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Jan. 23, 2018 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
21:26
3974 WHY YOU FIGHT | Stefan Molyneux's 'A Night For Freedom' Speech
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Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce this next speaker.
This guy captivated me into listening to him speak.
Just him and a white background for like a thousand hours.
He's one of the smartest people you'll ever hear talk.
Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for Stefan Molyneux!
Good evening.
How are you guys doing tonight?
This is...
Okay, I got a speech and all, which we'll talk about in a sec, but this is a beautiful, beautiful room to be in tonight.
I love meeting you guys.
I love hearing your stories.
I think I'm gonna say it.
I love the diversity.
I do. It's not easy.
It's not easy for me to say, but I'm gonna say it.
So, like, okay, so I put this speech together, because, like, everyone's like, is he just a studio band?
What is he, like, live? Nobody knows, right?
Because I haven't been out public speaking for, like, half a decade, and so on, so...
Now we have fans upstairs, and we have fans downstairs.
So, I got this speech, right?
And I'm half and half, and I'm going to ask you guys which way I should go, okay?
Now listen, this is a good speech.
It's going to be nice, but I had this, like, I want us to go make friends in the world and win people over.
So I got that speech and it's positive and it's inspiring and good stuff.
But then seeing the hassle that Mike Cernovich and his team went through to gather us all here tonight...
I'm not entirely sure how friendly I feel.
But can we just get a couple of cheers for Mike Cernovich and his team?
Without him, I'm just a guy on a street corner.
laughter So, I don't know, like I'm feeling kind of angry about how difficult it is for us to get together and have a conversation about things that matter.
But I'm also like, I know that there's a lot of love in the room and if we bring that love to the world, so am I going angry or am I going loving?
Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, okay.
If you want me to get angry, like I can do both, but if you want me to get angry, what do you think?
All right, all right. I got it here.
Now, if you want me to bring the love, to bring the love.
Oh. Oh.
Because we all know love Trump's hate, right?
We're all there.
Okay, okay. All right.
So, I'm not tearing this up, right?
We're gonna do this journey? Yeah?
Okay, alright. So...
How much of your day is spent fighting the fight?
A lot? Like, what have we got?
Give me some hands here. Top is like me, like just non-stop.
And down here is like your pussy.
Like where... Where are we?
Like up and down? Okay, so here's the problem.
This is the problem I kind of wanted to talk about tonight.
They're making more crazy people than we can fix.
No, look, it's a conveyor belt, right?
So, okay, what do we got?
We got daycare, right?
You've got no breast milk, and you've got a bunch of toddler psychopaths around, and you've got a really indifferent bunch of people who'd rather be on their cell phones than change your diaper.
That's going to make you kind of twitchy, right?
We've got the government schools, we've got some crazy churches, we've got the media, we've got lots of stuff.
This conveyor belt of crazy people is way faster.
They're breaking them faster than we can fix them.
So what does that mean?
No, you were cheering for the first thing there.
You wanted that, okay.
No, it means that we better start making some friends.
Some friends. You ever get this thing, it's like, first of all, they say, like all you do, man, is you talk to an echo chamber of just people who think like you and you don't like step out.
And then the moment you step out, it's like, what are you doing on InfoWars, man?
Yeah, because those guys, they don't need any exposure to philosophy.
Who does, right? So, I do a lot of fighting, you do a lot of fighting, but statistically, if all we do is fight, we're going to lose.
Now Trump, he went out and made some friends.
I'm sure he held his nose a little bit and he's like...
But the guy went out and made some friends.
And so I'm going to talk a little bit about the love and the making of friends that I think we can bring to the world because we need it.
There's an amazing energy in this room.
Do you feel it? I mean, it's amazing.
But this room is not the world.
You know, we need to try and find a way to bring the love and the beauty that's in this room out into the world.
And that means, you know, it's the old quote from Nietzsche, you all know it.
He says, be careful when you fight monsters that you do not yourself become a monster.
For when you look into the abyss, you know this one, right?
For when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
And I'm concerned that we spend so much time fighting that what we're not doing is we're not telling people what we're fighting for.
What are we fighting for?
Freedom! Freedom!
Yeah! Yes!
We are fighting for freedom now.
I'm going to be really presumptuous.
Okay. Fucking Owen.
Jesus. I'm going to be really presumptuous and I'm going to tell you what it looks like.
Because, you know, the soldier does not fight because he hates what's in front of him.
He fights because he loves what's behind him.
So I'm going to give you guys a vision.
A vision of what it is that we're fighting for.
Because if we can sell people on that vision, if we can sell people why we fight, then we won't just look like angry people who hate everything.
We're going to show this is what we fight for.
Now, if you're a parent, we got parents in the room?
All right. You don't raise your hand at home, right?
No raising your hand at home.
So parents, we have some degree, we know what we're fighting for, but for those of you who are that way, this is what we're fighting for.
I'll tell you what I would like and tell me what you think.
So, I would like to wake up in the morning without feeling like I'm being replaced.
That would be nice.
Well, I'd like to wake up in the morning and not be on the bipolar roller coaster of checking Bitcoin prices, but that's another...
I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams.
I'm living in a garbage can.
I can take first class on the way out.
I have to hitchhike home.
Anyway. I would like to trade with people in the world who wish to trade with me.
Just, it's simple.
It's a little thing, isn't it?
Hey, I got something I want to sell you.
You want to buy it? We can do that.
Free trade. Free trade.
I would like that.
I would like that very much.
I would like to offend people without fearing for my life.
To our good friends downstairs, our licorice buddies, all dressed head to toe and black, I say, "Let us pass unmolested and you can say whatever crazy shit you want tomorrow." I would like to see happier families in the world.
I would like to be out with my wonderful daughter and see something other than scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll as your child dangles from some godforsaken device in the cold.
I would like to see the freedom to be home to raise your own children.
Everybody, how many women are here?
I can't tell. We got...
Thank you, ladies.
Thank you for coming and thank you for making the world a beautiful place because you know this shitty deal that was offered to women.
We know the deal, right? Ladies?
You won't have to be dependent on a man.
Well, a politician, but not a husband who loves you.
You can forego The wonderful ability to take a life from a little Pac-Man heartbeat deep in your womb, raise that child to be a scion of Western civilization, to implant values and truth and beauty and a love for justice in that child.
You don't need that!
Because you can sit under a fluorescent office and you can fill out your TPS reports.
And that's going to be beautiful for you!
No children, no loving husband.
But don't worry, you'll get double the money for your family.
No, you won't. We just raised your taxes.
Oh, and by the way, make sure you don't have too many children, because you see, too many children, it's bad for the environment.
Too many children, zero population growth.
We don't need... Oh, wait.
Shit, we do. Sorry, I forgot about that.
Let's open the gates to the third world!
In they come! Psych!
Come on. One of the worst psychs in the history of humanity.
Ah, we got robots. Who needs it?
So... I would love to live in a world Where we really need each other again.
You know, one of the things, I dislike the welfare state for just about every conceivable reason, but what I love or what I hate most about the welfare state is that we don't need each other anymore.
We don't need communities. Old people, they don't need their kids anymore because they just can disappear into the shadows of the welfare state of old age pensions and stuff.
We don't need each other anymore.
We don't We don't talk to each other as much anymore.
We don't have communities. Neighbors don't know each other.
Everybody's kind of isolated in these vertical pillars of government subsidies.
And if we don't have that, if we have a free society without the state doing its horrible social engineering eugenics of the welfare state, we actually need each other again.
And wouldn't you like to wake up in the morning and feel needed and feel valued as part of a community again?
Lord be, that would be wonderful.
I'll tell you something else, and for those of you who know my beliefs about religion, this may come as a surprise.
I'll tell you something that I really want.
I want to go back to church.
Did you guys grow up going to church?
You grew up going to church? Okay, where else did you ever talk about things that mattered?
Where else did you ever talk about virtue, the soul, your future, goodness?
I don't like where that puts me in the pantheon, but okay.
You like Free Domain Radio, I appreciate that.
You guys are the reason I'm here.
But I want a place where we can congregate and talk about things that matter, things that are important, things that are valuable, things that give us meaning and purpose and joy.
Because if you don't have virtue, you can't have love.
Virtue is the price you pay to get to the cathedral called love.
And do you know why they don't want us here together?
Do you know why they don't want us talking?
Because they don't want us to know the truth.
They don't want us to have virtue so that we never know love." I want to go to church and I want there to be "not my truth," "not your truth," "not his truth," "not that person's truth," "not that gender's truth," "not that racist truth." I want there to be one truth!
And that truth is not a conclusion.
That truth is a process.
We agree to submit to reason and evidence and we can all join together under the clear blue sky of philosophy and get along for the first time in human history.
Listen. This is a new idea.
Oh, you guys are the test audience.
Okay, so I hope you like it.
Okay. They say the racists can't get along.
Don't believe it. Listen, listen.
Back in the day, Europe went through 300 years of religious warfare.
After the printing press, after, you know, Zwingalians, Anabaptists, Calvinists, you name it, right?
And they fought like hell. What were they fighting for?
They were fighting for control over the state.
Because the state was in control of religion.
So if you win and you get control of the state, you can use the power of the state to smash your religious opponents and competitors.
How do we solve that?
Separation of? Yeah, baby!
Oh, you guys are good.
You guys are good. Separation of church and state.
When was the last time there was a religious war in Europe after the separation of church and state?
Doesn't happen. How about this?
Separation of race and state.
I guarantee you, we can get along.
There's none of this, we're all going back to our separate corners.
Sorry, not going to happen.
Separation of church and state, separation of gender and state, separation of race and state, everyone can get along!
Because there's no winners and losers.
We can all negotiate, we can all get along.
Which means some of the stuff that the left really likes, the race politics, the affirmative action, all of the injustice that is perpetrated between the races, gone, baby!
Deep in the rear view.
So... That's something that I would really like.
I think that would be wonderful and history shows that it can work and it works beautifully and I want that for everyone so that we can start to appreciate each other as human beings and stop seeing each other as categories of political power.
If we can sell a vision of peace, love, freedom and you know like everyone says oh yeah my movement is all about peace and love and freedom but we actually have the reason and the evidence and the philosophy behind it and we know how to get there.
If we can sell a vision of people happy in their families, if we can sell a vision of people able to take the necessary steps, not just to fall in love, but to stay in love.
To get all of the joys and fruits of community, of family, of peaceful parenting, of a peaceful world, of trade, of prosperity, of growth, and a sustainable society.
Don't you feel like, aren't you sort of sick and tired of this stupid cycle?
Hey, look, we have freedoms.
We can be wealthy. Oh, no, the government's taking over everything.
Oh, no, we have so much money that they can use it as debt and leverage and borrowing and unfunded liabilities.
Over and over this stupid cycle.
And the only way to break the cycle, what was that word we talked about earlier?
Freedom! That's right.
So, given that they're making more crazy people than we can fix, the only way that we can win is to tell people what we're fighting for.
Freedom, peace, truth, beauty, reason, evidence, and love.
Yes. The love that sustains us and makes every day a treasure.
If we can sell the vision of what we want, People will be interested in what we say.
If we can sell them the vision of where we want to get to and how happy we could all be and how peaceful and sustainable the world could be, Then people will be interested in how we get there and what we have to say in the here and now.
Now, the left says, what does the left say?
Oh, well, you know, if you give everything up to the government, well, you get peace, you get security, you get free healthcare, you get student debt forgiveness, you get all this one.
So they're selling something.
It's a childish fantasy of amniotic sac indifference to maturity, but it's something that they have to offer.
And if all we are is like punch, punch, fight, fight, hate, anger, Well, we become a caricature and a stereotype that they can exploit.
And it's not really what we're about.
We don't love the fight. We love what's on the other side of the fight.
If you get stuck with some horrible illness and you fight that illness, why do you fight it?
You fight it for everything you want to do after you're cured.
You fight it because after you get cured, you want to write a symphony.
You want to write a book.
You want to build a sailboat.
What do you want to do in a free world?
What do you want to do in a free world?
- We fight in the same world, we fight in the same world, we can stand to our world. - We all have a vision of what we want to do when the fight is over.
Let us not fall in love with the fight.
Let us not be consumed by the fight.
But remember, how did the three wise men find their way to Jesus?
They followed the lights.
They followed the star.
We need to be that light.
Fight? Yes, we need to fight.
But let us ignite ourselves into the passion of possibility for what a free will could look like.
So people say, "I don't know what they're on, but I want some of that." So I'm not going to ask you to promise me, but I'd like it if you thought about it, that tomorrow and the day after you're going to go out there and say, "Well, here's what I want." Let me tell you what I want.
Let me tell you what we could have.
Let me tell you what the world could be if we're free.
And that way, when you fight, people will know not that you fight, but what you're fighting for.
And then they will join in that love of the possibility of human freedom and your fight will make sense.
You won't be angry. You'll be hopeful and frustrated at how far it is sometimes to get there.
It is the Promised Land of which many great orators have spoken.
We must remember the Promised Land.
We must remember what we're fighting for.
So that we are something more than what we fight.
Can you imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing to fight for?
With having achieved the freedom that you want?
If we fight too much, we become fighters only.
And that is not going to be enough to rescue people from the curse of irrationality that the powers that be are inflicting all over the world at all times.
Remember the love.
Remember the future.
Remember the promised land.
Lead people with inspiration and fight for something, not just against everything.
Thank you so much, my friends.
I appreciate your time.
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