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Sound of Freedom with Michael Hobbes AND Human Trafficking re-release [extended cut] (Patreon)

Published:
2023-09-05 18:20:50
Edited:
2023-09-05 20:26:21
Imported:
2026-06

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Content

Today we released a conversation Mike and I had about Sound of Freedom, a movie I watched primarily so I could tell him about it and spare him the experience of watching it himself. Here is an extended cut of that journey through madness, followed by a re-release of our 2019 episode. 

I have never had a better time talking about a movie that made me so miserable.

Love,

Sarah

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Comments

Lauren

Omg I have never been so excited for a Patreon drop

Kristi Brokaw

Omg—Mike and Sarah back together! I’m so excited.

Katelyn Isaacson

OMG I needed this episode in ways I didn’t even know until I saw this title

Alice

I've been thinking of you every time I see this stupid movie advertised! can't wait to hear your thoughts <3

Hayley

This is the best gift I have ever received on a Tuesday

palachive

Havent seen the movie, but I keep thinking about that old episode of YWA, because I've noticed that every bathroom in Texas has a human trafficking poster in it and I assume it must be required by law or something? The propaganda is real.

Kayla

omg! Great to hear mike again. Excited to understand why my conservative relatives are obsessed with this garbage without having to watch it

Suzanne Weiner

Thank you for your sacrifice, Sarah.

alexa 🌼

THREE. HOURS. 🩵🩵🩵

Kate Makarin

So great to have the gang back together!!!

Kathryn Huggins

I paraphrased the original episode’s argument to a Hinge date who was “really worried about human trafficking.” Might be why I never heard from him again, but my god, the thrill of easily telling him why he was wrong was worth it

Kat

Omg the joy I felt when I saw this was a nearly three hour episode out of the downtown hotel is unmatched

Andrew Myers

Yay! I love when Mike comes home to visit

yourewrongabout

Sadly (happily?) on 75 minutes of this is Mike learning about Sound of Freedom, and then the 2019 episode plays. But still a lot of misinformation being processed between friends in the first part <3

Ben

Mikes bio pic would be called “Hobbes and sham”

Karis

Re child pornography: since becoming a mother I’ve been plunged into this internet space that is having a conversation about putting images of your child out onto the internet. And I think there’s a lot of respectful to the child reasons to have some parameters. Not treating your child like they exist for your aesthetic on social media. Respecting their autonomy. Not letting older women who just like watching cute kid videos get weirdly attached to a kid they don’t actually know, etc. But some of the reasons sound an awful lot like child trafficking scare tactics. Like you’re exposing your child’s innocent moments to be used for the sexual gratification of pedos. It just feels a little too sensational for me to believe the scale of the fears.

marya

was having such a rough day and this really was the little treat i needed to salvage it

Blaine Fiedler

Oh no! Worst remake of the Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meredith breaking his glasses ever!

Jamie Madden

Ooooof didn’t expect the feels from the sound of classic YWA.

Amy Latta

OK, the entire first half was just fabulous conversation about a movie I never plan to watch. But when the classic YWA music kicks in… And one of the best episodes y’all ever did plays… Holy cow. Pure freaking Joy.

Casey Stel

This is my Super Bowl ❤️❤️❤️

Averie

Maybe a hot take here - is the Jeffrey Epstein situation not a true, documented case of child sex trafficking that involves politicians? In my experience this is the #1 driver for conversation around human trafficking & the politics around it, especially on TikTok. I’ll be on the lookout for a YWA ‘Jeffrey Epstein’ episode, but I think this is a central reason why the conversation on trafficking has been alive & well since 2020.

Patrick O

Great to hear Michael again! Question for Sarah, and apologies if you've addressed this before: You used to begin each episode saying you were working on a book about the Satanic Panic. Is that still in the works? With the Satanic Panic itself making a roaring comeback, I'd love to read a deep dive with your insights.

T

Thank you for this 💕💕 it was a long day in lab and this was beautiful 👩🏼‍🔬

Eva Johansen

Revisiting this ep is interesting. Since I listened the first time, the state I live in Australia FULLY decriminalised sex work (I think the first place in the world to do it). Some are saying it has made it easier to identify and prosecute actual sex trafficking.

Nemo

Liam Neeson stars in: MEMO TAKEN

Shireen Shakouri

For those interested in more on Angel Studios & the creators very questionable funding schemes and intentions (including a rip of Netflix that censors out all ungodly content) I recommend checking out the recent Fundie Fridays YouTube channel's ep on the topic. Not really duplicative of this and really eye-opening about the apparatus behind modern Christian media

Octopus

Someone commented abt doing an episode abt Jeffrey Epstein and I also have a question about the legitimacy of the sex trafficking issue in SEAsia. I think it was Thailand that had laws against posting pictures of your child on the internet for a set amount of time (a couple years or so?) because they had so many issues with CSAM and trafficking (apparently this is also a problem in Cambodia and Malaysia as well). Another notorious pedophile also lived in the Philippines. Is this a moral panic? Or is it real but exaggerated? Is it made worse by Thailand’s reputation for sex tourism and the creepy white guys who travel there?

ABG

Hearing about the little kids in the theater watching this is so triggering for me. My mother would 100% have taken me and been like NEVER GO ANYWHERE OR THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS. I was forced to watch way too many Lifetime movies and things focused on kidnapping to the point I was too afraid to go on field trips with school and have been working through social anxiety every since.

The Pod is Coming From Inside the Cast!

I got into a car accident back in 2020 and had to get to work via Lyft for a couple of weeks. I got a couple of really unique drivers like the one who told me all about how the Catholics and the Jews were working together to drink baby blood in the Vatican etc. But another time a much more normal seeming woman drove me and noticed I had an English accent. She used it segue into telling me about how she wanted to go to Europe but she couldn't because her daughter was 13 and it was too likely that she would be kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. She would then go on to gush to me about how much great work Donald Trump and Bill Barr had done to protect children from sex trafficking. My eyes rolled so far back in my head I thought they were going to fall out. Now I can't even enjoy dumb movies like Taken anymore, this stuff is just so deeply rooted in xenophobia and racism.

Ren

It’s so fun to hear y’all together again! I missed getting to listen in on your specific dynamic!

Ren

That sure seems like a form of child abuse to me. I am so sorry!

Valerie

I think the recurring imagery of "kids in a storage container" comes from these awful stories of coyotes leaving immigrants locked in the back of trucks and abandoning them on the side of the road. People recognize the horror of that but it's politically inconvenient to think about illegal immigrants in a compassionate way or it feels uncomfortably at odds with one's personal views on border security. So it gets transmuted into this other thing, where everyone in the container is an unimpeachably innocent victim and the hero gets there just in time.

ABG

It definitely was an abusive environment - we don't speak anymore thankfully and I'm cautious about what I say to my kids. There's a balance of teaching them to be careful vs fearful.

Elaina Barbaree

Farms - Amazon - Hotels: "It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, it's me."

Julie Sespico

Did a quick search about the Thailand thing you mention and it is a matter of children's rights, not because of CSAM. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1137917 You should do some reading about trafficking in Thailand and use Michael's debunking skills he's shared with us along the way! I'd also be real careful about using one vague reference to a "bad case" in the Philippines to represent an entire country and people....

Emily Atkins

I'm a mother to two young kids and the internet is convinced that they'll be abducted in a Target parking lot. Every Instagram real about mess-free sensory bins is followed by How To Load In Groceries while scanning the area and *the inside of your own car* for child traffickers. Like an already anxious and exhausted demographic needs to be aware of a threat that doesn't exist.

Octopus

Thanks for the info, I’m glad to know it was about children’s rights. Also it wasn’t my intention to use 1 bad case to represent an entire nation. I was being vague about that specific case because I didn’t really want people googling it but it’s pretty well known for anyone unfortunate enough. I mentioned it as an example but I’ve known about people (and not just white Americans or Europeans but even Japanese and Chinese ppl) who have been trying to sexually exploit women and children in the Philippines for ages. I do admit my ignorance but I am an Asian woman so I was asking this in good faith, although I can see how it leans into negative stereotypes.

Dorothy B

I am acquainted with a sex worker working to organize sex workers in New England. Don’t get her started about ‘trafficking’, she loses it. The overwhelming majority of the teenage sex workers she’s encountered over the years would rather sell sex to strangers, and earn the funds to take care of themselves, then be trapped at home being abused and assaulted at home for free. We love ‘stranger danger’ in this country when most of the harm done to children in this country is done at home.

Julie Sespico

I'm sorry if I was a bit snappy! I was so charged up on the episode 😆 I legitimately do think it's worth doing some digging if your curiosity is piqued about the topic!

Octopus

It’s alright! And I agree with what you said. Totally gonna do some more digging

Sarah Omelet

Wait. Does this mean Cardi B is implicated in Qanon for the bodak yellow lyrics???

ES

Miiiiiiike!!!! Dad’s home!!!!!

Amanda Crampton

not trying to diminish what JE did but wasn’t his whole thing teenage girls? I didn’t think he abducted little kids and kept them locked up, which I feel like is what is being pushed as a common narrative

Allison Akright

Thank you for seeing this garbage movie, Sarah! I work for a movie theatre chain and I die a little each time I have to promote it. It's done so well in our conservative middle-America towns and I just want to shake them and tell them to listen to this episode!

Dee Eblen

omgYES That original music!!!

Averie

I agree that what Mike & Sarah are arguing is about the abduction/imprisonment moral panic that doesn’t have much evidence to support it and is probably creating unnecessary panic on Facebook. I’ve just noticed in the past few years the topic has been fueled by examples of exploitation like Epstein, Hillsong, or Disney/Nickelodeon child stars. Epstein especially has political fuel because the right claims he has connections to Bill Gates and the Clintons, the left claims he has connections to Trump, when (at least from what I’ve heard) both are true. Yes the Sound of Freedom’s portrayal of trafficking is probably not accurate, but there are legitimate examples of child exploitation and trafficking in celebrity culture & the media that aid the panic (and even venture into Satanic Panic level theories)

Averie

This episode of YWA and the original do seem to frame it as “you’re wrong about human trafficking” as if the only rhetoric about it is the abduction story (and granted this movie was made in 2018). But the Q Anon level mistrust of ‘elites’ and the media is fueled specifically by examples like Epstein. Probably revealing my algorithm a bit here because I’m fascinated to learn what people are saying about the topic, but conversations about it on TikTok cannot be separated from the Epstein example.

Evgenia

What's the timing of the "extended cut" piece that is Patreon-only, pretty please? This episode has 2 h 45 min in the regular feed, and the Patreon edition is 2 h 52 min. I listened to the regular one first and I clicked through the Patreon one to find these extra 7 minutes but I cannot figure it out!!!

Sam Williams

I just learned that Sound of Freedom is not a documentary and I’m somehow even more excited to listen to this episode

Joanna

Can someone help me! How can I listen on Spotify? Copying the link is not doing anything for me 😐

Erica Simons Buschiazzo

What a treat! Would dad consider coming back each summer for a book club? I re-listened to the Jessica Simpson book club eps and it was so lovely to escape the world with you two!

Justin Hamilton

If you need a palate cleanser after this God-awful movie, I recommend the exact opposite of the Satanic Panic: The Owl House, currently streaming (miraculously) on Disney+. It is absolutely delightful.

Bridey

Oh my god the tourist area food! My friend just referred to all the food available in Pensacola Beach, FL is "a plate o'beige" 😆

re rahrich

I've never been able to listen to patreon podcast feeds on Spotify, so if there is a way, I am ignorant of it. But you can download another app, like Google Podcasts. In Google Podcasts there is a button on your subscription page that looks like a chain link with a + in it. That is where you'll paste the RSS Feed link.

re rahrich

I think you absolutely nailed it

re rahrich

This is the thing with algorithms though. You're being fed the Epstein angle but what proliferates on Facebook has moved on from that. It's a full blown trafficking meltdown now with folks in such states of hypervigilance that people are shooting Lyft drivers. Sarah was actually on a really good episode of Behind the Bastards a few weeks ago about this exact thing. I agree that a lot of what drew in folks to Q Anon was utilizing speculation on celebrity child trafficking but these folks have whipped themself up far far past the realm of reality at this point.

Anna Whitmer

I have an answer to the question Michael posed about where these "rescue organizations" think people are supposed to go post-rescue. I worked for a non-profit agency who provided services to people who experienced domestic violence and economic crisis. Because some of our funding came from the state we were required to attend a training with former Governor and criminal Rod Blagojavich. During this training it was revealed that a large amount of money from the state would be given to trafficking efforts because it was a cause the Gov was now aware of and passionate about. After a "training", which mostly consisted of revealing sensational statistics, our agency director asked where these victims would be taken after they were rescued from their oppressive situations and were told "we'll be dropping them off at agencies like yours". Our next question was whether we would be getting some of this newly allotted funding to support additional staff and resources for shelter services that this would require and were told. "No. The new funding is for awareness and training about trafficking".

Åshild Hjellbrekke

I love the episodes with Michael so much! I hope he comes back whenever there are more OJ-episodes!

Brad

I love the part where Cindy McCain, fresh from purchasing her daughter Megan, identifies another potential victim she misses out on.

Rhiannon Williams

Sarah and Michael and N*Sync all in the same week?!?

Daniel

Although it's not particularly humanistic or honorable to feel schadenfreude about situations like this, it's worth mentioning that Tim Ballard (the main 'hero' of the Sound of Freedom) has recently resigned from the Operation Underground Railroad organization amid sexual harassment allegations. Apparently, on multiple occasions, he invited women to come with him for OUR operations, and convinced them to share a room and shower with him under the guise of "staying undercover". https://www.nbcnews.com/news/tim-ballard-resigned-operation-underground-railroad-reports-sexual-mis-rcna105835 It's a reminder that even people claiming to fight exceedingly good fights may have less than honorable goals and that such people do not deserve any less reasonable scrutiny than any others. Possibly the opposite.

Raelle X

Why does Michael insist on calling sexually exploited children as "youth sex workers"?

Raelle X

If a child runs away from an abusive home and needs a warm place to stay, any adult that tries to exchange food/shelter for sexual services is abusing a child.

Daniel

I heard about that. There are some nuances worth mentioning: (Take it all with a grain of salt, as I'm not 100% sure of its validity): For one, the victim in question was 16. That clearly doesn't make it cool, but it's also a bit away from the mental image that that particular sentence invokes. Secondly, I think I read somewhere that he believed the victim to be older. Finally, I also believe that it was (at least that was what was claimed) to maintain the cover. The act was witnessed by several OUR representatives, and he apparently felt nervous about the interaction afterward, and they calmed him down. Again. It doesn't make it cool, but in a world of nuance, it's worth mentioning. If anything, it just goes to show that their methods for doing these kinds of stings are shoddy and bad.

Irene

If I had to guess: it's tied to respecting how this population prefers to be identified? MH is usually pretty careful about word choices, so I doubt v. much that such a strong rhetorical choice is made thoughtlessly.

Rez Watson

Question: Would you include the year for current events as well? (movie came out July this year, and say 2023, for example). I think you underestimate how much people go back to old episodes and we all immediately forget current events. Just if you remember. ^.^

Jack Haden-Enneking

Trafficking rhetoric reminded me of Invisible Children. Where's the YWA on IC, the LRA, and Joseph Kony?!

fig leaf

unfortunate 2025 update: Mira Sorvino has been working with human trafficking groups for the past 15 years or so with a real focus on sex trafficking. like she calls it slavery. on celeb jeopardy her charity was anti human trafficking + she called it slavery there too.

ikarabout

Listening to this in the midst of the Epstine Files circus and it's like...do we *actually* are about this or not?? Lord

ikarabout

I'm a sex worker living under the Nordic system, and IT SUCKS!!! I work entirely online, completely free to choose what I want and don't want to do, and it's still illegal! I have to funnel my money through the US, and I hate it because I'd much rather pay taxes to this Nordic country than the US, but I have no choice. I feel so ashamed and have to lie to everyone I know about what I do, even though I like being a sex worker, because you never know who may turn you in. People here are so insistent that their policies help "save" women, and it just makes me want to scream. I'm not "saved" at all---I'm demonized and forced to work underground. Also, I was a teen social justice warrior in 2012, and my school justice club did this huge project on human trafficking. I remember even then finding it odd...I'd ask the leader what exactly she's talking about, and I'd never get a clear answer. It felt off, even at 17. So funny to look back now and realize it was all bullshit 🙈 Thanks Joel Best for saying it so confidently!