Matt Bernstein

because the broad understanding of cyberbullying in the 2010s was very, like, unmasked these people who feel so emboldened.

Like, I probably would have, as like a high school student, probably seen the idea for social autopsy and been like, yeah, great.

Like, you know, you shouldn't be able to say that without your face on it.

I think that's actually still a very popular opinion from people who don't, you know, think too hard about the implications of that and, you know, surveillance and all sorts of stuff.

But anyway.

Going into my research for this episode, I had kind of this idea in my mind that Candace's newest like conspiracy streak was the newer iteration of like her and her career.

But learning about this like Gamergate stuff and the way that conspiracy was really tied in with the way that she like abandoned any sort of like liberal ideology she ever had.

It made me realize that conspiracy is like actually the bedrock for who she's kind of been her entire adult life.

And that this newest iteration is like less of a of a transformation and more of like a return to form.

And this is 2016.

And we're right on the precipice of Trump winning presidency for the first time.

So you can see how all of this is like seductive to 26 year old Candace Owens.

I would like to give a quick thank you to the American Humanist Association for sponsoring this episode.

And I was so grateful when they reached out because the AHA's value system really aligns with my own.

So it was just a very natural fit.

And if you are a frequent listener of this podcast, then they probably line up with yours too.

Humanism is fundamentally about living ethically, caring about other people, and making decisions based on evidence instead of dogma.

And on a legal level, it means enacting laws that center our shared humanity over religion and shielding us from coercive laws that center religion over humanity.

For example, earlier this year, the AHA got involved in a case regarding West Virginia's taxpayer funding because basically West Virginia decided that $5 million of West Virginia's taxpayer funds were going to go towards a religious school.

In Ohio.