Charlie Kirk on What It Means to Be a Man in Modern America

[00:00] I wanted to know either your thoughts on

[00:02] masculinity and the definition of that

[00:05] or um religious uh using religion as the

[00:10] objective morality.

[00:12] >> Um which one would you like me to to

[00:15] >> whatever hasn't been covered as much.

[00:16] Whatever

[00:17] >> the what it means to be a man hasn't

[00:19] been covered.

[00:20] >> Okay. Yeah, let's talk about uh to to be

[00:22] a man is to have self-control over your

[00:25] fleshly desires and an attitude towards

[00:29] courage and defending those that can't

[00:30] defend themselves, fostering a family

[00:33] towards godly purposes and picking the

[00:36] fights that the rest of society should

[00:37] not be involved in. That's what men

[00:39] should do.

[00:39] >> Understood. Uh do you so with the godly

[00:41] purposes, do you believe that if a

[00:44] person is not religious that they are

[00:46] less of a man because of it?

[00:47] >> No, I don't. But it's I do say though by

[00:49] what standard do we say them good or not

[00:51] so good. So if someone is not religious

[00:53] that's going to be an internal problem

[00:55] that they'll have to figure out.

[00:56] >> However, if someone is not religious we

[00:58] have to look at how they act and how

[00:59] they raise their kids by what standard.

[01:01] We we view that through a western

[01:04] Christian ethic.

[01:05] >> And so through the western Christian

[01:07] ethic we judge what is a good man and

[01:08] what is not a good man. And the Bible is

[01:10] full of great men and not so great men.

[01:12] Right? And even the great men of the

[01:14] Bible um made a lot of mistakes. Right?

[01:16] The great man of Moses killed somebody.

[01:18] The great man of Abraham sold his uh

[01:21] wife basically into slavery in Egypt,

[01:23] but they also did a lot of good. The

[01:25] best story for young men right now is

[01:27] Genesis 12 of the Bible, which is

[01:29] basically like get off your tail, leave

[01:30] your father's home, and go on an

[01:32] adventure for God's purpose.

[01:33] >> Um, and of course, all throughout the

[01:35] scriptures, men in particular are called

[01:38] at this time, and it's the Hebrew word

[01:39] heni, which means here I am, which is

[01:42] God will call you to a place out of

[01:44] comfort and into duty. We see that with

[01:46] the calling of Isaiah, the calling of

[01:48] Samuel. We see that with Moses. We see

[01:50] that with the calling of Jacob. And so

[01:54] we as men need to be called sometimes

[01:56] not what we want to do, but what we

[01:58] ought to do, which is that word that I

[01:59] love that is being lost in America so

[02:00] much as as called duty.

[02:02] >> Makes sense. Uh so one one more question

[02:04] to that is um do you believe that the uh

[02:09] modern movement to uh of feelings and

[02:12] men with feelings and stuff like that

[02:14] makes them any less of a man or things

[02:16] like therapy or whatever.

[02:17] >> I mean of course we as men must have

[02:18] feelings but w women are more emotional.

[02:21] That is how they are wired. However,

[02:23] here's the issue is that we as men need

[02:26] to do a job as society, in our families,

[02:28] and our marriages to always make sure

[02:30] our reason triumph over feelings. That

[02:32] is largely what the biblical role is and

[02:34] how what made this country so great is

[02:36] that we must have deep feeling and also

[02:39] deep thinking in our life. both of which

[02:41] and if we're honest we've had way too

[02:43] much feeling and way too much emotion

[02:45] centric governing over the last couple

[02:47] of decades especially the last 10 years

[02:50] and not nearly enough reason calculation

[02:53] and so look a man who's in touch with

[02:55] his feelings fine however if that if

[02:58] that verges on the line of

[02:59] self-indulgent narcissism and towards

[03:02] what end um and by the way the number

[03:04] one feeling you should have is adoration

[03:05] for a god that made you the greatest

[03:07] feeling is you should always petition

[03:09] those things to the almighty

[03:10] >> and I I guess this might be a little

[03:12] off, but uh for people that have had uh

[03:15] multiple experiences trying to connect

[03:18] with God or um some sort of higher power

[03:22] in some form, but have not been able to

[03:24] find that is do you what would that

[03:26] person do? Do you believe?

[03:28] >> Well, you should what you aim at is what

[03:29] you get. Uh the first thing is you got

[03:31] to read the Bible every day. And then

[03:32] finally, if you want to get closer to

[03:34] God, stop doing sinful things. You know,

[03:36] I always laugh. People say, "I'm not

[03:37] close to God. I was up till 3:00 a.m.

[03:38] drinking and you know I've been doing

[03:40] weed all day long and watching and

[03:42] eating whatever I want to eat. The flesh

[03:44] dulls the spirit from getting closer to

[03:46] the Almighty. And so, and by the way,

[03:48] this is just good life advice. If the

[03:50] flesh dulls your spirit getting closer

[03:52] to the Almighty. So, it's just good life

[03:54] advice. If it makes you feel good in an

[03:56] instant, it's probably bad for you. And

[03:58] a man versus a boy is someone who is

[04:00] able to say no for the things that feel

[04:02] good but aren't good for you over long

[04:04] periods of time. A man versus a boy is

[04:06] someone who's able to have delayed

[04:07] gratification. Not go out drinking every

[04:10] night. Treat women with honor and

[04:11] respect. Stay up late and actually, you

[04:14] know, study. People are booing saying

[04:15] not going up, you know, drinking every

[04:17] night. That's fine. But it's like

[04:19] success comes at a certain cost. If you

[04:21] guys want to be average, then, you know,

[04:22] you guys can go be the chief executive

[04:24] officer for, you know, your local Bud

[04:26] Light Club or whatever, right? Instead,

[04:28] if you want to be excellent at

[04:29] something, it means saying no to the

[04:30] flesh, saying no to the things that make

[04:31] you feel good all the time. And our

[04:33] society is is is you know highly

[04:36] addicted to highly addicted to

[04:38] substances and we wonder why we have the

[04:40] most depressed anxious alcohol addicted

[04:41] generation in history. A lot of these

[04:43] reasons are because of that. So what it

[04:45] means to be a man are a lot of those

[04:46] things and also standing up against

[04:48] injustice. The most masculine thing you

[04:50] can do is stand up against the injustice

[04:53] and the suffering of others. And this is

[04:55] what bothers me a lot is that is that we

[04:57] are called to defend women. We are

[04:59] called to defend women that are being

[05:01] that are being uh criticized, that are

[05:03] being criminalized or what whatever you

[05:05] say, especially in our marriage. And

[05:06] then finally, we as men are not called

[05:08] to go sleep with like a hundred

[05:09] different women. That's BS. Find one

[05:11] woman for your life as a wife. Take her

[05:13] as your wife and have a family with that

[05:14] person. Um monogamy takes effort. There

[05:17] is no skill in being, you know, a

[05:20] polyamorous polygamist. Uh in fact,

[05:22] you'll end up being a very miserable

[05:24] person if that's the case. So other than

[05:26] like your advice to young men, what do

[05:28] you think that um

[05:32] I want us as a society could do to kind

[05:35] of steer uh young boys and Gen Z men to

[05:40] like a better path than this like very

[05:44] indulgent lifestyle of like constantly

[05:47] getting girls and like using women for

[05:51] >> Well, and let me can I just interrupt

[05:52] you for a second? It goes both ways.

[05:55] So on the other side, radical feminism

[05:58] tells girls to get as many sexual

[06:00] partners as you can to go sew your oats.

[06:03] And basically what the feminists have

[06:05] done is like every 19-year-old boy's

[06:08] dream is that every girl is easy and

[06:10] accessible and you don't have to work to

[06:12] go get sex. In the way it should be, a

[06:15] man, a boy should have to become a very

[06:18] mature, very sophisticated person to get

[06:21] to the point of sex. So the boy doesn't

[06:23] have to grow up to get what he wants

[06:25] anymore. And so a lot of this is on

[06:27] women who have basically become pseudo

[06:29] only fans models going around selling

[06:32] themselves for no, you know, basically

[06:34] for no price whatsoever because free sex

[06:37] will liberate you. Let me say this as

[06:40] gently as I can. Free sex drives young

[06:43] women insane.

[06:45] The more sexual partners a young woman

[06:46] has in college, the more likely she is

[06:48] to be clinically depressed on

[06:50] anti-depressants because sex for men is

[06:52] totally different than sex for women.

[06:54] Sex for women is emotional attachment.

[06:57] It is relational. It is not

[06:59] transactional and is not purely

[07:00] physical. For whatever reason, the way

[07:02] men were designed and wired, sex, they

[07:04] could have sex with nine people over two

[07:06] weeks and just like, okay, whatever.

[07:07] Like, it's not that big of a deal. It's

[07:09] completely different for young women.

[07:10] And so we have told young women through

[07:12] this hyper feminist model, go act like

[07:14] men and a lot of people end up severely

[07:16] depressed. Other the final thing I'll

[07:19] say is this is that education is

[07:21] incredibly feminine in its approach and

[07:24] also in its staffing.

[07:27] 75% of teachers before 8th grade are

[07:30] women. Nothing against women teachers,

[07:32] but this is a trism of life. Young men

[07:36] don't like taking orders from women. I'm

[07:38] sorry. It's just a fact of life. Young

[07:40] men need strong men to say, "Stop it.

[07:44] Stop it. Be better." And they will sit

[07:46] down and shut up when a man tells them.

[07:48] And so, especially one that has their

[07:50] act together. So, all that to say, we

[07:53] need more strong biblical men that have

[07:55] their act together to actually get

[07:57] involved in young men's lives and women.

[07:59] For the love of everything holy and

[08:01] good, stop giving your body away to

[08:04] every man that wants it and save

[08:06] yourself for marriage. you [cheering]

[08:08] you you are you are the supply of the

[08:11] problem. So it's both sides. If women

[08:14] were far more careful and pious with

[08:16] their sexual choices, men would follow.

[08:19] If all of a sudden the supply side of

[08:20] this equation like actually sorry, you

[08:22] have to date me seriously and get

[08:24] married to have sex with me. All of a

[08:25] sudden, men would be like, "Well, I

[08:27] better get my act together. I better get

[08:28] a job." Men will react to the signal of

[08:31] sex quicker than women will because

[08:33] young men, especially 19, 20 years old,

[08:35] that's all they think about all day.

[08:35] sports and sex, what they think about

[08:36] all day long. And for young women,

[08:38] they're like, "What do you mean?" Like,

[08:39] "There's no way." Like, "No, honestly,

[08:41] with this is a this is a hilarious true

[08:43] study. Harvard University put 20 men in

[08:45] a room alone. No phones, no TV, no

[08:47] newspapers. They stared at a wall. They

[08:49] put 20 women in a room." They asked the

[08:51] men, "What did you think about?" I think

[08:52] about sports and sex the entire time.

[08:54] Okay. They asked women, "What did you

[08:56] think about?" They said, "Oh, we were

[08:57] replaying conversations that we had

[08:59] earlier in the last couple of days." It

[09:01] is very rare that a man will ever repay

[09:03] a conversation in the history. Like

[09:05] we're very forward thinking. And

[09:06] finally, we are very macro. Men are

[09:09] macroinkers. Women are microinkers. That

[09:11] is why if you sit down with somebody on

[09:13] campus that is a woman, she's probably

[09:15] talking about the grades in her class,

[09:17] her relationships, her friends, or

[09:18] things that people said to her. You sit

[09:20] down to a man on campus, he's talking

[09:22] about his crypto wallet, whether or not

[09:24] his DraftKings account is in the surplus

[09:26] or in a deficit, and whether or not, you

[09:29] know, Donald Trump is going to take

[09:30] Greenland. The most macro thing

[09:32] imaginable. [cheering] We are wired

[09:34] differently and it's time for our

[09:35] educational system to reflect that.

[09:37] Thank you so much. You, especially as

[09:39] men, but women as well, you are

[09:41] obligated to do difficult and hard

[09:43] things. The West was built, our nation

[09:46] was built on delayed gratification, not

[09:50] instant gratification. That maybe I'm

[09:52] not going to go do what feels good in

[09:54] the moment. I'm going to forsake what

[09:56] feels good and I'm going to parlay that

[09:59] into the future. Now, let's talk about

[10:01] this. So the dating pool is a complete

[10:04] catastrophe. Men are unhappy with women.

[10:06] Women are unhappy with men. And you're

[10:08] both wrong. Let's start with men. Men,

[10:10] very simple. If you are spending

[10:13] inordinate amount of times staring at

[10:16] screens, playing video games, and not

[10:18] being active and productive, that is

[10:21] deeply unattractive to women. Women, do

[10:23] you agree?

[10:25] [cheering and screaming]

[10:26] If you are addicted to or watching at

[10:29] all, stop doing that. If you are doing

[10:32] drugs and smoking weed, stop doing that.

[10:36] And I'll even go a step further.

[10:40] I personally do not drink alcohol. If

[10:42] you want to drink alcohol, that's f. If

[10:44] you want to do that, that's fine. But if

[10:45] you want to be a high performer, Donald

[10:47] Trump doesn't drink alcohol. Tucker

[10:49] Carlson doesn't drink alcohol. I don't

[10:51] drink alcohol. It will set you back.

[10:54] Mornings will be a little bit more

[10:55] sluggish. You'll forget stuff. you'll

[10:57] nothing good happens after midnight

[10:59] while both parties are drunk. So if you

[11:01] want to if you want to have a life of

[11:03] ease, go keep drinking. But if you want

[11:06] to go do heroic and great stuff, maybe

[11:08] it's time for you to battle your flesh

[11:10] and not just always get drunk every

[11:12] single night and say, you know what? No.

[11:14] Instead of drinking alcohol, I'm going

[11:16] to go to the gym. Instead of drinking

[11:17] alcohol, I'm going to hang out with

[11:18] friends and talk about deeper, more

[11:20] purposeful things. I'm going to go to a

[11:21] Bible study instead of a bar.

[11:23] [screaming]

[11:25] Now, men, one of the most unattractive

[11:29] things that women tell us that they find

[11:31] in men is that young men have no

[11:34] self-control. You need to have a

[11:36] destination in your life. If you are on

[11:38] a date and a young lady says, "Well,

[11:40] what do you do?" And you're like, "I

[11:42] kind of meander and I, you know, I go on

[11:44] DraftKings and I, you know, I own crypto

[11:49] and like I don't know, aunt loser."

[11:53] Instead, it should be

[11:55] Instead, it should be, I'm studying this

[11:57] because of this. I'm going to start a

[11:58] business. I'm going to work for this

[11:59] person. I want to be able to make this

[12:01] much money by this period of time to

[12:03] provide for a family. And I don't care

[12:04] how hard it gets, but I'll provide for

[12:06] you and provide for the kids. And I'll

[12:07] be the the protector and the covering

[12:09] over the family. Follow me cuz I'm going

[12:10] to lead us. That's what they want to

[12:12] hear.

[12:14] [cheering]

[12:18] And let me tell you, there are voices

[12:20] out there that say, "Oh, young men, all

[12:23] modern women are garbage and just use

[12:25] them for sex and just use them for

[12:27] pleasure." And that's BS. And I'm going

[12:30] to tell you, you cannot be a Christian

[12:31] and believe that. Is are there problems

[12:33] with modern women? Yes. But our Lord and

[12:36] Savior came to this earth because God

[12:39] could have just teleported Jesus Christ

[12:41] right onto the earth. but instead our

[12:43] Lord and Savior came through a womb of a

[12:46] woman. Christianity values women in a

[12:49] proper biblical context. So some of the

[12:51] narrative that I hear at times for men

[12:53] that say, "Oh, I hate all women and

[12:54] they're not worthy of respect and

[12:55] honor." We are but God used women all

[12:58] throughout the scriptures, whether it be

[12:59] Ruth or Esther, whether it be Deborah.

[13:03] And unfortunately, this is lost in a lot

[13:05] of the angst that young men have that

[13:07] they'll say, "I'm I'm just done with all

[13:09] women." First of all, even if it's hard,

[13:11] maybe you should work to improve your

[13:13] own life to make yourself more

[13:15] attractive to the woman that you want to

[13:17] one day find.

[13:19] And

[13:21] there needs to be

[13:23] the current modern state is that they

[13:25] want men to be women and women to be

[13:27] men. We know that. And they want men to

[13:30] kind of walk around in a beta state.

[13:32] Kind of walking around in their

[13:34] sweatpants all the time. They haven't

[13:35] showered in three days. They sleep in

[13:38] till 3:00 in the afternoon. Nothing

[13:40] about that is interesting or attractive.

[13:42] Men, you know what your call to action

[13:44] is? Go do something hard. Go do

[13:46] something difficult. That means go wake

[13:48] up at 5:00 in the morning. Go for a run.

[13:51] And I'm going to go there. Men, there's

[13:53] no excuse to be overweight. It's not

[13:55] interesting or attractive to women.

[13:57] Seriously,

[13:59] go to the gym. Stop eating so much crap.

[14:03] Go on the Maha diet. Fast for a couple

[14:06] of days. Try keto. Eat a steak, not a

[14:10] soy protein latte. [cheering]

[14:16] Everybody in this room can make yourself

[14:19] 5 to 10% more physically fit. Oh,

[14:21] Charlie, I'm just born this way. I have

[14:23] No. Look, everybody has their challenges

[14:25] or their struggles. Some people have

[14:27] metabolisms where they eat three pizzas

[14:29] and it disappears. I get it. Every There

[14:31] is no excuse, though. You can make

[14:33] yourself 10% more attractive in this

[14:34] room. You can. You can go to the gym.

[14:37] You can fast. You can go on a better

[14:39] diet. You can decide, you know what? You

[14:40] know what's another good thing about not

[14:41] drinking alcohol? A lot of calories that

[14:43] you're not no longer putting in your

[14:45] body. A lot.

[14:48] And for men, make yourself so desirable

[14:52] that women want to see to want to be

[14:55] with you. What does desirable look like?

[14:56] It doesn't mean you have to go look like

[14:58] a a supermodel or an actor. Women want

[15:01] piety in a man. They want someone that

[15:03] will say, "You know what? Let's go to

[15:04] church together.

[15:08] Let's not just go to some

[15:10] degenerate

[15:12] kind of environment." Do you know one of

[15:15] the things that women want more than

[15:17] anything else is they want the

[15:18] confidence and the security that when

[15:21] life gets difficult and when life starts

[15:25] falling apart that that man will lead

[15:27] them towards security and stability

[15:30] because deep down women have a very

[15:32] well-built and finely tuned god-given

[15:35] instinct that they'll be able to tell in

[15:37] a man when the bullets start firing is

[15:39] this guy going to protect me and protect

[15:40] my kids and is he going to provide or is

[15:42] he going to run for the hills. And for

[15:45] you as the man, you need to be able to

[15:47] demonstrate that. And it can it's in

[15:49] ways you might not imagine. And let me

[15:50] just give you some other practical

[15:51] advice. Men, if you go on a first date

[15:54] with a woman and you split the check,

[15:58] [cheering]

[15:59] we got serious problems. I don't care if

[16:02] you have to go into debt, refinance your

[16:06] home, or scrub the dishes for three

[16:09] weeks. You do not allow a woman to pay

[16:12] on the first date. Period. [cheering]

[16:16] Period.

[16:18] Oh, Charlie, I don't have the money.

[16:23] >> Figure it out. Get a job. Borrow money.

[16:27] Take out a loan on a credit card. I

[16:30] don't care if you don't have $41 to

[16:33] cover her meal. What is more important?

[16:36] The money in your pocket or the

[16:38] character in your heart.