Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert, Experts on Expert. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Happy 1,000th episode. Can you even believe it? I can't believe it. I think of it very much like AA, which is like you can't stay sober for 30 years, but you can stay sober for a day.
Yes.
And then you can kind of blink and it is 30 years.
Yeah.
It's like if you told us like, okay, man, you're going to do 1,000. I'd be like, that's too, we can't do that.
You're like, we're not doing that.
We can't. We're not capable of that.
Yeah. But look at it.
And one episode at a time, we got to 1,000. That is very exciting.
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Chapter 2: How did Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping impact her family's dynamics?
This is very special because it's our 1,000th episode.
Yeah. And you wanted to commemorate it.
I did because it's really special and it's really rare.
It is. And it'll only happen once. Monica, this will be the only episode that's 1,000.
That's right. And I am very proud of us for... Just sticking to it for this long. But mostly just thankful to the armcherries because without them, we would not be able to still be here.
Yeah. They've really hung around for a lot of them.
They've been on the ride with us, and it's so, so fun. So I want to do something special and do a little very small merch collection to celebrate the 1,000th episode. Yes. So there is a T-shirt on the site that's very fun. Uh-huh.
It requires fast math, which made me happy.
That's for you. That's for Dax. And on the back of that shirt, it has all of the thousand guests, which is very fun.
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Chapter 3: What were the psychological effects of Elizabeth's abduction?
No Beth or Bit. We have a friend named Bit, which I think is so cute.
I loved a girl across the street from me growing up named Betsy, and I think her name was Elizabeth.
Oh, I could see that. I mean, I've heard people go by Betsy. Yeah, there's a lot, Lizzie.
The sky is the limit with Elizabeth.
It is, but my mom was always like, you are Elizabeth, you will go by Elizabeth. And so that's just what I've always been.
Now, I'm lazy. If someone has more than two syllables in your name, I'm like, we got to get down to one.
Really?
Maybe because I'm Dax.
Yeah, you're just projecting.
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Chapter 4: How does Elizabeth Smart advocate for survivors today?
Wow. Oh, my God.
That is... Every 70 seconds. So that means by the end of this, 110 people have gone missing. It's crazy. Let me ask you first... Your comfort level with talking about it seems high, but I definitely wanted to talk before we got into stuff. I would never want to be going in any direction or anything that you wouldn't want to go in. But am I right? You seem pretty comfortable.
You could ask me whatever you want.
Okay.
You can also tell us if you're like, actually, I don't want to talk about it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've been talking about it a long time. Yeah. You can ask away. Also, I've learned over the years how impactful stories are. We can sit here and chat about statistics. Actually, I'm not that great with numbers. I forget them kind of easy. But I remember stories. if someone's story is really meaningful or impactful, I'll remember that a lot better than if it's just like a fact.
And so I guess for me, I also saw this as an opportunity to reach out to other survivors, other victims, to let them know that they're not alone. Because again, I didn't feel like I heard people talk about rape or sexual violence or abuse as a kid. And I definitely didn't hear anyone saying, well, that happened to me.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Elizabeth Smart share about her upbringing?
So I'm going to recognize all that. I don't want to disrespect anybody when I say what I'm about to say, which is the three Judeo-Christian Old Testament religions. The prophets are all male. The apostles are all male. The characters are all male. The leaders are all male.
if you're inundated with that and you are a little bit off i think if you're a male you think you are entitled to a lot of shit that this thing said well clearly only the men talk to god only the men leave the people and this entitlement and then also this historic thing with child brides and multiple brides it's all religion too and without religion the scene doesn't work at the library
Why on earth would this person honor that? That's preposterous. When it goes bad, this is the part it goes bad. And I'm just curious, what did all of this do to your... feeling about religion?
Chapter 6: How has Elizabeth's perspective on religion changed over time?
And are you scared to even say it?
I am so grateful for the values that I was raised with. I am grateful for the importance that family played in my life, for the belief that God is kind and loving and he's merciful and not vindictive and a harsh, cruel God. I'm so grateful for that. But now I'm as a grown up, and looking back on everything that happened.
And honestly, looking at a lot of things in this world, I think it's too easy for a religion to, again, I agree with you, there's many beautiful things. I'm grateful for all of those things. But also now as an adult, just because someone tells me something that doesn't mean I believe it. And it sounds maybe like I'm
cynical but also i just know how quickly people take religion to fanaticism when someone thinks they're talking to a supernatural being this is dangerous because that supernatural being has the ultimate morality and the ultimate everything so your justifications are so built in It's hard for me to get into Brian David Mitchell's head and find out if he really believed all of it.
But if he really did believe all of it and he is receiving what he thinks is these messages from God, then the laws of the land mean nothing. The police mean nothing. Your judgment means nothing. That's a dangerous tool for a megalomaniacal narcissist to have. What about your dad leaving?
My dad leaving the church as we're talking about? Yeah, yeah.
I mean, was that part of like, so your dad came out as gay and so he left the church. So I have a really great friend who was raised very, very religious and she had her struggles with it. But what for her was the breaking point was her brother came out as gay and the family was like, no way. And she was like, hold on a second.
There's no fucking way that I believe in a God that doesn't love my brother as much as everyone else.
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Chapter 7: What impact did her father's departure have on Elizabeth's life?
I'm out. If that's what you're saying it's about, then I'm gone. And I just wondered if anything with you and your dad,
I mean, he called me. It was like six or seven in the morning. It was really early. And I was in such a sleep deprived state because the baby wasn't sleeping. And I swear I was up all night. So you see a phone call at like six or seven in the morning. You're scared. Oh, it's horrible. Who died? Like who's in the hospital? What happened?
They don't draw the lottery winning ticket at 6 a.m. It's not like he's calling with great news.
Chapter 8: What are the key takeaways from Elizabeth's experiences regarding child safety?
No, no. That's in the evening.
I mean, honestly, I thought my mom was in the hospital. But it's like word vomit. He's just like, Elizabeth, I'm leaving the church. I'm divorcing your mother and I'm gay. Like a run-on sentence. Just like... Wow. And I was like, what?
I'm sorry. I haven't had my coffee yet. Did I come again?
Sorry, what'd you say? And he just like kept going and going and going. I was like, what? All I could think to say at the end was, well... You're still my dad. I still love you.
See, what I was thinking was so weirdly unique about that situation and why I bring it up is not to be salacious, is you had this thought that I might get rejected from this dirty secret I have and I would no longer be loved. And your dad hugged you. In that police station, it was very obvious that would never be the case. And you're weirdly in a situation where he's got this shame.
You get to reciprocate. And you get to be the person that also would never, ever abandon him.
Yeah, he'll just never stop being my dad. And actually, over the years, it's not that my dad and I weren't ever close, but it was almost like because I was so close with my mom, I'd call my mom and my dad would be in the background. So I didn't necessarily feel like I needed to call my dad because he was like next to my mom.
Dads mostly pick up the phone and say, I'll put your mom on.
Pretty much. Or like if I went to my parents' house, I'd mostly be there to like hang out with my mom and my dad would be in and out and be like, oh, hi, dad. So then when this happened, something really nice that came out of it was that it made me really establish my own relationship with my dad and not just piggyback it off of my relationship with my mom.
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