The Full Babylon Bee Interview on Censorship, Cancel Culture & Anti-Woke Comedy

The conservative Christian satire group is part of a growing movement of new, anti-establishment comedy.
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I recently did a short video with comedians from The Babylon Bee- but it hardly scratched the surface.
In my full interview, we go into the rise of anti-woke comedy.
“Leftists have become so…religiously zealous about their beliefs,” says Editor-in chief Kyle Mann.
Preachy establishment comedy created a market for something new.
“We have to create our own platform,” says Bee actor Chandler Juliet.
It’s good that comedy like this exists.

[@TheSpicyLeg]

I find it endlessly amusing that one of the biggest satirical outlets is Christian conservative.

[@daringdare5078]

Truly Twilight Zone levels of irony.

[@Thumper68]

Why I’ve been conservative my entire life my family’s hilarious and I’ve always found most people get but hurt and can’t take a joke. I always told my friends if your feelings hurt easy don come around cause if my family giving you shit they actually like you.

[@Thumper68]

@Rodney 1984 sounds like my kinda place🤣🤣

[@johnscott2746]

@Rodney 1984 can’t wait to visit!

[@JohnPDome]

Trump (2024)❤️

[@ChandlerJuliet]

Thanks so much for having us, John! It was an honor to be on your show. 🙏🏻💜

[@lukasrael1211]

My favorite chick with a dude name.

[@ChandlerJuliet]

@@lukasrael1211 Why, thank you

[@mordys6305]

Your remind me of "Paula Priesse"

[@jimwerther]

@@ChandlerJuliet Am I allowed to notice that you are very pretty?

[@jarrodschuck6021]

@Chandler Juliet Hate to admit I’ve never heard of you guys but cannot wait to see your material. As a convert to the right back in 2017, it’s been tough trying to find good comedy, from what I saw here your group has so much potential seeing as there’s no market competition to really speak of. Best of luck and look forward to seeing your stuff!

[@datrumpet5]

"I don't think that womanhood should be a costume you can put on." Spot on.

[@kellyblaxton3189]

She killed it with that comment!

[@garrysekelli6776]

Depends on the context. Seeing no specific timestamp this remains a philosophical question. Worthy of debate.

[@LilyoftheValley408]

Brilliant comment!

[@nancyj5490]

@@garrysekelli6776 Do you mean womanhood can be a costume say on Halloween? Like if a man dresses up as a Nun? Wonder woman? Or other famous woman in history?

[@garrysekelli6776]

@@nancyj5490 i meant the guy didnt timestamp the quote.

[@seoceancrosser]

Best humor is based on truth.

[@LeFraudHasChokedInSIXFinals]

"It's funny because it's true." - Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory

[@mattdillon4398]

@@LeFraudHasChokedInSIXFinals Homer Simpson said it way before him.

[@bperez8656]

Unspoken truths

[@tomasgomez9925]

That’s why I loved Bill Hicks and George Carlin!

[@freddygarfunkle8947]

Thats y conservatives are not funny

[@DannerBanks]

Favorite quote of the interview: "It's a real badge of honor when you get fact checked. We wrote a joke so close to the target, so representative of the group we're making fun of, that people couldn't tell the difference between our satire and something Bernie Sanders said." LOL so true

[@doctoribanez]

"Its funny because its true" comes to mind

[@generaljackripper666]

As Jeff Foxworthy once said, "True stuff is the funniest stuff."

[@heywoodjablome2018]

I did not know was a Christian group. Im an atheist but love the skits they put out.

[@ronniestanley75]

I hate the fact that my lack of religious belief has been stereotyped as a leftist thing. Im slowly becoming a closet atheist because of this. I don't want to come off as a leftist, blue haired clown that follows blindly. I'm not ashamed of my beliefs. I'm ashamed of the people that grouped me in with people that ignore facts.

[@gregorykelly8000]

Athiesm is a lie. You have to know everything to prove something doesn't exist. So they are living a life as though one of their guesses is true. Guesses are only guesses and do not deserve to be lived by. I don't know unites both sides. That's all we can know...

[@samueldocski4426]

True Christians will make themselves known through their actions rather than their words. So a true Christian has the light of Christ in them…and it shines. But if someone is shoving religion down your throat, it’s zealous…not Godly.

[@SquadJuiced]

That screen name and profile picture has me busting up laughing rn bro hahahaha

[@garrysekelli6776]

I'm also atheist and support the complete irradication of all religions. Mao was really on point in this one issue.

[@analyticalmind4493]

As a an atheist I can say even with the occasional religious overtones I find the Bee much more entertaining than other comedy outlets. I honestly can't remember the last time SNL made me laugh, it's probably been over a decade. These guys are spot on, the left's comedy comes from a place of smugness and condemnation, it really comes off as having a mean undertone. Talk shows are also unwatchable now. There are no real discussions, it's all posturing with all of them trying to climb the same greased pole.

[@gextreme2381]

Amen. pun intended.

[@PaulCarm]

The reason the Left's defense of their beliefs is so fierce is because at some level they must know their position is so terribly fragile because it's founded on mere emotion.

[@pepperjack6749]

Says the folks desperately hanging onto a farcical myth and praying to fictional daddy figure that lives in the clouds

[@juliancate7089]

If you think that Leftists are the only ones still defensive about their beliefs, try challenging some Christians sometime. However, I don't think their attitude comes from a place of deep-seated insecurity or doubt, on the contrary, it likely is due to their self-righteous sanctimony. They see themselves as these Quixotic crusaders who have to save the World. They believe themselves innately superior morally based on nothing other than what they believe. In short, they're defensive because they're so steeped in a view of themselves as these righteous crusaders that it makes them feel entitled to power and above reproach, so all criticism or challenge is seen as unjustified and usurpation. Ironically, attitudes shared by some Christians.

[@TheSpartanlaw]

@pepper jack Mid wit

[@dustinnoll486]

spot on friend

[@dustinnoll486]

​@@pepperjack6749 hey bro, you don't believe in God, I say he does . so let's just say we both died today, if you're right I lose nothing, if I'm right you lose everything

[@cyclealleyrider]

The last time a company/website asked me for my pronouns, I replied I identify as "non-Bidenary".

[@chitrumbo112]

Hilarious!

[@jimwerther]

I am SO going to steal that

[@cyclealleyrider]

@@jimwerther In all fairness, I saw that on a T-shirt that Facebook, in Zuckerberg's infinite wisdom, posted on my feed as an ad. Do a search (if you want) for NGN Non-Bindenary. A disclaimer - I am in no way associated with NGN nor do I get any money for this. Damn

[@robertd9850]

I just say guess.

[@cyclealleyrider]

and that's where I saw it, too. Was so hilarious, I shared it to my feed. I thought the choice of model was great.

[@MarcMartino]

Let's call fact checkers what they really are, the thought police.

[@lettheriver]

White coats

[@tek6423]

Well put.

[@ikeskifan]

Disinformation dogs that's what fact checkers are disinformation dogs

[@kjb1611tw]

Amen from taiwan

[@freddygarfunkle8947]

Name one false factchecking claim

[@Metolius9]

The Rachel Levine wins man of the year bit had me literally crying with laughter. Genius with brass cojones

[@my3dviews]

Babylon Bee is where I get my news from. :-)

[@dans3718]

Yeah, it's great to get the news days, weeks or months before it happens!

[@rishiramkissoon6976]

John Stossel is a national treasure. !

[@yashathebelgianmalinois348]

I’m agnostic and I love the Babylon Bee. So refreshing and hilarious!

[@cnrspiller3549]

I'm an atheist fan of these Babylonian comics - love your work guys! Suggestion: call your SNL ripoff, "Sabbath Night Live" Please don't stop being funny!

[@KENFEDOR22]

Clever!

[@mehib2340]

Except it has to be taped on Friday

[@machtnichtsseimann]

@@mehib2340 - Ha! Nice...

[@machtnichtsseimann]

@CnR Spiller - ...jealous i didn't think of that....haha

[@becklyn3]

This is perfect

[@anthonymorris5084]

"The Late night lecture shows". A totally accurate sentiment! Nailed it. Every night these bone heads are still obsessing over Trump. All of them, each night.

[@molivson]

To hear that BB reaches more people than the stale Onion brings a tear of joy to my eyes.

[@GregInHouston2]

12 minutes into the video, I get an ad telling me how great the democrats are for passing the Inflation Reduction Act. There's something you can't make up!

[@redfrozenseven]

Covid tests came up for me

[@jasonmajere2165]

Now it’s ad how bad trum was doing his presidency and show pictures of the riots… and ads trying to get rid of electoral college..again.

[@TorontoBoi]

I love the Babylon Bee. Excellent interview. God bless everyone at the Bee!

[@KENFEDOR22]

I recall The Onion, pre internet, when it was a free, printed newspaper in Chicago and ripped on absolutely anyone regardless of politics or persuasion. It was truly no holds barred. That changed around 2008 (wonder why?) and they blatantly shifted their focused. Readership suffered predictably.

[@RetiredBassist]

I remember that “National Lampoon” was the satire group in the 70’s.

[@lFunGuyl]

Fauci is too nice to say himself that he's been working for over 50 years to bring national hysteria and the pandemic on us 😂😂😂

[@GodDutyHonorCountry]

We’re definitely in The Twilight Zone alright!! The current “reality”, reminds me of the movie, “Idiocracy”! Two relevant movies for our times ; “Idiocracy”, and “1984”

[@BErectus]

Agree 100%. We're living in a mashup of those two.

[@Podcastforthewin]

I’m an atheist and i love this stuff. I can’t stand what happened to comedy. Leno, Conan, letterman. Those were good. Now a days it seems like all the comedy just hates other opinions

[@gregorykelly8000]

Athiesm is a lie. You have to know everything to prove something doesn't exist. So they are living a life as though one of their guesses is true. Guesses are only guesses and do not deserve to be lived by. I don't know unites both sides. That's all we can know...

[@Columbus1152]

Unfortunately Hollywood is playing it's role in the great reset by disguising indoctrination as entertainment.

[@Podcastforthewin]

@@gregorykelly8000 okay

[@AndyfromPBG1]

Be careful- you keep that open mind and you won't be an atheist for long. Good reminder that there are reasonable people of many persuasions, not just the one I or you share.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

Letterman became angry and unfunny for the last decade of his show. But his earlier stuff was great. Jay never lost his stuff. He’s still doing standup locally here.

[@donsvideos1985]

The fact checkers should have to run disclaimers and share openly who really owns/ runs them.

[@johnwiley8417]

Exactly the reason Saturday Night Live is no longer funny. They used to snipe at both sides, albeit left leaning, but they're pretty monolithic now.

[@donnakobayashi5587]

How did I never know the Bee was Christian? Lmao. They are so good.

[@paulcouchoud8272]

Because they don't push their beliefs on everyone

[@Sugarsail1]

Probably because they aren't constantly preaching to you about walking with the Lord.

[@kathyfinklea3922]

People GADDIS created everything so why not believe He also created our wonderful sense of HUMOR!!!!!!

[@Tential1]

@@paulcouchoud8272 they rarely mention religion, and even if they do, it's pretty authentic. The content is just THAT good.

[@dans3718]

@@Tential1 Au contraire. There is loads of religious joking and parody (a lot of it very much insider) on the site. Just what gets put on KZbin is mostly not that.

[@wendybrook9685]

I am a big fan of Babylon Bee they are so funny. So glad they are having rising success.

[@miamigrl5736]

I am a Christian and love the BB...thinks its awesome!

[@kevinwallis2194]

I asked a question on facebook, and that question was fact checked. How do you fact check a question?

[@TeePole59]

The left has jammed their collective heads so far down the unflushed toilet of American politics that they can’t see, hear, think rationally, or find anything to be remotely funny anymore. Kudos to the Babylon Bee for making Americans laugh again (MALA???).😂😂😂😂😂

[@MultiPetercool]

I guarantee you that if George Carlin were alive, he and Dave Chapelle would be texting buddies!

[@agibson1871]

"George Orwell is recognized today as one of the most original political writers of the twentieth century, particularly in his understanding of the evils of communism, most famously expressed in Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). While Orwell’s anticommunism dates back to the mid-1930s, especially his experience during the Spanish Civil War, he was at first less insightful about the other great totalitarian movement of that “low, dishonest decade,” fascism. (Orwell rarely distinguished between fascism and Nazism.) The outbreak of war in September 1939 and, in particular, the fall of France in the summer of 1940 clarified Orwell’s recognition of the danger that Nazism posed for England. Orwell’s critique of communism is both incisive and original. He was among the first writers to recognize that communism was not a revolutionary force but instead was a new, dangerous form of totalitarianism, a powerful tool for controlling the masses. Conversely, his initial comments on fascism were curiously flat and imitative of the standard left-wing interpretation-that is, fascism was nothing more than the capitalist system in extremis....Orwell further angered his comrades on the Left by arguing that fascism and communism were not ideological opposites but instead shared similar views. In a review of Eugene Lyons’s book about his time in the Soviet Union, Assignment to Utopia, Orwell pointed out that both fascism and communism concentrate power in the hands of an elite, and that the working classes are reduced in both systems to “a status resembling serfdom” (CEJL, 1:370). Orwell On Fascism June 4, 2015 By John Rossi

[@joshuawadsworth6417]

He was also a democratic socialist himself.

[@zeehero7280]

I thought orwell himself was a socialist who happened to be keenly aware of the dangers when the people in power are allowed to keep consolidating it.

[@kjb1611tw]

Amen from taiwan, Babylon Bee is another reason why USA is a great country 🙌

[@hueyiroquois3839]

8:26 The "left": We're so fed up we're going to burn buildings down! The "right": We're so fed up we're going to make fun of the "left".

[@tonyrutgershauer7947]

Great Interview, stay strong Bee !!!!!!

[@irenem3854]

I love the Babylon Bee! Anything that makes me laugh everyday has all my love.

[@bittnerbs]

Great interview! The truth will always be stranger than fiction.

[@sandrad9695]

The Bee should totally do a Saturday-Night-Live-type show. Call it Friday Night Pre-Recorded and show it Saturday night. 😂

[@CassandraRidenhour]

I'm a paid subscriber to the Babylon Bee and their social media site Not The Bee. Great community full of fun, funny, and sincerely nice people!

[@Brentbrown39]

I love these guys, and John Stossel. Thanks for keeping things real

[@noahellis3672]

I find their comedy quite refreshing as well as funny. I used to watch SNL and some of the late night talk shows but not anymore because they keep stuffing left-wing dogma down my throat when all I want is to be entertained and laugh. But SNL and the late night shows haven't been funny in years. I will have to watch BABYLON BEE whenever I get the chance.

[@darnel322]

God bless John Stossel and God bless the Babylon Bee

[@viveviveka2651]

They speak a lot of truth. 🌻

[@hephaestus6365]

I was bullied mercilessly growing up and the one thing I learned is a sense of humor. Some of the crap bullies called me made me laugh. What sucked were the ass kickings I received lol. The words were just words. I don't understand why the left gives SO MUCH POWER to words.

[@lati_da]

Words are powerful because they can control and manipulate people without them even realizing that is what is happening. This is why the left has been changing the meaning of words.

[@davidhunt7427]

*_Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance that he himself has spun._* ~ Geertz

[@jimwerther]

I know of what you speak. I was smaller than my classmates, so on occasion I'd get the crap kicked out of me for being a wise ass, so I'd be a bigger wise ass. Whatever works.

[@machtnichtsseimann]

If you're sincerely asking, the Left wants sole power, and re-defining words and shaping speech / rhetoric / messaging, i.e. brainwashing, is a POWERFUL tool against the masses. Otherwise, Wokeism is their Religion of Choice, wildly popular with narcissists. "Feels" good to believe they are THE smartest on Earth.

[@davidhunt7427]

*_When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty._* *_Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues._* ~ Confucius

[@scottgorman7166]

Stossel don't ever stop doing your shows....been watching you for years. Always the best material. Babylon Bee you guys and gals are the bomb. Keep tweeking the lefts mind out of wack....

[@htorrens1]

Thank you John Stossel. Love everything about this post.

[@KimDroptiny]

Thank you John for such a great interview! It takes real talent to ask questions as if you don't know the answer. Thanks for helping the Babylon Bee who makes me laugh every day in this world of the Twilight Zone.

[@commerce-usa]

The best comedy will sting a little. Go bee!

[@wrosa1963]

Thank God we still have a lot of people with common sense. Great job guys.

[@georgeinthejungle6095]

now that i am openly BEE-sexual i can finally feel accepted with the LGBTQ2P+ ETC...... community

[@cjolney]

LG4KUHDOLEDTV+

[@commerce-usa]

Now *that* is stinging wit. 😉👍

[@stevew6138]

That's racist............... you are a wasp-phobic..................... lol.

[@biggestcomplainer]

Stossel is an amazing reporter.

[@intotheaether9022]

I thoroughly enjoyed the John stossel interview of the Babylon bee. Now I can't wait for the Babylon bee interview of John stossel....

[@DrRish-wx3wf]

John Stossel 2024. Be our 47th president. Make me want to count the votes.

[@theshootindutchman]

I love these guys!

[@tpoz48]

Good people. Keep up the good work; with humor of course!

[@curtisscott9251]

Twitter did the same thing to Jordan Peterson. He also refuses to recant. It's a trait of greatness.

[@damagededgods7541]

This was awesome! I just found BB a few weeks ago, but I've been a fan Stossel forever.

[@jodyrose27]

Great interview, much appreciated Mr. Stossel.

[@thejackrabbithole-5311]

John, Thank you for this interview! I’ve been following your work for decades.

[@andrewghickey]

Thank you for doing this interview! The Bee is the funniest outlet there is right now. The satire is so spot on.

[@Mashfan6507]

Three of my favorite people on the internet talking. I love it!

[@AntisocialRedNeckNerd]

I love the humor from the Bee.

[@SaltyDooDoo]

Babylon Bee is hilarious. Period. The left/woke basically hand delivers the material daily.

[@steverlfs]

Sol Alinsky in Rules for Radicals states that satire is one attack that there is no defense against. In the 60's people like Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman used satire and humor constantly. But now that the radicals have real power they want to shut down anyone using this weapon against them.

[@davidhunt7427]

*_[Humanity] has unquestionably one really effective weapon, laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution, these can lift at a colossal humbug, push it a little, weaken it a little, century by century, but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand._* ~ Mark Twain When comparing Saul Alinsky's *_Rules for Radicals_* to Alexis de Tocqueville's *_Democracy in America,_* one finds that in the 19th century the common man felt fully empowered to help himself in voluntary cooperation with his fellow free Americans, while in the 20th century supposedly all the common man can do is bitterly complain for he has no agency of his own,.. only the other, the powerful, the oppressors have power to effect change themselves. Government schools today teach dependency, and self-esteem as something everyone can be given,.. rather than each of us having to achieve self-esteem, each for ourselves,.. ultimately by our own responsible choices, alone. *_The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivalry of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in time, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise._* ~ Mark Twain

[@jimwerther]

Well said, steverlfs.

[@carolbl7689]

I have officially joined the Babylon Bee hive and it’s pure honey. Comb join us.

[@americanpatriot9155]

I'm spreading the word for everyone to follow John and the Babylon Bee... How refreshing! BRAVO

[@SpishvSpash]

I adore the crew, short films, clips and the skits . ❤️ The Babylon 🐝 Bee!

[@depreciatingasset]

I'm an atheist, started hating the onion and love few Babylon bee posts . Criteria not being hypocrite or strawmanning or lying or propaganda.

[@DjDreamcastle]

Just when I thought John couldn't top himself... dude doesn't quit.

[@jdmec81]

This was hard to get through because I kept wanting to go rewatch all my Babylon Bee favorites!

[@wstavis3135]

I love The B. I love Chandler's beautiful, wholesome look and her comedic timing is impeccable. One of my favorite shorts is her doing "If Conservatives Acted Like Liberals". Kyle is a genius for his writing.

[@kurtb8474]

This is the legacy of Rush Limbaugh. He often referred to himself as an entertainer who is also informative. Illustrating absurdity by being absurd. That is what separated him from other Conservative talk hosts.

[@irishtexan899]

Just discovered Stossel's KZbin channel...Yes, I was a nerd as a kid and loved watching Stossel's segments on 20/20 (yes, even the wrestling one).

[@matthewbeasley7765]

I would have loved to see John play "Is it Babylon Bee or Not The Bee?"

[@MasonCatalone]

George Carlin was the greatest example of there being more comedy rooted in truth.

[@palaceofwisdom9448]

Yes, but he also popularized the style of making the audience cheer more than laugh, which has since descended into making them cheer instead of laugh. No comedian should be satisfied with that.

[@SirChocula]

I'm a fan of Carlin but he never made me laugh. I watched him for his realistic views of the world.

[@jdbnomad]

LOVE the Bee! Thanks Mr. Stossel

[@connieatkinson418]

Great interview! Love them and need to thank them for all the belly laughs, intelligence and artistry. Thanks so much!

[@markmaki4460]

God bless The Babylon Bee. These are very good points about what has become of the nature of comedy.

[@Dickwooten]

Yep..."The older I get, the less I know for sure."

[@Jay9999]

Stossel is a legend.

[@gextreme2381]

100x more funny than SNL. Not even a contest. They should go full steam ahead. love BB!

[@techurious4913]

Please produce more content that spotlights this woke effect on our great country

[@QuietCastle]

John, Kyle and Chandler are all really great. I wish there were more like them out there.

[@toriwright8306]

Gives a new meaning to “I started a joke” by The Bee Gees.

[@walterdworschak9738]

This is a "Great Site". Thanks John for for showing it!!

[@stacysmom2748]

I love the bee🤣❤

[@jasoncrowley4599]

I am not even remotely religious but I am getting tired of the disrespect shown to Christians. I don't agree with you much of the time but I respect your right to have your own beliefs. Not really a big fan of seeing a religion replaced with unhealthy and destructive beliefs. I will take a flawed system over a dysfunctional one.

[@davidhunt7427]

Even Sam Harris would seem to agree that Humanity is a transcendence seeking being,.. but does it absolutely require supernaturalism in order to fully ground ethics? If so,.. how are various supernaturalisms to be compared and criticized? I have come to think that I believe in _God_ to the same extent that I believe in *Consciousness,..* and perhaps no more and no less. _The thought that a repentant Nazi (with _*_Gott mit uns_*_ on his belt buckle) went to Heaven while Anne Frank is in Hell makes my soul shudder._ Also,.. I have to wonder to myself,.. _is _*_predation_*_ in nature according to God's will?_

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

You make some great points,@@davidhunt7427 ! May I ask, are you a history or philosophy major? P.S. Are you a fan of Thomas Aquinas?

[@davidhunt7427]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 Big fan of Thomas Aquinas,.. for what I know about him. Love history almost as much as life. History has all the drama of the very best literature,.. without any of the glaring plot holes that literature must be prone to,.. as well as being far more surprising. Tom Clancy would never have used the 911 attacks as a premise for a political thriller,.. at least not before the actual events of 9/11/2001 happened. *_To be ignorant of what happened before you were born...is to live the life of a child forever._* ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero *_History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce._* ~ Karl Marx *_The great events of world history are, at bottom, profoundly unimportant. In the last analysis the essential thing is the life of the individual. This alone makes history, here alone do the great transformations first take place, and the whole future, the whole history of the world, ultimately spring as a gigantic summation from these hidden sources in individuals. In our most private and most subjective lives we are not only the passive witnesses of our age, and it's sufferers, but also it's makers. We make our own epoch._* ~ Carl Jung, The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man *_The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history._* ~ George Orwell *_The spirit of a people, its cultural level, its social structure, the deeds its policy may prepare; all this and more is written in its fiscal history, stripped of all phrases. He who knows how to listen to its message here discerns the thunder of world history more clearly than anywhere else._* ~ Joseph A. Schumpeter *_The Founding Fathers were neither passive, death-worshiping mystics nor mindless, power-seeking looters; as a political group they were a phenomenon unprecedented in history: they were thinkers who were also men of action._* ~ Ayn Rand *_Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy._* ~ Margaret Thatcher *_The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false._* ~ Paul Johnson *_Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education, housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them._* ~ Thomas Sowell *_Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it._* ~ George Santayana

[@davidhunt7427]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 The following is from what I hope will be on my gravestone so as to provoke a thoughtful reaction from anyone passing by in happenstance. I offer it now as a thoughtful alternative to an afterlife of merely heaven, hell, purgatory, reincarnation, or the many other imagined possibilities. *The Lake* *_It is said by some that there is a place where a bright, clear, mountain lake resides, a place where people of this world never visit. To attempt to describe it is possible, but all such tales are probably just fancy. Be that as it may, here is how it was described to me, in my sleep, by the spring rain, when I was still very small and trusting. I was very certain at the time that the rain had not lied or exaggerated, but as I grew older I came to doubt. This would seem to be our way. How sad._* *_The rain told me that the air at the lake was fresh and clean and yet so thin that I would faint were I to be there. This lake was in the midst of a forest of giant pine trees that appeared to reach forever to the skies above. In contemplating these trees one would wonder if this lake were not really just a small puddle on the forest floor. But as all bodies of water were the same to my singing spring rain, I imagine these distinctions had simply gone unnoticed._* *_There was something most remarkable about this lake. For I was told that all the souls of all the men & women & little children like myself washed through this water. There seemed to be some hint that all of life had passed by and was passing by this oasis whose place could not be named. As each new life was made, a handful of water was removed from the lake and placed within a mortal body. Day by day the water would be made purer or filthier as that life spent it’s limited time in the world. When that life was done, the water that had been given to it was returned to the lake as it's body was returned to dust._* *_And such was how all the hope and travail of life would come to each new generation. Some would succeed more than it would seem they should and so returned to the lake the courage and celebration that they had made of their lives. Others learned the habit of fear and distrust in their lives when they were very young and so took very meanly of every opportunity as only a threat. They only returned water that was foul and putrid for what else did they ever know._* *_And so I was told, that was how it was with me and everyone who ever had been, or was, or would be. Parts of me had passed through many lives and parts of me were utterly new and untried. Parts of me would live other lives again and others would be forever still when I was done. None of us was ever created entirely alone nor could we ever be, for like the air and water of this world, which we all communally use and of which our bodies are literally made, our souls are unique and yet all made of the same stuff. How many times would you have to draw water from a lake to draw the same handful? Or is it just a silly question? I don’t know. Somehow it just doesn’t seem to be a very important question now._* *_What would be an important question anyway?_*

[@John_II]

Cheers to you, Babylon Bee! Thanks for making me laugh and helping me de-stress when I have to wonder if our institutions and governments are doing dumb things on purpose. We're at a point in history where we need humor like yours to fight back against some crazy political and corporate elites who are trying to control what we see and hear and know. I come to you to see the humor in all of it.

[@fhd89234n8f43n7]

Holy crap! I had no idea BB had all of this content! Looking forward to consuming some satire during the holiday weekend.

[@margiedenavarre7919]

Funny how all you have to do to satirize a woke conversation is to literally quote them.

[@robsturgeon8284]

We laugh so we dont cry

[@SaintSteven67]

I like what they had to say about comedy - that it gets you to think more than a debate. When we laugh, our guard is down. We can laugh with others, and think about why we are laughing. Comedy is often tragedy turned upside-down. A good example is the movie, "Blazing Saddles." I remember seeing it when I was younger and laughing at the racially motivated jokes. Almost immediately, I had to ask myself "Why am I laughing at this?" It helped me break down my own prejudices and laugh at them.

[@emetzger]

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - John Cleese, Life of Brian

[@justinsane7128]

Make memes of them until they cry 😭, then make memes of them crying 😂

[@GeorgeEstregan828]

Used to be satire, now it's news.

[@sambee4927]

"Imagine all the people living in the gulags." 🤣

[@HVACSoldier]

That is true about comedy. Shows like “All in the Family,” “The Jefferson’s,” “Good Times,” “Murphy Brown,” “Maude,” etc. couldn’t be written today. Someone would get “offended.” I’ve had a 24 hour ban from “Facebook.” BTW, is that really his wife trying to change the tire?

[@pkendlers]

I'm still singing "Movin' on Up" in my heart. Those shows were so good - they were controversial, but clean. As a very young person, those shows were very influential and made the topics of the day understandable in a non-confrontational, non-violent way. They're never be anything like them again.

[@Melanie-yb1bz]

You clearly don't understand any of those shows.

[@pkendlers]

@@Melanie-yb1bz oh?

[@oldsguy354]

Imagine Mel Brooks making Blazing Sadles today. The Earth would fall off its axis.

[@HVACSoldier]

@@oldsguy354 People would be threatening Mel Brooks, IF he made “Blazing Saddles” today.

[@traddad9172]

They have taken aim at your dignity, safety & prosperity- time to reassess your approach now

[@alphacharlietango969]

God Bless Babylon Bee