The Speech Guys

(This episode is rated 16+, best-suited for audiences 16 years and older, as it discusses sex in the context of an ending romantic relationship. This content begins around the 45 minute mark.

The Speech Guys pondered General Lee's model for being a good loser in war. But what about being a loser in love? Chuck Noland is the speech-giver from the 2000 film, Castaway, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Mike, Matt, Landon, and Ross are the speech-thinkers in the second installment of the "Speeches By Losers" series. Some nuggets to look out for in this episode...

"Is the end of permanent vows the end of cool love stories?"

--Matt

Why Castaway is first and foremost a love story, not a survival story...

--Landon

"Providence is a more liberating notion than destiny. Destiny is enslavement--being bound to something inescapable. Providence is agency and grace together."

--Mike

Why Noland's survival ordeal is a model for perfecting the call to do ordinary work perfectly and being receptive to grace...

--Mike

"It's too easy to leave a trail of wounded people behind in our pursuit of a partner."

--Matt, quoting an online article (The URL is posted below from "Desiring God".)

The four articles discussed in this podcast (in order) can be accessed with the following URLs:

www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a3738…l-broken-heart/

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-pr…p-10-tips-men

www.desiringgod.org/articles/its-not-you-its-god

www.artofmanliness.com/people/relati…p-like-a-man/

The post-credits audio comes from National Public Radio's StoryCorps project and is Mr. Walter Dixon's account of losing a romantic relationship only after surviving an incredible ordeal. Access it through this URL:

www.npr.org/2019/07/27/74510483…moved-on-without-hi

Episode Rating: PG for discussion of slavery in the United States

The Speech Guys learn how to hold their heads high by kicking off season 3 with the "Speeches By Losers" series--headlined by Confederate General-in-Chief's letter written to his wife, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, shortly after the Confederacy's loss to the United States at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.

Read the letter here:

leefamilyarchive.org/family-papers/…e-1863-july-12

References:

The opening and closing song is by Adam Agin, entitled "The Road".

The thumbnail image of Lee was used from WondriumDaily.com.

Join Landon, Matt, Mike, and Ross for the final episode of season 3 as they listen to and discuss excerpts from an interview with Rene Girard conducted by Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institute in December 2009.

See the full interview at the URL below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNkSBy5wWDk

Matt puts the Speech Guys to work, tackling CS Lewis' arguably prophetic "Abolition of Man"--a collection of speeches presented at King's College in Newcastle, England in February 1943.

"Chicago... the city of Saturday."

--Sean Dust

"If your child goes to the Grand Canyon and says, 'meh', there's something wrong with them."

--Mike

"The Tau... the doctrine that some things are really true. To question it is to ask for proof that something that can't exist."

--Matt

"You can have your choice of five major religions... Christianity, Judaism, Confuciansim, Islam, and Buddhism... Modern religions have been born of excess and luxury--not scarcity. They aren't a foundation upon which the world was built."

--Mike

"The actual people of non-faith aren't atheists. They're the nones."

--Mike

"You can't take one part of the Tau or else you lose the whole thing."

--Ross

"If you've spent your educational efforts at teaching children how to debunk things... they're going to be very good... at debunking things."

--Matt

A note on listener discretion... at approximately 36 minutes, Mike lets the expletive "sh*t" slip.

America's longest-living POTUS takes the mound for the Speech Guys' second time at bat in the Speeches By Prophets series. Mike's Dad, Rich Schaefer, makes his second visit to the Speech Guys' digital studios by commenting on the role that JC and Mike's Mom had on influencing the evolution of his own environmental sensibilities.

"I gotta say. You are three very intelligent fellows."

--Rich Schaefer

"People don't like hearing from your Mom or Dad to make sacrifices let alone a guy who lives 1,000 or 3,000 miles away."

--Mike

"What if a Republican had been in office during the 1970s' Energy Crisis? Would political attitudes on environmental policy be flipped between parties?"

--Mike

"Every society is going to have vegetables that it doesn't want to eat."

--Matt

"You'll find a fact that suits you--that allows you to live more comfortably along your baseline lifestyle."

--Matt

The article that Mike's Dad wrote for Mother Earth News can be accessed here:

www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-l…zm0z22fmzram/

Listen to President Carter's full speech here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpEAefTT-d0

An audio clip from Rocky IV (1985) is used from

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxj1NOxcRUM

It's Martin Luther King Day early this year... or late. Regardless, Matt, Ross, and Mike step up to the plate and talk MLK's legacy, how the nature of race conversations seem to have changed between 1968 and 2022, and how they'd talk to their kids about race.

"Complaining about (accusations) of white privilege is small change compared with what Black people have had to deal with in the context of racism."

--Matt

"Why is the political discussion whether or not something's a problem and not a question of the manner in which to go about solving it?"

--Mike

"The elephant in the room is that, no matter how great of a point we might make, at the end of the day, we're three white guys and we don't know what it's like to live 50, 60, 70 years as a minority."

--Mike

"I think the reason that the conversation on race gets messy now is because our culture can't use God as the center in that conversation anymore."

--Matt

The intro for this episode is a performance of excerpts of "I Have A Dream" by children from Watkins Elementary School students. The video of that performance can be accessed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8_1NYYKixM

The Speech Guys tip their hats (and masks) to the English Monarchy by drinking and thinking over Queen Elizabeth II's April 2020 speech, "We Will Meet Again".

The Show:

Recalling COVID lockdown experiences, initial reactions to the Queen's speech, and lessons to pass on from COVID

The Quotable Quotes:

"Will we have a short or long memory with COVID... when did animosity between Americans end regarding the Great Depression?"

--Landon

"How would COVID have been different without the Internet?"

--Mike

"How much of our behaviors regarding COVID were based upon information that was not only easy to generate, but also easy to access?"

--Mike

"Americans can't recreate the monarchy. It has to emerge naturally from the spiritual ethers of our humanity."

--Mike

"There's no devotion to the sacred brain of Jesus."

--Matt

The 'Facts That Matter' Check:

President Biden is quoted as saying "the pandemic is over". Still, approximately 500 people die each week from the virus (NY Times).

Governor Pritzker and doctor who opposed mask mandates...

www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/doct…30de9e54.html

The percent of British citizens who opposed the existence of the monarchy... www.bbc.com/news/uk-18237280

Technical and professional background on Dr. Robert Malone...

www.politifact.com/article/2022/ja…as-vaccine-sci/

General references:

The photo is used from the Associated Press.

The audio from President Biden was accessed from this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHT1enFH2sI.

The audio from Queen Elizabeth's speech was accessed from this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klmuggOElE.

Pull out your milk pens, TV Guide, and Windows XP update manual. The Speech Guys put their minds and hearts to the questions posed by the 1990s and early 2000s TV Dads. A speech given by Debra Barone, played by Patricia Heaton, in the TV series, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is the focal point for discussion. Mike's grandmother, Audrey Tinoco (Episode #12: "Holey Shoes, Mom-Made Clothes, and Spooky Radio Shows in the Great Depression"), makes a return appearance to introduce the crew on the phone call! Here's some snippets to see what this one is all about...

"What explains the chasm between "Father Knows Best" and 'Everybody Loves Raymond'?"

"Is relatability in TV and film the conceptual response to nihilism?"

--Matt

"Tim Taylor.. neighbor has eyes and a forehead."

--Matt

"Men and women can't live together ABC said. So, what holds them with each other then? That was the point of the show, 'Home Improvement'?"

--Landon

"The housework by parents is even more important now as Grandma Tinoco pointed out because kids just see the parents on the couch--not working, if they're not doing that."

--Landon

"If my daughter is okay with being treated that way (by a jackass), I'd take that as a fault of my own as a father."

--Ross

Post-credits scene... Ross breaks down how to do the Current River like a champ.

This episode is rated PG-13 as it discusses the topic of sex, abortion, and contraception.

While the Speech Guys are fans of, well, speeches... they aren't fans of making claims without doing their best to verify it from outside sources.

The most prominent data referenced in this episode can be accessed via URLs at the bottom of this page. (Unfortunately, Soundcloud doesn't let us create links in this space.) While you scroll down there, check out some of this episode's quotable quotes!

"I don't think we should equate pregnancy as something that's terrifying. Pregnancy is a gift."

--Anne Marie

"Abstinence was communicated as a lot of 'no's'--not really what you were saying 'yes' too."

--Matt

"I feel like the whole 'scare thing' (about sex) is kind of an indicator that the kids aren't ready to talk about it--at least not in that setting."

--Ross

"Whenever the discussion gets into intent of individuals, especially in today's political climate, I like looking at the facts on the ground. Intent of a group is hard to really know--especially of large groups, in this case, Planned Parenthood. There's no doubt that there's people at PP who are better people than me. Certainly a lot of people who are at least sincere in trying to help and serve."

--Mike

"54% of people who have an abortion were using artificial contraception..."

www.guttmacher.org/news-release/20…nth-they-became

Yes, this article does link to "Secular Pro-Life". But within this article, you'll find links that take you directly to Pew and Guttmacher's original data that Mike and Matt reference regarding the relationship between abortions by state and types of contraception coverage required by law.

secularprolife.org/2018/09/pro-cho…e-just-as-many/

The Speech Guys do their best to stay out of the mansplaining zone for Episode #27 as they discuss a speech given by Dr. Carrie Gress at the Family Institute of Washington. The speech was based upon her book entitled, "Ultimate Makeover: The Transforming Power of Motherhood",

A few Speech Guy nuggets to sip and think on this episode:

"This is what my parents felt."

--Matt

"You're in this water without realizing what it is. Apply this to being in mom-water."

--Mike

"I think motherhood requires a lot of the same muscles as religious faith. It can be awkward at times. Goofy-feeling. But, also meaningful and special. But we all know we can't just invest in religion when it feels good and right, just like with being a mom... or parent."

--Mike

"What are the things in our lives that are so present that we see through it?"

--Matt

"Clare's experience of parenting is just so different from mine. And it's not accidental. I feel like it's very much tied to her being a mom."

--Matt

"Most Christians believe there is some kind of connection between sex, marriage, and family. and the modern world has kind of deviated from that."

--Matt

Post-credits scene... Mike tries his hand at speech-giving... a back-up best man speech for Stephen and Teagan Barany's June 25th wedding