Stolen Youth: An interview with Karol Markowicz and Bethany Mandel.

Karol Markowicz and Bethany Mandel are the authors of a new book, Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation.  Writers, thinkers, and mothers, the pair look at what’s being done to children today by schools, Hollywood, government, and the medical profession.  Because Helen is interested in this stuff too – she stole the review copy when it arrived and I had to work hard to get it back – she’s contributed some questions to this interview, too.

Glenn:  You had rather a rough childhood both before and after immigrating. Can you tell us a little about it? Does that have something to do with your concern for how today's kids are treated?

Karol: It's funny because while it was rough, in so many ways, I always felt like being a child was an important time and that childhood was something the people around me were trying to protect for me. What I saw during the pandemic was a reverse of that. Children were put last, again and again, especially in New York City where we were living. I knew I could save my own kids but because I had grown up poor, in a bad neighborhood, I knew there were so many people who couldn't just easily form a pod for their kid or get them a tutor or move to their beach house to have space and sanity. I couldn't forget about those people and I could not forget about their children. 

Helen: I was stunned when I read about the hardships you dealt with as a child.  You had to endure a lot of childhood trauma with a sick mom and an absent Dad yet you proved yourself resilient. Why are so many young people unable to cope with life these days?

Bethany: My mother was a social worker and prided herself on raising me tough. There was no wallowing, there was only moving forward. I was praised for working hard and she deeply resented the participation trophies they handed out to us as kids. In the last chapter, I talked about the therapist that "tough loved" me into not just self-identifying as an orphan and a victim. Now, kids are praised for their victimhood status; they're encouraged to marinate in the bad parts of life.  

Glenn:  Why the focus on kids in connection with drag shows, global warming fears, etc.?   I remember one of Fred Saberhagen's Dracula novels where Dracula defended biting people and turning them into vampires by saying, basically, "that's how we reproduce."  Is there something like that going on here?

Karol: It's a way of signaling in-group. *We* are concerned about this and *we* aren't prudes so think drag queens grinding in front of our children is ok. And if conservatives don't lie it or disagree with it, double down. 

Helen: As a psychologist, it is frustrating to see the leftist propaganda in my field as well as in medicine. It seems like health service providers are now activists for woke causes first and healers second, if at all.  What are the perils of woke medicine?

Bethany: This is one of the most troubling parts of the book, where we see candidates for medical school having to jump through woke hoops instead of being chosen based on their competency and intellect. This translates not just into pediatricians who ask your 9-year-old what their gender identity is (that happens!) but also a lower quality of care from individual practitioners all the way up to researchers. In the field of psychology it's especially terrifying; because children with mental illnesses aren't treated for their actual problems; but instead are encouraged to embrace a new "gender identity" instead. This leaves kids both untreated and with a whole host of new problems. 

Glenn:  Karol, you and your co-author Bethany Mandel had a hard time getting even conservative publishers to publish this book because they were so afraid of being canceled.  What was that like?  And is it crazy that setting forth ideas that were commonplace across the spectrum a couple of decades ago counts as dangerous now?

Karol: It has settled down a bit from that crazy time when we were first pitching the book. It was right around when Ryan Anderson's book was pulled from Amazon and Abigail Shrier's book was taken off Target's website while Amazon debated what to do with it. It was a scary moment for conservative publishers. I'm not giving them a pass, just giving some context. It was a scary time for their business and it required some people being extra brave. Daily Wire Books stepped up. 

Helen: What is your opinion of the gender identity crusade taught in school?

Bethany: It is one of the most insidious ways that wokeness is coming for kids: parents are intentionally left in the dark by their kids' guidance counselors, principals and teachers. These are adults in a position of authority and they're using that influence to convince children that they are broken and that powerful hormones and surgeries are the cure. 

Glenn:  We've seen the FBI treat parents literally like terrorists just for speaking up at school board meetings.  Do you think that the tide has turned now as parents wake up to what's going on?  Or will it get worse?

Karol: I'm an optimistic person but I'm really not sure. Sometimes I think the pendulum has to swing and this open hostility to parents will enrage even people on the left to a backlash. But other times it seems like the left is comfortable mounting these attacks and targeting their political enemies endlessly. Randi Weingarten is still invited to every Democrat's events. Conservative and moderate parents see her as a toxic influence but the left doesn't care, she's their political ally. 

Helen: What can parents do to fight back against radical schools that treat their children as "child soldiers" for their leftist causes?

Karol: In the book, I tell the story of allowing my then-1st grader, my middle child, to march in his school's climate march. We had moved within Brooklyn and he had transferred schools after the school year had begun. I didn't want him to sit it out and stick out. That was a huge mistake. I would absolutely never allow my kids to be used for any political purpose. No unicef collecting on Halloween, no "anti-hate" marches like schools in Brooklyn have done, nothing. It requires bravery, yes, but ultimately not that much. Your kid will feel weird for one day but they'll learn a lesson about standing up for their values. But bigger picture, join with other parents to stop this ridiculous spectacle from happening in the first place.  

Glenn:  What didn't we ask that readers should know about you or your book?

Bethany: Recently, a transgender woman, Blair White, tweeted: "No one had an issue with drag shows until you involved kids. No one had an issue with sex changes until you involved kids. It’s not about LGBT rights. It’s about children’s rights." This is exactly the message we need parents to internalize: fighting for your kids isn't bigoted, you're protecting their right to an innocent childhood as they travel on their path to a happy and healthy adulthood. Woke revolutionaries don't want kids to grow up to be happy or healthy; that's not how you foment a revolution. This is a book about saving American kids by identifying the threats against them and arming all who love them and all who care about our country with the tools to fight on their behalf.

It's a good book and an important one.  Read it, share it, and act on it.