I'm talking to Michael Knowles author of Speechless.

Controlling words, controlling my eyes.

I just have to laugh, Michael, because I know that your previous book literally was word

for me.

It was wordless.

I have to laugh at that.

Well, how have we gotten to the point in America where reasonable people could be so silly

that they would not understand why drag queen story hour could be deeply harmful?

Did they not understand that a child could be deeply messed up by this kind of thing?

I mean, it's like, you know, if a child witnesses a rape, what are we going to argue that it's

not going to make any difference to?

Have we lost this concept of trauma that just watching something like that could be traumatic?

Could I mean, why would we even have to discuss this?

Well, we've lost our concept of first principles, you know, as a Hemingway describes bankruptcy,

he says it happens gradually then suddenly.

And this happened gradually for at least a century.

And then I think we're sort of in the suddenly episode right now.

So one way, how is it that we've lost a sense of the good, the true and the beautiful?

Well, because, for instance, there's one book that you will not be taught in schools right

now.

You can be taught Robin DiAngelo, you can be taught Ibrahim Kendi, you could probably

be taught Mein Kampf.

...