One of my family members is now identifying as a different species, and I have no idea what to do.

We're going to react to this and your other voicemails and horror stories in this voicemail Friday episode of the Brad Versus Everyone podcast, my daily show where we take on Internet insanity, media craziness, and political madness, all from an independent perspective.

Guys, thanks for tuning in, and welcome to another voicemail Friday episode of the show, where I take your voice notes and voicemails and react to your stories offer advice.

The link if you are interested to send one of those in is as always in the description.

Up.

First, we're going to hear from somebody who genuinely has a family member now identifying as an animal.

Nope, it's not just a meme anymore.

This was kind of always the natural progression of things, unfortunately in I view at least, and now it's time to see where this is going.

Hi, Brad, I'm going to stay anonymous for this one, but I have an extended family member who a while back came out to me as trans species, saying that in addition to human, they were another animal as well.

And this person is an adult, like, not like straight out of high school, but like a genuine, fully formed adult, and I am feeling like my best move is to just accept it and move on and say, you know what, if this is how they cope with the world, let them cope with the world that way.

It's not my place to stop their coping mechanism.

But it also feels different than a coping mechanism like meditation or prayer or exercise.

There's a lot of other mechanisms out there, and I just don't know what my place is here.

So my friend, thank you for the voicemail and sorry about your predicament.

You seem sweet and frankly a little sweeter than me, because you're like, oh, I should just respect this person and accept them as a coping mechanism.

Now, it's a pass for me.

I mean, it's a hard note for me.

I would not acknowledge somebody else pretending to be a different species delulu is not a solulu, as I frequently say.

And I'm I'm not sure you're really helping somebody by just totally enabling their delusions and confusion in this kind of way.

And I.

Guess it also depends how close you are with this person, right, because you said it's an extended family member, and sometimes with extended family members were really close to them, but sometimes we're really not that close, and we see them twice a year, you know, like Thanksgiving and Christmas or whatever.

And in that scenario, I would suggest that you just avoid it, right, like, no need to cause a conflict, but do not I mean, certainly don't actively affirm them as a giraffe or whatever the heck they are identifying as.

But if you just see them occasionally it's a distant relative, then you can probably get away with just like not really discussing it or not having to affirm it.

You can just be polite and avoid it.

That's probably what I would do, because I think that if you're really encountering somebody who is identifying as a different species, not even as a mean but like actually thinks they're part elephant or whatever, they're probably a little bit beyond reaching unless you have a close relationship with them.

And I guess that's the other scenario.

And if this is a cousin who you grew up with or somebody with whom you have a close relationship, they are important to you.

And you are important to them.

Then what I would recommend is that you take them aside, you sit down with them, and you say, listen, you know I love you, and you know I care about you, and you know I have your best interest at heart, right And then you'd say, well, I just want to talk to you about this thing you told us about how you're identifying as a different species.

I want to tell you, I can't.

You are a free person, you are an adult in this world.

You are free to say whatever you want about yourself, feel about however you want about yourself.

I don't feel that I can participate in that because I think it is a fact that you are a human.

I do not think you are anything other than that, and I don't feel comfortable participating in kind of a fiction otherwise.

So I am happy to talk about it more with you.

I'm happy to not talk about it and just agree to disagree and kind of put it over here and continue our relationship.

But I want it to be transparent with you about how I'm feeling about this, and so we could talk it through together because I do love you and I do care about you, and hopefully could go somewhere from that so I think it's That's my advice to you, my friend.

It really depends on the intimacy of the relationship in the extended family members.

But no, this is not like a prayer, it's not like meditation.

It's de lulu and Delulu is not a solulu.

What do you guys think?

Let me know in the comments.

How would you handle this in your family.

I'm genuinely quite curious.

We'd love to hear from you, guys.

Make sure subscribe to the like button YadA YadA yah, and if you want to send in your own voicemail, the links as always in the description.

Okay, up, next, we're gonna hear from somebody else who was betrayed by their trans identifying ex best friend.

Let's take a listen.

Hey, Brad, this is Olivia.

I'm nineteen and my best friend from preschool transition at fifteen, which doesn't have much to do with the story other than to tell you the political beliefs of the person.

I suppose, but we stop being friends over a year ago, completely unrelated to politics.

He basically just blamed all his problems on me.

Anyways, I never shared my political believes because obviously it would not be welcome, but I also didn't care much until the most recent election.

But anyways, I ended up posting a bit of a tribute to Charlie Kirk because I was sick of being silent, especially when there were so many people that I literally knew posting and celebration, which is like disgusting rights bock so many people.

Also, this is my first political post ever, like kind of adding myself right because I live in LA so you know, like two people agree with me, and I posted on my notes quoting Charlie Kirk saying when discourse ends, violence begins, which is like how dare I?

And either someone said it to my ex best friend or he's just creeping on my page because we don't even follow each other.

But he posts a screenshot of my note on his story and says, this is going on the public story because I need everyone to lock in, oh at once, please, Like what?

I was so confused, Like what was the goal?

Would you like me murdered as well?

You know, like if the goal was to expose me, Like I literally have a significant amount of more followers than you, so I'm exposing myself more than you were exposing me.

So I just don't understand the point.

I had a feeling he just wanted to get reaction out of me, or like maybe maybe he missed me or something.

But that's why I just completely ignored it.

I blocked him and didn't say anything to you him loved.

Oh my gosh, I love you.

You're my new favorite.

I just send me a voicemail every week with the tea and I'll just sip my coffee and I'll be like, oh my god, he said, what slay joking aside, You really didn't do anything wrong, And guys, I would be so real with y'all.

I would be one hundred with you if you send me a voicemail voicemail and I'm listening and I'm like, wait, you might be the problem, Like you might be the de lulu.

I will tell you all that because I believe in tough love.

But this is not one of those cases.

Okay, that's not in the room with us at the moment.

You did nothing wrong.

You just said it's bad to murder people because they have a different idea than you, or because they say words that upset some other people, which just makes you saying like this is my common theme to you guys, you're not the crazy one, okay, And anybody who feels the need to put you on blast for such an anodyne milk toast common sense take, you are one thousand percent better off with that person not in your life.

So it's real simple to me what you got to do with this friend?

Block mute elite and then you know what, they can post whatever they want about you to the story, to their stories, and you just don't look, ignore it, move on, make friends that aren't crazy.

And I know you live in LA, but the take that like it's wrong to murder people?

I think still most people in LA might agree with you, and the ones that don't you really don't want to be around because I'm It's not like you can't be friends with Libs or Democrats.

Of course you can.

But if they can't agree that it's wrong to murder Charlie Kirk for just because he has of views they find offensive, and that means they really would be okay with you being murdered, don't deserve friends who would be okay with you being murdered?

Right like that?

How do I even have to say that what in the twenty twenty five is going on where I even feel compelled to say that out loud as a sentence.

But anyway, you get my point, and you might be surprised.

Low key, there's more people in LA who might not actually be lived out.

You might be surprised.

So maybe try to connect with some more of them, and regardless, just make friends who aren't crazy, and just ignore the craziest and leave them in your past.

But I do love the tea, So thank you for the voicemail.

Thank you for the dramatic reading of I really enjoyed that.

And guys, if you want to send in a voice rail, remember the link is in the description.

Up next, we are going to hear from somebody again who gosh, just y'all have the craziest experiences sometimes.

Let's listen to this next person who was shocker baselessly accused of.

Being rac hey, Brad, it's Marie.

I'm sure you've gotten a lot of these in the wake of Charlie Kirk, but I've got my own wokhre story.

I made a post on Instagram after the assassination, starting with the phrase whether you agree with Charlie Kirk or not, It's important to note that I'm very moderate and I've just proceeded to condemn political violence and encourage everyone I know to continue to have conversations across the aisle and really hear people out.

And one of my friends I've known for years, she's actually my neighbor as well, reached out to me to say she could not believe that I would make a post like that, that I am complicit and tolerant of violence against minority communities, and that she was really disappointed in me.

And I asked her if she'd ever watched Charlie Kirk, and she said she's watched one video.

So I sent her a video debunking all of these lies going around about Charlie Kirk and his views, and she said she refuses to watch it because it'll be too triggering for her, and then accused me of not wanting to have a conversation and told me she has no choice but to assume that I am racist and bigoted.

So that's my story, Thanks, Brad, How great one.

Oh my gosh, y'all, how are these people real?

I know they exist, but how do they actually exist?

It will never cease to amaze me how obnoxious some people are.

Imagine that like making believing all these things about someone based on one video.

Then someone sends you other evidence, You're like, I can't watch that, it's triggering.

So then you just have an unfalsifiable belief system.

Right, You've assumed something as true and then can't be convinced otherwise because you won't literally even consume the evidence or arguments against it.

That's like a cult like belief at that point.

That's not a rational position.

However, the I almost wish you had gone about it a little bit differently, though.

Let me explain.

I think litigating Charlie Kirk's beliefs with these people is a mistake because, I mean, Charlie was a controversial figure.

I've been very outspoken against what happened him and it does not matter.

But he said edgy things.

He had a trollish element to him at times, And with anybody, regardless, who spent thousands of hours on camera and on microphone, you're gonna be able to find a couple sound bites that age poorly or sound horrible out of context, and so litigating no, no, he's not bad.

He never said he didn't mean that when he said that.

To me, that almost feels like a lost endeavor or a fruitless endeavor.

When it comes to reasoning with these woke people.

You're not going to convince them that he wasn't problematic, right, Okay, they think freakin' aunt Jemima is problematic, all right?

Like, so a better thing, I think is to focus on the original message of your post, which is just that it's wrong and unamerican to kill people for their ideas or words.

And if somebody, this neighbor, this friend can't agree with that, I mean that's on them.

You are not the crazy one, you're not the problem there.

Then you're not the bad guy they are.

And it's hard because relationships are complicated and people are multi dimensional.

So just because someone has delusional politics or has a victim mindset doesn't mean they're an unambiguously bad person.

Doesn't mean they can't be a positive part of your life.

But I think you should just explain your position to this person, say this is my belief.

You can respect it or you cannot.

That's up to you.

And then if they choose to cut you off or remove themselves, then that speaks to them, not you.

You've stood on business for what's right and what's ethical and moral and they've thrown a pissy fit and called you name since made a bunch of unfair assumptions about you.

At the end of the day, you can't control what other people think or say about you.

You can just control what you actually are and what you do, and in that case, you will have done nothing wrong.

And if she chooses to, I think it's a she here your cut you off or remove yourself from your life, then, like the trash takes itself out sometimes, babe.

That's all I got to say.

You can hopefully make some new friends that aren't crazy obsessed with seeing victimhood everywhere and low key supportive of political terrorism.

Because she doesn't sound like a fun hang I'll just say that, like, she doesn't exactly sound like a fun girl to get brunch with.

I don't know.

That's just my take at least you guys feel free to chime in on this situation in the comments down below.

Now we're gonna hear from somebody up north in Canada about it.

Insane like genuinely unhinged experience they had in school.

Let's listen, Hi, this is a story from my high school in Canada.

I'm seventeen and I just finished our first readthrough of the school play.

The drama teacher started talking about Donald Trump.

The topic just changed their naturally and Charlie Kirk.

Then the teacher said how she had to apologize to her class because she let out a little dance when she learned Charlie Kirk when being assassinated.

At that moment, she goes at his debt and.

Yeah.

Then they started talking about how happy they were that Donald Trump was dying.

The teacher actually said he should be dead.

And then for a solid minute there were cheers at the death of Charlie Kirk.

Thirty five kids and a teacher cheering as I just sat there trying not to break down in tears or laughter or disbelief anything, as people who I trusted sort of laughing, like sharing and whistling at death of political opponents.

Yeah, thanks for listening, have a great day.

Hope this doesn't ruin it.

Bye.

No, I thank you for the voicemail.

Much appreciated, and I'm really sorry you had to go through that.

My first thought is that you should talk to your parents about this, assuming you haven't already.

Maybe they're more on the conservative side, maybe they're not, but they're just sane and they don't want this kind of thing going on in your school, but they should.

Really.

I don't know exactly how the system of Canadian governance works, but like here, we would have a school board, right and a local school board that's elected, and you can go present this and at one of their meetings and demand some sort of accountability.

You should do whatever process you can to file some sort of complaint against this teacher because this is really inappropriate.

This is not even the situation, and that's more nuanced, I think, which is when you have a teacher, maybe on their personal Facebook page, writing something distasteful.

This is them in the classroom celebrating terrorism that is unacceptable and then encouraging students to be okay with murder.

That is a wild and flagrant abuse of your position, of your authority as a teacher, all done on the taxpayer dime.

So I really think you should should file many complaints.

You should also contact some form of conservative media in Canada.

Maybe it's the post millennial rebel news.

I don't know, I'm not super familiar with the Canadian ecosystem and let them know about this situation, because if you could draw some sort of national political spotlight or even regional political spotlight to it.

That might help you get accountability.

And it's probably possible for you to stay anonymous while doing that as well.

So I would really encourage you, but rest assured, I would encourage you to take some action, to try to do something to push back on this.

Hopefully your parents could help you out, because you shouldn't have to shoulder that burden, you know, as just a student.

But rest assured, even if you decide not to take action, I understand it's not easy, it's daunting and sounds like you're in an environment where they're the majority.

But just because you're in that kind of a bubble, I want to make sure that you don't even for a second think that you are the crazy one.

You are not the crazy one.

Okay, just because a lot of people around you hold U certa an opinion doesn't mean that that's actually a majority opinion, or that most people think like that.

Like, there's such a thing as an echo chamber or a bubble, and it sounds like you're in one where people are kind of deranged.

I've been in them before.

But rest assured that you are not the crazy one.

They are, and you have some basic common decency and sense, and they have, let I don't know, ideology, partisanship, tribalism wrought their brains into mud and bring them to a hateful and dark place.

But whatever you do, don't fall guilty, don't fall into the same kind of thinking in reverse, because it's not good for your soul really to be so dark and consumed by hatred that you're worshiping death or celebrating murder.

That's a bleak place to be.

So in another sense, you should also have pity for these people, because it's kind of sad that that's where they are in their lives and in their thinking, that they're in such a dark and hopeless place themselves, that they're celebrating the death of someone else.

That's pitiful.

But you're not the crazy one.

And I really encourage you to maybe through one of the venues that I suggested, maybe through something else your parents might be able to help with take some sort of action against this, because I do think we have a duty as common sense, decent people to stand up for basic decency and what's right in our communities when we see something wrong.

And what you've described is beyond wrong.

It is incomprehensibly inappropriate evil.

That's my thought.

You guys feel free to weigh in on what you think in the comments below.

Next, we are going to hear from somebody who encountered a non binary teacher, because that's a thing that we have now and that's just wonderful.

Let's listen.

Hey, Brad, I firstly just wanted to say I absolutely love your videos.

I have been watching you relentlessly in twenty twenty five.

You helped me realize I was way more center than I thought I was, so I'm solidly center left leaning these days.

Anyway.

This is in response to the Normal Gaze video you and Clarkson made regarding non binary teachers.

I myself am a teacher.

I'm not going to say what country because this accent may or may not be fake, and I can't really give away my opinions because when you work in the education sector, you can't really give away like political opinions because it can't reflect the government and the public school system.

It's crazy.

Anyway, I work with non binary teacher.

I work in a high school in a low socioeconomic area, and their long address is missus because they fought really hard to get married to their wife.

Their short address is sir, and obviously they go by them pronouns.

It's really hard for them to get very religious kids in their class.

I mean, we work in a public school, so it's not about religion, but it's hard for them to get the religious kids in class because they don't believe in non binary.

As well as this teacher being very outspoken about gender and pronouns.

They even got the words male and female removed from the staff bathrooms, but the student's bathrooms still have boys and girls on them.

Anyway, it's a lot.

I thought you want to hear about it?

Bye, Yeah, I am.

I don't want to say I'm happy to hear about it because I wish it wasn't happening so I didn't have to hear about it.

But I'm glad to know.

I guess if it is happening, i'd brought or no than not know.

And I just think it's crazy because this person doesn't even make sense missus sir, and they them.

It's like pick a struggle, babe, pick a struggle.

I can't keep up, and neither can these kids.

And you are using your position of authority to promote ideological agendas and nonsense.

Non Binary is an ideology.

It is a political belief system.

It's not some like, oh, just like black people existing.

It's not comparable to that gay people existing.

It's not comparable to that.

You are teaching children a certain set of ideas about human sex and gender ideology that is very controversial, I would argue, is actually kind of regressive, and really, I think you should be totally free to call yourself whatever you please, live however you want in your own life.

I don't really think you should be allowed to push that on kids in schools really at all.

And maybe that makes me some sort of bigotistism.

I don't really care at this point, because I'm just going to say what I think and what is right, and I think that is a load of nonsense, And yeah, I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do about it if you're in a kind of depends on the political and cultural atmosphere or just temperature of the discourse where you are, because you didn't mention what country or what part of the world.

But it's not right and people should push back on it when it happens in their communities.

I don't know, but I'm sorry that that's happening.

Hopefully you can just be a good role model for your students and offer them a saner alternative, and maybe enough people will just opt out of that person's class that the administrators will realize, like, hey, there's a problem here.

Maybe I don't know, maybe that's the solution.

You guys, let me know what you all think in the comments.

Okay, one last note here that we're going to wrap up.

This is from somebody who identifies as trans and is more on the conservative side, but has still had some negative experiences.

Let's listen.

Okay.

So, hi, Brad, I wanted to put in this insane story.

So for context, I am an almost seventeen year old trans girl, like transsexual whatever.

I am extremely conservative, and for a couple of years I went to this like Catholic Christian private school and I was doing an online like academy basically, and there were some kids who absolutely hated my guts so much they made a group chat called the kkk of and it was my dead name, and basically there was about like sixty members from my really big school in it, and they were just like my biggest haters.

So that just goes to show you that no matter how conservative you are, even if your trans or whatever, like, people will always be out to hate.

And yeah, you just have to live your life for you.

Wow, I'm really sorry you happen.

Kids can be such jerks.

It's just like, it's just bullying.

Bullying is never okay.

Trans not trans, conservative, liberal, It shouldn't really matter.

It's wrong.

Hopefully you reported that to your school and you told your parents about it.

It's not okay for your classmates to treat you like that, no matter how they feel about gender or any of these issues or beliefs.

Bullying is bullying and it's not okay.

I would maybe just say, like, don't really view it as a reflection of you.

It's just them being dumb and immature and mushy brained, and a lot of them will probably look back in a few years time and be embarrassed about that.

But it's not about you.

It's about them, I guess.

And yeah, it sounds like you're in a strong place because you can't control what the world thinks of you.

Like my personal there are thousands of people out there who hate my guts right because of my political views, because of my commentary, because of my work.

Who think that I'm like a cancer on society everywhere?

Like seriously, And if you let what other people think defying you, that is a recipe for life long unhappiness.

You have to be strong in your sense of self.

You have to know who you are, what you stand for, and be proud of it and okay with it, and then let the people think whatever they want to think, let them say whatever they want to say, if you can be a rock in and of yourself.

And that's really hard to do for anybody at seventeen years old.

Okay, I certainly didn't have it then, but that's where you can strive to.

And it sounds like you're already kind of in that place.

But yeah, it doesn't matter if you're conservative or not.

The bullying is not okay.

I'm really sorry that happened to you.

It's not acceptable, and I think everybody should just remember, no matter our disagreements, no matter what different beliefs we may have about these issues, we should always try to be kind to each other.

And this world is just a dark place these days in a lot of ways.

And I'm really sorry that happened to you.

Stay strong and keep on working unforming.

Just a strong sense of yourself and knowing who you are, let you believe in and don't let the world get you down.

That's my advice at least.

But thank you all so much.

That'll be it for this episode of the Bread Versus Everyone podcast.

Thank you for tuning in.

Make sure subscribe that you aren't yet hit the like button, YadA yadda.

Yeah, and with that, guys, we'll talk again.

Real sick