GLENN: All right. So CNN finds the guy who made that video of Trump in the WWF fight from years ago. And -- and -- and they ask him, okay. So what's up, dude?
Because he posted, wow, can't believe the president retweeted this.
Well, you go to his Reddit file, and you see that he has done horrible, horrible things. Really anti-Semitic. Really bad.
And this is the part of the story that doesn't make sense to me. Because the usual way for the mainstream media to handle this is you see a guy who is posting anti-Semitic stuff. You do nothing. You just assume he's a conservative. And you go for him. And it doesn't matter what the truth is. And, I mean, I don't know how you can post anti-Semitic stuff and the truth be good, but you just never give him a break in the mainstream media ever.
They -- they do everything they can to connect decent, innocent people to those kinds of thoughts, when they don't exist.
Here's a guy where it does exist. He apologizes. And they're like, okay. Well, we accept his apology.
I don't understand that. Because the way I look at the media, they are only in for the president's blood, at every step of the way. And so it doesn't -- something is not right on this story. Or something has changed that I find hard to believe. But maybe.
So what do we get out of this? Well, I want you to read what he posted yesterday. I think this is something that we should all read to our kids at dinner tonight. I'll share it, when we come back.
(OUT AT 9:31AM)
GLENN: I just can't get over the feeling that something is not right with this -- with this story, this HanAholeSolo story from Reddit.
STU: The internet makes every story interesting because you have to read their stupid screen names.
GLENN: I know. I know.
This -- this guy was up on Reddit and filed all kinds of anti-Semitic stuff. And then he's the guy who apparently did a version of the -- the tweet the president sent out. And it's the one where the president is -- it's old footage of Donald Trump at a wrestling match, and he throws a guy down on the ground and just beats the snot out of him. It's a wrestling thing.
And -- and this guy superimposed the CNN logo over the face of the guy the president is beating.
Well, he gets up -- he sees the president has tweeted it. And he thinks it's his. And he's like, oh, my gosh, that's great. And he's happy.
But then when the media gets a hold of it and says, look at the violence, the guy isn't happy. He's like, you know what, that's not mine. That was somebody else's. Somebody else took my original tweet and then added sound effects and music behind it or audio.
STU: Initially, he was happy.
GLENN: Yeah, initially he was happy.
STU: Then he turned around.
GLENN: Then he turned around. Yes.
STU: It's important.
GLENN: Now, this is the part that I think we can actually use to help our own children. But some of this is really interesting.
First of all -- this is his apology now: First of all, I'd like to apologize to the members of the Reddit community for getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened. I would also like to apologize for the posts made that were racist, bigoted, and anti-Semitic. I am in no way that person. I love and accept people of all walks of life, and I've done so for my entire life.
Huh. Okay.
I am not the person that the media portrays me to be in real life. I was trolling and posting things to get a reaction from the subs on Reddit and never meant any of the hateful things I said in these posts. I would never support any kind of violence or actions against others, simply for what they believe in, their religion, or their lifestyle they choose to have, nor would I carry out any violence against anyone based upon that or support anybody who did.
Do you believe that?
STU: You know, it's -- it's weird coming from someone who would post that kind of trash on the internet. But, I mean, it reads I think in an authentic way, does it not?
JEFFY: Yeah.
STU: You know, someone who --
GLENN: I think there's a lot of people -- I think there's a lot of people -- I know I have responded kindly to people who are just trolls. And not so much anymore. But there were times when they would be like, "Oh, man, I was just kidding."
PAT: Uh-huh.
GLENN: And it was really -- people do try just to get a reaction.
STU: Totally, and I think it's a way for people to feel alive. And it says a hell of a lot about our society.
GLENN: It says a lot.
The meme was created purely as satire, he continues to write. It was not meant to be a call to violence against CNN or any other news affiliation. I had no idea anyone would take it and put sound to it and then put it up on the president's Twitter feed.
That's the question. Who did that?
It was a prank, nothing more. What the president's feed showed was not the original post posted here, but loaded up somewhere else and sounded added to it and then sent out to Twitter.
I think this is why they're accepting the apology. They're giving him credit to bring this to closer to the president.
STU: Hmm.
GLENN: Because who did that? Did the president have somebody do that?
I think this is why this is being accepted. Because it makes no sense to me. Something's wrong. Something's wrong.
And only because -- and I want to take people at face value. But you need more than one time of letting somebody go of something like this.
JEFFY: Well, there has to be a first time.
GLENN: There does. There does. There does.
It was a prank, nothing more. I thought it was the original post that was made, and that's why I took credit for it. I have the highest respect for the journalistic community. And they put their lives on the line every day with jobs that they do, reporting the news.
Okay.
PAT: They do?
STU: In war zones.
PAT: I mean, war correspondence maybe. But that's a pretty small percentage.
STU: Yes. An exaggeration of the --
PAT: Yes. Yes. They're not the military.
GLENN: To people that troll -- now, this is the part -- this is the part that I think is important to read to your family, to sit down and talk about, was this right -- play the video. Was this right? Was this right of the president to post it? Was it right for somebody who made it? Was the media's reaction right?
PAT: No.
GLENN: And just -- just talk to -- just talk to your kids about the difference between right and wrong. Because our kids look at the internet as a game.
To people who troll on the internet for fun, he writes, consider your words and the actions conveyed in your message and who it might upset or anger. Put yourself in their shoes before you post it.
I mean, I remember saying things, doing things, and then, you know, a friend of the family or somebody else would say, "Hey -- that I didn't know what was standing there -- what would your mother say about that?" And you would immediately freeze and go, "Yes, sir." That's as bad as it got for us, was just saying it to four or five of our stupid friends and getting caught.
It's totally different now. What this guy said got somehow or another to the president of the United States.
Put yourself in their shoes before you post it. If you have a problem with trolling it -- if you have a problem with trolling, it is an addiction just like any other addiction someone can have to something. And don't be embarrassed to ask for help.
That's powerful to say to your kids. And that goes to all of the studies that we're reading about now, that talk about the hits that you get in your head every time somebody likes what you've said.
STU: Studies and South Park episodes. Both -- both scientific genres are speaking about --
GLENN: Yes. I believe the South Park episode actually more.
Trolling is nothing more than bullying a wide audience. Don't feed your own self-worth based upon inflicting suffering upon others online, just because you're behind a keyboard.
I think that's a tremendous story.
STU: Yeah.
PAT: It's a good apology. I -- I just -- I can't help, but think that this has been blown way out of proportion. I mean, you know, it's Trump doing a wrestling move on somebody with CNN on their face. It wasn't really CNN.
STU: What? No, it said it right on his face.
PAT: He didn't really do this. Nothing happened in real life. It's just a dumb little, what? Five-second video?
STU: Yes.
PAT: It's just -- it's so out of proportion. We've just lost all connection with proportion now.
GLENN: No, because we've lost all connection with decorum. We've -- I mean, guys if Barack Obama would have done that with a teabag over a guy's head, we would have gone crazy, and the media would have said nothing. We would have gone crazy. We would have. We would have.
PAT: Hmm.
GLENN: Yes, we would have.
STU: Yeah. Probably.
GLENN: If Barack Obama would have tweeted out something like that, and he had like a 9/12 Project and a Tea Party --
STU: I can -- I can imagine.
GLENN: Can you imagine? We would have gone crazy. We went crazy when he said, you know, and the car is in the ditch. And a bunch of Teabaggers, we're not going to let them drive. You'll put us in the ditch.
STU: Yeah.
PAT: A more exact example would be Fox News. Would we have gone crazy if it was Fox?
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
PAT: Maybe.
GLENN: Yes. Yes, we would have.
PAT: He trashed Fox all the time.
STU: And we went crazy. And we went crazy.
PAT: And it was him. Literally him, not just the president retweeting him. It was him saying Fox was --
GLENN: I know. I know.
PAT: So...
GLENN: But we had a problem with it.
PAT: Yeah.
STU: Yeah. That's --
GLENN: We had a real problem with it. And so it's not that this is a big deal. It's -- honestly, yesterday -- I should share this. I wrote something on Facebook, and it started with this premise, that the older I get, the less I hate things. You know, when you're a kid, you hate stuff. And your mom is always like, oh, no. You don't hate. You hate the actions that -- no, I hate the person, Mom. I hate them.
No, you hate their actions and the things that they do.
The older I get, the less I hate. The more I realize that things really, really matter, or they don't matter at all.
And the reason why this was going through my head yesterday was this tweet doesn't matter at all. It doesn't matter at all.
PAT: Right.
GLENN: We're reading into it what we want to read into it. And we are reading into -- or, we are looking at a presidency that this -- this happens -- Bush was the last real president that tried to represent both sides. He tried to represent both sides.
He never was, well, tell them to go to hell. He did say that about -- you're either with us or against us, it came to conquering al-Qaeda and evil. But I'm okay with that one, but some people weren't. But he never went out -- I mean, he met with Cindy Sheehan and everything else. The president did not reach out to the right.
PAT: He didn't meet with her eight times. So...
GLENN: Right. So he never -- President Obama never reached out to the Tea Party heads, tried to really talk to the people.
PAT: Nope. No.
GLENN: Instead, you know, the IRS and Teabaggers and all this stuff. And this president has just upped that game. So we're just seeing -- we're just seeing an evolution of the presidency that I don't like. I didn't like it in the last one. I don't like it in this one. Some people don't mind it in this one because of what happened in the last one. Some people are minding it in this one because they didn't see it happening in the last one.
We saw it in both. I don't like it in either. I think that's a good place to be.
But it doesn't matter. What matters are the little things.
You know, when I -- when I wrote that yesterday, I don't hate, there are just things that matter and don't. And it's funny because a lot of the stuff that the media focuses on, really, it doesn't matter to me. The things that matter are the things I used to hate when I was a kid. Sitting down at the dinner table and having dinner every night. I was always like, I got to go. I got to go. I got another thing. I got practice. I have this. I have that. I've got to go.
I hated sitting down at dinner. I I had a --
PAT: What kind of practice did you have? Like violin? What sort of practice did you have to get to?
JEFFY: I had the same question.
STU: Pinochle. Pinochle. Was it -- what kind of --
GLENN: Theater and choir. Yes.
PAT: Theater. All right.
GLENN: There are other kinds of practices, you know.
JEFFY: Well, that's why we were asking.
STU: He was just trying to clarify.
PAT: Uh-huh.
GLENN: So, anyway, had to go do stuff. Now, that's one of the most important things ever. It's just -- and I don't hate practice. I don't hate other things that you have to do. I just really love this. I just really love this. And I found meaning in the small things.
Which brings me to how I read this about Donald Trump and about CNN, you know, holding this guy hostage or whatever the hell is going on.
I don't care. That story, they can have it. They -- go further that story all you want. Here's what really needs to -- you need to know: The last paragraph of this three-paragraph apology, is one we should all be sitting down with our kids tonight and saying, here's news. I don't know what that means.
I mean, does any of this make you feel like it's right?
Now listen to what the guy said who made the original and was accused of this and did some really bad things. Look what he said.
Your self-worth does not come from this. It's addictive. Think of the other people on the receiving end, before you say really horrible things that you know you don't mean. Because it's real. Your voice -- just think of this lesson.
His voice, unbeknownst to him, made it to the president's desk. Don't tell me that you can't be heard in today's society.
Your voice is more powerful than you ever could imagine. And man's individual voice is more powerful than it's ever been since the creation of the earth and Adam first woke up.