Latest / Beyond Labels Premium / Episode #41: Are You Looking for Community?

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Episode #41: Are You Looking for Community? · Beyond Labels Premium

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: We moved for jobs and it was like, let me look for a house.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, these are the houses available.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Which ones can I uh do I have neighbors I can tolerate?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Are they fine?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: But fine isn't good enough anymore because you've lost the potentially, some of us at least have lost the veneer of community at work.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're wanting to hang out with the neighbors and you're like, well, I don't have as much in common with them as I thought.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe even some cases have become adversarial.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, this isn't really a community for me.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it could be a negative community.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Beyond Labels.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Cena McCullough.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Today, Joel is actually unable to attend.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's had computer issues for well over a week.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: He told me his um computer basically exploded with the battery coming out of it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, Joel and I are, you know, not the most technologically advanced.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we're doing the best that we can.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um his computer did get fixed, happy to say, but now he's traveling.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: So today uh I was actually able to uh procure a last-minute cheap guest, but a cute guest nonetheless.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's my husband, Dr.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Donald McCullough.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, welcome to the program, Donny.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hello.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hi.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh before we begin our conversation, I wanted to mention that next week, Joel and I will not be on the podcast.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're taking the week off because we will be at our Polyface Health Summit.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is our annual summit that we host together, Two Days of Truth.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: There are still tickets available.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's next week, uh July 20.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, June 24th and 25th.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Tickets can be found at polyfaceyum.com.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's get started.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Joel and I recorded some episodes about community, form an intentional community.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've talked a lot about that with one of our guests, um, Josh Lewis.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: We also had a podcast episode titled Exit and Build, where we spoke about intentional communities and how my family has decided to find community intentionally and move there.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So those episodes received the largest response that we've ever had from our viewing and listening audience.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's fascinating.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was speaking about this phenomenon with my husband, and he had some really interesting thoughts on it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I invited him to the show today to come and share his thoughts on our pursuit of community.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Go take it away, Danny.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So hi everyone again.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, it was it was after that podcast, and Cena was sharing some of the comments, and we were talking about it.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And between our journey, between some of the comments we got off there, other folks we know that we've chatted with, it seems like it's become a common theme, especially post-COVID pandemic, that people are walking around like looking for a community, which is kind of funny when you think about it, because almost all of us, now that we're not trapped in our homes, are surrounded by people.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like there's so many people looking for community.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it so hard for each of us to find that community?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: It almost seems like just walk outside your front door, turn to your left, turn to your right, you're gonna find someone.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's someone else looking for community there.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So why is it we're not meshing, right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: If if there's so many people.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and over the breakfast table, we we were chatting about this, and the thought occurred to me, I think it's because while there's tons of people around us, we don't necessarily have ties with the people that are currently living around us.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: The US, for the past I don't know, two or three generations has kind of reorganized itself from the old days of farming-based communities to communities based on what you do for a living, what's your job, right?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and and I know from our own personal journey, my parents, you're seeing it, your parents' journey, like we moved to be where our job was.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: We found the job first, and then the location was secondary, and it was like, okay, we're fine living there.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we moved there and we just found whatever houses were available at the time that I had we had to start a job.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how we were picking our community, was based on job, and the whole country's done that, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that was fine when all of us were going into the office, uh, because we had coworkers sitting next to us on the right and left, and we were chatting with people, we had a tie that binds us together, either we didn't like our job or we love our jobs, or we were just chatting about whatever this is a football game yesterday, whatever, and I think that was fine.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think what's happened is as less people there's still a lot of people that have to go into a job, but less people are going into the office um every day.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: We have at least lost that office community that a lot of us had.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what's driving a lot of this is that we had a veneer of community, if you will, with our coworkers, and that's gone.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and so that's where I'm wondering if a lot of this is coming from, and a lot of this angst and anxiousness you're starting to feel from people is that that the community that we had is somewhat gone, and now we're all waking up and looking around and being like, the people that live directly around me, they're not my community.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're fine people, but they're not my community.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I agree.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we talked about we're looking for like-minded individuals.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of gathering because we're choosing a location based on job first, now we're choosing on basically building a tribe first.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one thing that that one positive thing that came out of this whole COVID situation for our family is that you were able to procure a fully remote job.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that gave us the freedom to be able to move wherever we want.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of having to move for wherever the job was located, we actually had the ability to sit there and say, okay, where do we actually want to live?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: What is our actual driving force now to decide where are we going to plant our roots and raise our family?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we've never had that opportunity before in our lifetimes.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, our parents, our grandparents didn't do that.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And when we realized that, we were on a walk together.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And when we realized that I felt this sense of freedom, it was like this weight just lifted off of me and the possibilities were endless, but it was also scary, right?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was this space that we had never been in before.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but a good scary, right?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Pushing the boundaries a little bit.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and I think that, like you said, the people who aren't going into the office still have realized that it was a veneer, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: That it wasn't this deep connection of people in the office who are, you know, are their tribe.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: For some, maybe they did find one or two people, but most of us, it wasn't our tribe.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think even though a lot of people have gone back into the office, I think a lot of the people feeling the same way that we are.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the people did see that veneer.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that veil was lifted.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: They maybe didn't stay in contact with the people in their in their office environment, you know, like they would have, like they wouldn't call them up like a friend or whatnot.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they didn't have that type of continual relationship.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so they could see kind of through that veil and realize, oh, wait, I really don't have the community that I want.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking for something deeper, a deeper kind of connection with people.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's it, that's part of what happened to us too, right?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Your community went away.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so I mean, yes, personally, I could definitely speak to that.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I had friends at work that I was perfectly fine.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: I liked going in, chatting with them, hanging out with them at work, having side conversations, you know, fun conversations, talking about hobbies and that kind of stuff.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when the pandemic first started, and we all went to work from home, we already had these personal relationships, and we continued them over the community chat or every once in a while having a Zoom meeting.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: But as time went on, you could tell like those ties just they weren't that strong to begin with.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't hanging out and having barbecues with these people before the pandemic and stuff.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then especially as some of them moved on to other roles or other companies or whatnot, you find yourself not communicating with these people at all.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And not because you didn't like them or whatever, but obviously the ties weren't there, they weren't as strong.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think a lot of people are finding that.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that goes back to that whole thing, everyone working remotely, those relationships they had probably weren't as strong as they thought.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the second piece of this is I think it was already happening, happening pre-COVID, but I think COVID accelerated it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: They talk about the polarization of America and whatnot.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think too, COVID really accelerated the whole thing of looking at other people and realizing that people think radically different than you on some very important issues and that sometimes they aren't compatible with each other.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's going to be around vaccines, lockdowns, masks, or other political hot topic political issues.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like people have gotten more strident in their stances, where you go back even probably a generation, if people disagree, they probably just politely didn't talk about it with their neighbors and whatnot.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And now I find that becoming harder and harder.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: While we haven't gotten into any arguments with our neighbors, I know there are a couple of neighbors around here that have, like directly if they're next-door neighbors, have gotten into arguments and stuff, and they don't they don't talk to each other anymore over these types of things.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think you're finding that.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really this movement of to bring it back to the original point.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we move for jobs, and it was like, eh, let me look for a house.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, these are the houses available.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Which ones can I do I have neighbors I can tolerate?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Are they fine?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how we did, but find isn't good enough anymore because you've lost the potentially, some of us at least have lost the veneer of community at work.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're wanting to hang out with the neighbors, and you're like, Well, I don't have as much in common with them as I thought.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe even some cases have become adversarial.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, this isn't really a community for me.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it could be a negative community.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so move with like-minded people.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and when we were chatting, you brought up another point, a good point, about how there's less in our culture that connects us now that feeds into this polarization.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you want to speak to that, like about Hollywood in particular and gathering around you know the water cooler?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's another point around it.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's playing into this.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Again, COVID didn't cause this, it did accelerate it.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: This was already happening.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't make this up.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I read it at some place, I just can't tell you where.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if you go back and think of generation and like the Cena R age, like people watch most of my friends and stuff watched the show Friends, right?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so after a friend's episode, you know, the next day or the next day or two, whenever you saw someone, you had to be like, Hey, can you believe this happened or that was funny or whatever?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the same thing with me and my friends in like The Simpsons.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: I remember uh watching The Simpsons.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Simpsons are still on, they're not as good as they were, but back in the 90s and early 2000s, um, people would get together to watch The Simpsons, and the next day at school, people would just be rec r reciting lines from it and stuff.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I still have friends that we quote The Simpsons to each other all the time.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And though, because of the proliferation of more cable channels, you have YouTube, streaming services, all this type of stuff.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on demand and and on demand and binge watching, and you know, not having a time that this one show was on.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think you've kind of lost that tie that was kind of binding us all together as well.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Another sense of community, regardless of how strong the community you think that was, at least was a tie that was bringing people together they could talk about.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really gone too.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't even tell you the last time I've talked with someone about a particular episode of a show or anything like that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: It might be like, hey, did you go watch one show you see and you and I liked it?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, did you go watch season four of Cobra Kai?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And be like, oh yeah, I watched that three months ago, or no, I've only watched one episode.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, you've only watched one episode.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I watched all 10.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember what was in the first episode, so I can't talk to you about it because I don't want to spoil episode three for you, or something like that.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, now we can't talk about it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, as superficial as those things sound, they are ties that bind people together.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think a lot of us have lost that, and and not just personally, but also across the country, we've kind of lost that as well.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's not really these shows that like everyone's watching.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it and I think that makes a lot of sense.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like Hollywood kind of bond tied us together, and whether you agree with that or not, it it's just a fact.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's what happened.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you go talk to other countries and stuff, the picture they have of an American is what Hollywood has created in the movies, right?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so if other countries think that, we so at least subconsciously think about that as well.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're feeding into that stereotype.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually think it's a good thing that we don't necessarily have Hollywood tying us together anymore, right?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because that was um, I don't want to say a superficial thing, because there's nothing wrong with doing with having that be a foundation upon which you're speaking to other people.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: But some of us, like our family in particular, we want something deeper.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so what we have realized is okay, we're looking for um community based on principles, right?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're looking for people with common principles.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we're not the only ones doing this.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Companies are actually doing this too.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um a recent news report came out that the largest pork hacker has actually left California and they're citing the high taxes and the and the red tape.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to, I believe it's the Midwest somewhere where the taxes are lower, not as much regulation.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: They are also looking for more freedom.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of those constitutionalist, you know, freedom-loving individuals are exiting not only local communities, but the states, which happen to be in general the blue states, that we don't perceive to be as freedom-loving.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we are exiting these places and trying to come together in tribes on both individual and company levels, right?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Elon Musk did that as well, right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he moved, I don't know, headquarters, operation, something.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's moved a large portion of his stuff to Austin, Texas.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because of the COVID, because of COVID.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it'll be interesting.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: You had a whole society that was just mixed based on corporations and where folks could get jobs.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you are starting to see that reorganization.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Folks like us, and we know other people who started looking in various parts of the country.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't actually matter if you're left, right, whatever.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: We know people who, and not even just for politics, have been like, you know, I I want to move closer back to family and friends, or I want to move more towards, like you said, people who have similar principles.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And with remote work being a sounds like a permanent thing that will remain for you know as many people who can get away with it as they can.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think you will start to see a reorganization in this country.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's enough people who are already talking about some people are the pioneers that are starting to move, if you will, back to the principal principled areas or are areas that align with their principles.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And as those people move, people who were less likely to move, but also principled would be like, well, now there's more people over there.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone I like is over there.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you'll start seeing this.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, this could be one of those things that historians, a hundred years from now, you know, our great-great-great-grandkids are reading books about American history and culture, and they get to the page in the early as 21st century, and they're like, it was the great reorganization where the country, you know, unmixed or whatever, you know, kind of went back to a more regional type structure.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's not, I'm sure there are lots of people who tell you that's probably a bad thing, but I don't know that it is.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: The country was more regionally based, you know, a hundred years ago or something for most of its history.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if people get more to where they're having a greater sense of community, then I think those areas will be happier overall as well.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so as well.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh another point that that you and I have spoken about in terms of this community and feeling a lack of community is social media.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh everybody who listens to us probably already knows that you know, Joel and I are not big fans of social media.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's kind of the we kind of feel like we're dragged into that arena because we have businesses, um, but we are we we reluctantly utilize social media and I'm barely on it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: And Joel's not even on it, Wendy's on it for him.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um one thing that I thought was interesting in that developed in yours and my conversations is that I obviously have um concerns about social media that that are mainstream concerns, like the addictive qualities.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: And Facebook itself knows it's addictive and that it has this negative impact on particularly teenagers, for example.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: They have their own data showing that.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we already know these negative qualities about it.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: We know, like the founder of, I think it might have been Twitter, one of the social media founders, doesn't even allow his children on social media, right?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: He talks about how it's turned into something that it was not intended to be.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So so we, so that's all well known.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: But one thing that I realized during our conversation was one of the reasons why I am so hesitant about engaging in social media is because I feel like it is pulling people out of my community, right?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: People who I would want, people who I connect with on most on other aspects, it it pulls them away because not only do they get addicted to being on social media, but it's another veneer.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like going into the office and thinking, okay, this is good enough for my community right now.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like there are people who have kind of settled this social media is good enough because I'm at least conversing with somebody, right?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that accelerated during COVID, during lockdowns, where what were your other options going to be, right?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so I have noticed that even as we have come out of these shutdowns and lockdowns, people are the people in our groups that we've been, you know, socializing with are even more um frequently using social media than before.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: It has become like this veneer.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's for me, uh, it's fine if you want to use social media.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing, you know, that's fine, that's your choice, and it can serve a purpose.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: What I'm saying is I think it is another wave of a veneer, and people are thinking they're getting enough of their connectivity, and maybe for some people they are.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: But for people like me, I want this in-person connectivity and not something that's just online.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's a definite difference, even an energetic difference of sharing your biofield, for instance, when you're in proximity to somebody.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's a totally deeper level of connectivity.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I can't argue against any of that.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't use social media either.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I use it less than her because I don't have a business that uses it just for the folks at home.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: I use it less than her because she has her little business page there.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the one thing you could use social media for, and that would actually be a benefit, is if you're sitting here right now going, I don't know where my community should be, I don't like where I live now.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you use it for that to go find like-minded people and to find a way to get together with them as a temporary stopgap until you're able to move near them so that so that those people you're that could that online community becomes an actual physical local community, then it's beneficial.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you use it as like the corporate office, the stopgap, then I mean it fulfills the need, but regardless of the potential evils or downfalls of social media, you are settling.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it comes down to.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: You are settling for something less than what you could have.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's what you want to do, that's your choice, right?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you really love your area because you live on the beach in Malibu, you hate everyone around you, but you love your spot and social media fulfills your need for community.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're making a choice.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're just being lazy, you're you're settling and don't settle.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, now post-COVID, and this happened before COVID, but more so now, we will go out to you know, gatherings with other friends, you know, homeschool gatherings.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: And literally the moms will just pull out their phones.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like we'll be talking in a circle talking, and the mom will just pull out her phone or she'll get a text message.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, hold on, and she'll just answer the text message, like totally removing herself from the moment with the community.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I have this thing about social media that it is pulling us out of community.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there was some movie.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was a famous movie, and C you might remember what it was, but maybe a TV show where it was something like the most important person in your life is the one you'll pick up the phone, regardless of.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And there was something the quote was more succinct than that.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that was like a whole plot of the movie, a whole line of the movie was whether the person takes that call or not.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was something like that.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you all remember that.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean that's true around social media too, right?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: If they're pulling out social, if they're pulling out social media in front of you, either one of two things.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're addicted like they're addicted to drugs, and they literally can't stop themselves.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or they're telling you right there that that whoever they're interacting with is more important than you standing in front of them.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, either way, it's not a good.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, and you know, if you're the person who's standing there not on social media and those people do it, you have to make the call.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Are they addicted and you feel sorry for them?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or are they telling you that you're not that important?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's also a cue that maybe you're not the right community.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we've had we've listened to many cues along the way for these nine years, and all these cues are telling us this is not community that we want.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's why we went out and looked for intentional community.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And lots of people have asked, where is this community?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know, they're emailing me saying, you know, we're very like-minded, we we want to come try this community as well.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I will say that it's in the foothills in in Georgia, in the Georgia Mountains in the foothills, you know, around the the Dawsonville, Delonega area.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where we have decided that we're gonna go.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and if anyone ends up going there and you're looking for a community, email me.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: You all know my email and it's in the show description.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I mean, we're always looking for like-minded people, so just go ahead and email me.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've also, to your point, I have been on Facebook more in the last several months than ever in my entire life, than in all the years of my life, more in the last couple months.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's because I've been using it, like you said, to look for a community, to find these groups.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And what I have been really thrilled about is that as I have found some of these homeschool like play groups, uh they made it very clear that there's many people in our group that do not want to be on Facebook anymore.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we've created this app or we've built this website and now we're connecting through our website instead of Facebook.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so that to me is something I look for in a community is you know, someone who's not gonna be, someone who doesn't want to support it, understands the importance of it in our modern society, because that's where people are.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to go where the people are, but then gives you an option to not be on it, you know.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So just as a side tip, a side side little bit, there are people that are doing that, that are actively trying to get their groups off of Facebook and you know, onto apps, onto websites, onto a texting group, anything like that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so with that being said, do you think that do you think this is transitory?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Or do you think that this is actually the start, like you said, of a movement and we're gonna see these divisions in the country and it's gonna stay that way or get more polarized?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or do you think we're gonna what I hope is that we're gonna have form stronger local communities and then that will infiltrate into local government, including like the sheriff's position, which you we all know that you need to have like-minded local government on your side, right?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: It starts with local and particularly the sheriff's position.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: So do you think this will bleed over and these groups will get together and then they will influence these local governments?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um yes.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I think a lot of things will contribute to that.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think you know, the leaked opinion, assuming I heard it was real, but the leaked dependent on the abortion and how that, you know, how that's coming out about Roe v.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, how they're overturning it, how they're overturning it in terms of it's a state's rights issue.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like from what I've read, the Supreme Court, this Supreme Court is really potentially gonna push a lot of stuff on the states' rights issues.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: What that means is a lot of power that was being centralized to the federal government, in theory, will now be spread out to the states, and you'll actually start to see differences in states.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you will start to see more differences between a California and a Texas than just tax rate and business climate.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: You'll you'll start to see actual social differences between those two.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that will drive people to move um to those places.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that trend will accelerate.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're gonna have what I'm gonna call the pioneers who are moving first, who are just looking for a community.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: As those people move and start to organize themselves, they're gonna start to drive states in a certain way.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, this may take multiple generations, it may not even be our lifetime.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: It really just happens, but I think it's gonna slowly happen.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're gonna start to see more regionalization, and the states actually start to have some differences between them, more so than just tax rate and environmental regulations.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think that will then accelerate because then people will feel forced to move at some point because they'll look around and all their neighbors are the opposite of them, and then they're gonna move.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: And over time you will start to see big differences between the states.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's great, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because was in our our country is pretty much founded on this idea of the state's rights, and that you can then vote with your feet, right?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you had optionality and you had more control because there was more um like regulations and laws that were designated to the state and local, you know, state level versus the federal level.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And our country has now it's flipped, right?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Where now it's like the default is the federal government and things just like um Joel and I recently talked about the GMO labeling law, and we both believe that should be a state's issue, a state issue, right, a state's rights issue.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And now um consumers and lobbyists pushed for it to be a federal issue, and now it is a federal law.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so at the local level, you can't do anything about it.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And now we see the law has all these loopholes.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of things that have just been defaulted to this federal level, I feel.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: And if we do this realignment, we can take back this power and come back into more of a constitutional union.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, the the US government tries to do a one size fits all solution for however many people in this country, 330 million or something like that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: One size fits all.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's never gonna work.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and truly in a federalist system, as the country got bigger, more and more power should have gone more and more local.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we did the opposite direction.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh here's a tidbit for you.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: When the country was founded, I think there was one congressman for every, I think it was below 30,000 people.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And today it's up to one congressperson for every um uh 750,000 people or something like that.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: They they would have had trouble representing 30,000 people back in the old days.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like you'd have had trouble getting the common fame for 30,000.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way you're gonna have a common opinion for 800,000 people or whatever, whatever the number is now.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um but instead we concentrated power up and up and up, and that's why no one's happy, right?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Even when even when Republicans are in charge, Republicans aren't really happy.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: They they might not pay attention as much, but they're not really happy.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing on the Dems, you know, Dems are in charge now, they're not happy either.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because one size fits all solutions don't work.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so ideally, you start to have um not only people start to self-organize in like communities, but then also that power filtering down so those like communities can act like they want to, and not only at the state level, but at the county level, the city level, the the municipality level.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, you you have sheriffs in there who are like-minded with the people that live there, and so maybe gun rights are different here versus 100 miles to the east.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe gun laws are different over there because that's what the people want, and that's fine.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I think that's fantastic.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I see this as a good thing, you know.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, in the end, I think this is great.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is also showing us COVID accelerated the ability for us to see who these like-minded people are and for us to be able to gather in these tribes and have an opportunity to find this these deep connections with like-minded principled people.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all right.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you any last words before we close it out?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I you know, I would tell people to not settle, right?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, especially if you're feeling a need for community, don't settle.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Try to find those places that are like-minded, regardless of what you believe and what side you're on.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are places, there are people who are also looking as well.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think you will be happier moving to a community that is more like-minded.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me remind everybody: Joel and I won't be on the podcast next week.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be at our summit, but Joel and I will both be back on June 30th for an all-new episode.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Dr.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: McCullough, thanks for joining us again.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: The words of Mickey Mouse, Toodles.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you can tell we're in the young kid face.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, I guess I owe you another hug for coming on the show.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Price.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't give hugs to all of our guests.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: You should know.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Just you.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Good to know.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right, thanks everybody for joining us.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um if you're coming to the summit, I will see you in person next week, along with Joel.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not, we will see you in two weeks back here on the podcast.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: All right, thanks so much.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.