at wit's end with your you are at wit's end with this lockdown lunacy. You cuss out loud when you get halfway into the grocery store, maybe for you as the Wal-Mart brand because you forgot your before, because you forgot your mask in the car. You do your best not to blow a gasket when your kid has to quarantine for the fourth time in two months because of contact tracing, you and other like minded lemmings start to see through the lies and ulterior motives of the CDC and government bureaucrats and start a lemming revolution. I think I could identify with that. OK, next. Doubtful. Debbie, you were on the fence with this lockdown thing and start to wonder if lockdowns are more chaotic than helpful. You should little rebellious side and decide to wear your mask below your nose. When you hit the gym this week, you may even click the like or love button on a friend's Facebook post. Who is pro liberty? You be you girlfriend. All right. How are we doing? You still with me? I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm looking at all these men just trying to figure it out. But go ahead. Here's my favorite one. The next one. And I apologize ahead of time for any of those. So you're her name? Karen. All right. I'm going to get bashed by my friends who are named Karen Cock-Eyed. Karen, you happily wear a mask when you are driving alone with the windows up. You need to stop listening to major news outlets who only care about eyeballs. You tend to always argue for the lockdown, but never can explain why you do so. You might say follow the science or don't be a covariate. That's how Karen talks. By the way, go talk to your neighbors. Roll down the windows, Rebeka and lemming fragility and binge watch. Ted LASO. All right. Which I'm watching, by the way, is awesome. All right. Last but not least, Berserker Ben, you are a lockdown down lifer. You live drama. You haven't left your basement since the lockdown started and condemned lemmings who do not fall in line with the lockdown. Lemmings are made to think suggesting that teacher unions go back to school was a stupid idea. You crave for the authoritarian policies decreed by the far left. If you and paranoid fail bumped into each other, it would be like crossing a proton beam with a particle thrower. You will lead a mass exodus of those faithful to Dr. Fauci over a cliff. And this is the end of my lockdown down lemming identity assessment. All right. Who do you identify with Brandon then? I miss any. No, no. I mean, you pretty hit those that is on the head. I think just the way I am in my personality, I'm kind of a mix between like a sarcastic Sam and Daffy Daddy had a child who call them child. I would be Chad. OK, I like that. So it's kind of like doing it. And an anagram assessment. You are a you know, you have a wing of a of a devil, Debbie, Debbie. And you're strong on sarcastic samour or whatnot. So yeah. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean I think for me, you know, I'm definitely I think we all can agree that covid-19 is real, you know. Now I won't say we all can agree. There are some conspiracies out there that let me say that I believe covid-19 is real. I dis aggravated with an agitated with everything that's going on with it. And at the same time, you know, I don't know how much a mask is helping, as we discussed earlier. I mean, there's been studies that, hey, if we never wore masks, would we still be in the same situation if we all wear masks? You know, I think when we wear masks, I kind of put our sense of security a little bit higher. So we think, oh, I can be around just the main people as long as we're wearing a mask. And and there's so many different studies about what mask you're wearing, which one it is, and all those things. So but yeah, I'm definitely in between a sarcastic Sam and doubtful Betty. What about you? I'm definitely straight up a sarcastic Sam. Yeah. And you know, on my bad days I might lean more towards a paranoid feel like, oh my goodness, this is a you know, the bureaucrats are trying to screw us. We're going to be locked down forever. We're going to become a communist country. There's some truth to that. But, yeah, we have to be able to we. We ask you listeners out there to the team chat up to to identify others, don't go out and yell, Hey, Cock-Eyed, Karen, you know, they're going to be looking at you. Like what? So maybe this takes off. We'll make T-shirts, shirts out of this. Who knows? But, yeah, you may have started a wave. I mean, you may never know. It might go viral. What the hell? Or we're just poking fun. But, you know, we got to add humor somewhere where I'll go crazy personally. You're listening to Chat Up America, follow team, chat up on Instagram and Twitter. With all that being said, again, think about why you are so passionate behind wearing a mask or double masking or why are you so passionate about not wearing a mask, being able to speak what you believe don't hate the person challenging you. Learn to listen. That's what our goal is right here, is to let's find some common ground. And you might have to take the hit. You might have to say, all right, I'm just going to be humble and walk through this store or, you know, I know that person might have some issues who's yelling at me as I walk down the target aisle and I get that. But unfortunately, it happens. But we need to keep our cool. And because there are more important issues out there, like something's on my radar that I mentioned last week that I'll you know, we're going to end here and into just briefly discuss that, we want to continue to keep our eyes on the border crisis and the reason for the lack of in-depth reporting from all media outlets pretty much. And the president post number forty six was challenged on that. And hats off to some of the media to ask some of these questions. A lot of more softball questions. But, you know, Brandon, it just breaks my heart to know that a parent can push their son or daughter off and say, all right, good luck. I'm on my hand you off to this so-called teenager or adult who could be a coyote or a who works for the cartel and travel. How many hundreds, maybe a thousand miles to go to our border and hope for a better life or to go up and meet Uncle Bill, who's been waiting for this kid? I just can't imagine. And people might say, well, you don't know their situation because you're not there. But still, you know, there's a lot of that. We don't understand what's going on. And how can we not say there isn't a crisis at our borders with people coming across with with covid-19. And that's not the only issue, but just with that and have different intent, evil intentions in mind. How can we not talk about these things in our own border? But like you said, I mean, human trafficking is a big business in inside of our country and outside of our country. And I think a lot of people don't understand that. They haven't looked into it, but definitely look into human trafficking. Child trafficking is a big million billion dollar business that affects a lot of people, a lot of families. But, yeah, it's it's definitely something that that needs to be considered from all aspects. Right. And a lot of times when I'm working, I was on a job site early yesterday and notes that are a lot of Hispanics working and they are hard working. They you know, they they hustle. And and I love to be able to talk. And I have some in the past, like when when there's election going on, they would ask me, what do you think about Trump or who's who he's running against? And, you know, I'd encourage you to talk to Hispanic families who are here in the States, whether they're here illegally or legally. And I say Hispanics, because that's who I think of first. A lot of them are from South American countries. But there are also, you know, Asians and people from the Middle Eastern countries who are coming over illegally. Yeah. And I think it's important to talk to them, to find out their experience, like you said, to find out whether they're here legally, illegally, you know. But but are there issues within our government? I mean, our government has a lot of issues. I think that's known. But are there are there issues within our government for immigration policy? How difficult is it to become a citizen? I mean, I was born here. You were born here. So we don't understand what it's like to come across to immigrate to America. So so there's a lot of those things that we need to understand and why why people are pushing to come across the border, whether through the trafficking, through illegal means. Is it because it is so difficult to immigrate to America? Are there gaps and holes in our government that we need to hold our government accountable for? Right. You would think we'd figured it out by now. But and so that's why I get so frustrated when we're more focused on lock down and or bashing the left or bashing the right. Why can't we figure this out to make it a better process? I have a my mom has a step. Sister, and she's living here. She came over from Vietnam about 12 years ago and she don't speak a lick of English, but she went through the process and, you know, yeah, some people say, well, she got the lottery and she was able to become a citizen. Well, yeah, but she went through the process and she she's doing fine. And so, yeah, those are sensitive issues that we need to keep our eye on the ball. You know, we don't need to get distracted by all the mainstream media, current events and all the drama, because there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I think we as Americans should get involved and, you know, get our local congressman involved, because I just I just sense that there's there's an end game at play here and we just need to be sensitive to that. I've been reading Brandon White Fragility because I was challenged and I was challenged to read that during all the discussions and debates that got us to this point as far as starting a podcast during the the election last year. And I am really pressing forward on this, and I don't agree with 90 percent of what's being said on there. And I want to unpack this in some future episodes on this podcast and the whole idea of critical race theory. For those of you who are buying into this, it is very dangerous. It's a dangerous philosophy and it's being taught in some our school systems in a lot. Fortunately, there are governors who are fighting and, you know, to to smash this evil concept. And so I just wanted you to be ready. We're going to talk about this. And if you want to discuss it or debate, I'm happy to do so. But I got to obviously do my research in. But it just it's where there's smoke, there's fire, and it does not look good. Yeah. You know, I think as we're discussing all this, I think I think there's one common theme. And as Americans, we like to sit back. We like to be the quarterback from the couch. We like to to complain and not really do anything about it. So it's not only a challenge to your listeners, but it's also a challenge to me. If you have an issue with something, if you have an issue, what's being taught in schools, if you have an issue with what's going on at the border, if you have an issue with any aspect of your government or your life, get involved, find out what's going on, go to your school board meetings, go to your Seattle City Council meetings, get involved, ask those tough questions, but actually find out what's going on instead of just sitting back and complaining that doesn't do any good for anyone. Yeah, you know, to my friends who are lean liberal or progressive because they challenged me on these things. Are you involved in local government? And not that I'm going to run for office or try to get a job. But like Brandon said to your point, get involved here. You can't send an email to a congressman. They might not read it, but, hey, it helps. You know, squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? And certainly those are some things that are on our radar. We didn't talk much. I haven't heard much on the wigger people who are in isolation camps in China, but that's obviously, unfortunately, still going on. There's so many things that need to be addressed. And did you see some of the press conference yesterday, the Biden stop laughing and seriously, you know, there's the trip up the stairs. And the more I watch that or the more I heard about it, I feel like, man, not only is it sad, it's just like I could easily step up the stairs. I tripping all over the place myself, but it just felt bad. And the whole world, the country's watching the press conference. And we had this is our leader in Iran who's supposed to lead the American people in. And Unitas and I just cringed in. You know, I do need to pray for a president more. And those who are writing what he needs to say, you know, without accidentally starting a war from a slip up or what he might say. So it's just, yeah, I need a trust. The Lord. More on that. Yeah, I know. I chuckled a little bit. But I mean, we all need to understand whether you are not a Trump fan, whether you're not a Biden fan, whether you said hashtag, not my president. Let's all remember that we are Americans, no matter whether you like it or not, he is our president. Even if you're hoping that he fails or his government and his cabinet that he put in place fails, then you're hoping that the big bust that we are all crashes. So just keep that in mind that that whatever he does and from his leadership and from the people he put in position is going to guide all of us. And we are all on this bus together. Yep. And hence, if that gets you. Fired up. That's why we need to everyone needs to get involved, whether it's having a conversation with another person, I think it's going to start there and how we vote and and, yeah, we can't sit here and whine about it all day long. Follow team chat up on Instagram and Twitter. Hey, Brandon, let's listen in this episode with some dad jokes, what people have been waiting for all day long. You ready? You have some favorite ones you want to pull up for me? Are you ready for this? I'm ready. Brandon, what's your one? You go first. Since you are the guest host today, I'll give you that privilege. How about that? Gotcha. I'll go with a patriotic one first. OK, you're American when you go into the bathroom and you're American when you come out of the bathroom. But do you know what you are while you're in the bathroom? No, I don't. Europeans. All right. I like that one. OK, that's good. Good start, babe. I like that. All right, here's one. Do you know the last thing my grandfather said to me before he kicked the bucket was that grandson? Watch how far I could kick the bucket. That was OK. All right. Where you go with this one? All right. You like that? All right. What's forced password? Uh, I don't know. One forced one. OK, I like that tribute to Forrest Gump, they're not sure if our kids like that one, but I like it maybe went over their head. Yep. All right, here's one. You're going to love this one. What concert? What concert costs just 45 cents. What's that? 50 cent featuring Nickelback. You like that? Got the change that to change. See, people are just rolling as they listen to this podcast. That's right. That's right. How do you make holy water a religious one? I don't know all the hell out of it. That's good. I'm not sure it happens like that one, but that's that's a good one. All right. All right. So let's see. I was playing chess with my friend and he said, let's make this interesting. So we stop playing chess, OK? OK. I like that. I like playing chess. But why are there no knock knock jokes about America? Why are there no knock knock jokes? Because freedom rings. Oh, that's a good patriotic one. And we should we should have an ad on that one. Let me go first. Yeah, I know. I know. All right. What what am I on here. OK, after dinner my wife asked if I could clear the table. I needed a running start, but I made it to the deuce. Like to see that in person. Would I have a big table? But yeah, maybe for you if I have five kids, it's a big table right there. What do you call a bear without any teeth? I don't know. A gummy bear. That's a good one. I have to tell my kids that martiens that one. See if they gave me the eye roll. All right. Here, here's the last one. Here we go. How do you make a Kleenex dance blow in it? Let's let's close you put some boogie in it, man. All right, I want to thank everybody for listening to this podcast. Send us your questions or let us know if we triggered you on anything we discussed today. Send us your predictions on what or who may be canceled next by team weakness. So remember, get out and start a conversation with a buddy or coworker this week and listen to them fight through the stereotypes and find common ground will be a stronger America if we aren't divided. It's up to each of us to figure that part out until next time. Chatted up, America. Thank you for listening to Chat Up America. Keep in touch and send any questions or feedback to team chat up at Chat Up America. Dot us.