Summary: In this episode of Besties Unfiltered, Liz and Jimmy dive into a variety of hot takes and unpopular opinions submitted by listeners. They discuss topics ranging from Mother's Day and mental health to pop culture phenomena like Disney and food preferences. The conversation also touches on deeper issues such as organ donation, the value of college degrees, and the intersection of Mormonism and Christianity. With humor and candidness, they explore what it means to hold differing opinions and the importance of kindness and understanding in everyday life.

• Frozen theory, organ donation information and books mentioned will be saved in the highlights bubble of the podcast Instagram account @besties.unfiltered.podcast
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Keywords: hot takes, unpopular opinions, Mother's Day, mental health, Disney, organ donation, pets, food opinions, college degrees, Mormonism, Christianity, language, Bible

Welcome to Besties Unfiltered, the podcast where real women share real stories. I'm Liz, and each week we dive into the authentic conversations that help women connect, build community, and feel empowered. Whether it's overcoming challenges, celebrating wins, or simply sharing the ups and downs of life, we're here to support one another, no filter needed. Grab a seat, grab your bestie, and let's get to it.

Hey besties, welcome back to Besties Unfiltered.

The podcast where we sip tea, spill stories, and say the things you're only supposed to text to your group chat. I'm Liz, and today, do I have a treat for you. Here's the deal. I asked you, my listeners, my ride or dies, my internet besties, to send me your hottest takes. I'm talking unpopular opinions, spicy truths, things that make people tilt their head and go, wait, you really believe that?

And today I'm not facing the heat alone. I've brought in a surprise guest co-host, someone I adore, someone who always has thoughts and someone who might roast you lovingly. Welcome my husband, Jimmy. Hello. Jimmy, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone today? Hi, I'm Jimmy.

Grew up moving around all the country and consider Alabama home. It's been home for about 20 years. I like geography. I like languages. I like running. I like birds. Just your basic millennial in a midlife crisis. I love it. And I love you. All right. So the whole reason I decided to do this hot take episode is because Jimmy and I were talking about Mother's Day a couple of weeks ago and Jimmy had a pretty hot take on it. Want to share what that was?

I don't think it's that hot of a take, but you do. I think that Mother's Day is stupid, which sounds terrible. No, basically I don't think that we should have a day where we are exceptionally kind to mothers. I think we should be exceptionally kind to mothers every day. Same thing with like birthdays or whatever. I mean, I guess it's good to recognize and say, hey, I appreciate you, but that should be just everyday life. Yeah.

So kind of sounds like a hot take, but then when you think about it, you're like, no, actually we should just be treating people well every day. Okay. You ready for some of these hot takes? Let's go. Okay. These are all from people who most of them actually were not anonymous. They texted them. So props to them. Okay. So number one says,

Probably a pretty common hot take, but mental illness is not an excuse for shitty behavior. It's an explanation, but you are responsible for how you treat others and act. For some, it's just harder than others.

I kind of agree. I think there's a line there, right? Like we can recognize and give grace to people, but also at the end of the day, like we are responsible for how we behave and treat others. I don't know. Okay. Yeah. I think we should always look for ways to have compassion on people and we should also look at ourselves and say, Hey, I know that I struggle with this particular area. What are the steps that I can do or what are the ways that I can improve in this? And it may not be to the level that

Other folks are, but it's improvement for us. Okay. I'm really excited to read these next two back to back. Definitely came from different people. Disneyland adults are weird and obsessed with something that was created for children. How do you feel about that, Jimmy? I would be fine never going to Disneyland ever. Jimmy does not like Disney at all. Followed by

Okay, next up. Organ donation should be the default. You should have to opt out if you don't want to donate. What do you think? ⁓ No. No? I don't think it should be the default. I think it's noble. think it's a choice. But I do understand from like religious perspectives how people would not want that to be the default for them. Yeah. And so I would say no.

However, I think it should be encouraged and I think it's a wonderful thing. Right. I was thinking about that and I should have looked it up because there are some religions, right, where you don't donate and also because there's also ones where you don't accept. Right. OK. Makes sense. But that being said, I highly encourage anyone listening to consider organ donation. And I think it's a wonderful way to bless other people with something that if you're

Religious that you know you believe that your body is a gift and what a great way to honor and sacrifice that gift by allows someone else to Use what God has given you. Yeah. Yeah Fun fact Jimmy wants his body to be donated to science after he's gone. So I don't want to pay for a funeral or also that like real talk Bless other people and also keep your loved ones from going in debt for a funeral. Okay

Next we have,

We should be making cars smaller, not bigger. I don't know where this opinion came from. I would say in America, that's a hot take though. People like big cars here. I think we use them. We do. And we do use them more than they do in like Europe or big cities even where smaller cars are the norm because there's more congestion or they have smaller streets because the cities are so old. ⁓ Yeah, that one made me laugh.

I like little cars, but I see the need for large ones too. Yeah. As we drive two large cars. We're so diplomatic. Yes. Okay. I actually really liked this one. We should have a pedestrian safety commission staffed almost entirely by no-nonsense moms who have lost their children to automobile accidents. And you can't sell a car in the United States until the commission approves your car. Meaning safe cars being sold or resold.

For sorry, I the pedestrian part again Pedestrian Safety Commission staffed almost entirely by no-nonsense moms who have lost their children to automobile accidents. Okay. Mm-hmm. I mean They would get stuff done Yeah, I think that'd be great. think we should be safer with our pedestrians. We should have more pedestrian minded roads. Yeah

On that note, the car size one was not from the same person who sent this one. Yeah, I just kind of grouped them together. ⁓ OK. I'm going to send, let's see, we've got a couple pet ones. And Jimmy is going to agree with these. I predict, I predict unless you have a legitimate need, leave your dog at home.

I mean, obviously if you are blind or have an actual real medical assistance animal, you do not need to bring your dog with you everywhere. Your dog does not need to go with you. Sorry, I'm going to laugh. Your dog does not need to go with you to Walmart. Your dog does not need to help you pick out shelving at Home Depot. Nobody needs to worry about not being able to breathe when they're already fighting an anxiety attack just by being at the dentist. If your pet can't handle being alone for 30 minutes, hire a trainer and save the rest of us from your selfishness. Wow.

This person has opinions. Yes. And oddly specific ones, which makes me think they have encountered these. I like it. Yeah. We're not dog people. Don't come for us. We're not pet people. I'm not people. Generally, are not pet people. I would like a cat, but we all know cats are like the low maintenance of pets. yeah, partially because I don't actually want to take a pet with me everywhere.

I have kicked so many dogs in the face on runs when they just come running after my ankles. I'm like, guys, just keep a block out. Hot take from Jimmy. He will kick your dog if it tries to get him while he's running. Yep. Okay. Next one. Pets are not children. I should not be expected to treat your pets like children. You do not get to be honored on Mother's Day because you have a cat. Sit down. Whoever this person is, they're my friends too. I didn't write this one.

No, he didn't. That one's a tough one because I know there are a lot of big feelings around how you love pets. But I would agree that...

that there is not the same level of like emotional and physical responsibility for a pet that there is for a tiny human being, usually more than one that you are responsible for for the rest of their life. I mean, at least 18 years, but many decades. like, yeah, I kind of agree. Yeah, I think I understand the need to connect and the need to be responsible for

A creature. Yeah. I think the difference with kids is that eventually, hopefully, they grow up and learn to become independent. Yeah. And with pets, they're kind of stuck in that kid stage forever. And here's my other hot take too is I'm not very good with little kids. I want them to grow up. And so I would struggle being a pet parent. Yes. So mad respect to pet parents.

Not for us. No. I'm going to say that's a spicy but fair take. Okay. Okay. So getting into Mother's Day, we do have some Mother's Day submissions. They weren't me. Okay. Only actual mothers, active stepmothers, and those who have lost pregnancies should be honored on Mother's Day. There's a difference between being a mother and being a woman. And while I understand the sadness and loneliness and desperation of wanting kids, but not having them,

It is not the same as being emotionally physically mentally and spiritually responsible for a tiny person Mothers do so much are expected to do so much. It is a huge burden whether by choice or not and That is what we should be honoring on Mother's Day Okay, this is very spicy understand that sentiment ⁓ I Think in public sure I'm with it like, know when you go to church and they're like all the mothers stand up and they're like, well she could be a mother or

You know, she's old enough to be a mother. It's good to be inclusive, right? Or like having teenage girls stand up. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of weird. ⁓ However, let's say that, you know, someone is a mother figure to you, but not actually your mother, but still is responsible for you. think it's completely appropriate to celebrate that person and say, hey, I'm really grateful for the role that you've had in my life. Yeah. Now that you say that makes me think of

one of the church leaders I had when I was like 12 and 13 and she never had children of her own. I know she wanted them but I don't know if she had miscarriages or if she couldn't get pregnant but she truly like was probably one of the most mother-like figures in our ward where she would have people who didn't have good home lives were riding the bus to her house and she was feeding them and giving them like

how to cook and how to do laundry type lessons while her husband was tutoring them so that they were passing classes at school. And that's kind of one of those where I'm like, that is a mother figure who didn't have the opportunity to be a mother. So I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Let's get into some lighthearted ones. We're to go on to food. And these, these ones gave me a good chuckle too. Sushi is gross.

That's it. Agreed. Certified bestie truth right there. This person's probably from Minnesota. I was in Japan a couple months ago and they had this sushi bar there and I just had the best time ever and it was so good and I was glad that Liz wasn't with me because I could eat all I wanted to and it was marvelous. Yeah. You're wrong. Minnesota person. Minnesota person.

Okay, cucumbers are amazing and taste refreshing, but pickles are evil and taste like spite. I like... It's so succinct. I like both. So I am a pickles person though, but like dill, like I want sour, even a little bit spicy. Not the sweet ones? No, not the sweet ones. Gross.

I think I've swapped. As a kid, I was a pickle person, not a cucumber person. And now I'm a cucumber person, but not a pickle person. I've always been both. Yeah. I just like them. They're good. Okay. This one made me chuckle. Bananas aren't good until they've started to brown. You're a psychopath if you green bananas. Okay. So Jimmy and I don't like bananas. Yellow bananas are okay. Yeah. they're brown, they're nasty. they're green, ugh.

I prefer like they, will eat them when they're yellow. I prefer them to be a little more firm than mushy. But towards the green side than the brown. Me too. But still only yellow. Yep. Yep. And I really just force myself to eat them every now and again. Okay. This good ones. So funny. Okay. Not sure if this is a hot take, but I despise the cover of a book with

Now a major motion picture or adapted for television. I will not buy an edition with something like either of those on the cover. Same. So gross. Or when they have the movie cover as the book cover, like with the actor's faces. No, I don't like the cover, but if it gets people that don't normally read to read that, I think it's good. ⁓ fair. I always say like

I'm not gonna judge what someone's reading if they're reading. Okay, that's fair, that's fair. But no, the cover itself, nah. Right? Okay, Pitbull is one of the most lame artists I've had the displeasure of listening to. All of the collabs he does has written and produced are absolute hot garbage and there's barely a noticeable difference between each song.

performance. yeah. And it was some town like Kodiak Island, Alaska. And he went out there and put on like this big show for this town of like 500 people. That's pretty cool. That is cool. That is cool. I'm curious to see your take on this one. Okay. A college degree is a waste of money unless you go for a specialty that requires one. That is a hot take right now. is. And it's a nuanced one, I would say.

Yeah. Uh, waste of money. Probably. It is way more expensive than I think it should be. However, so my job in the Air Force, I have to have a college degree. have a degree in geography. Guess what? That's useful for pretty much nothing. Right. So it got me a job. had to pay. I went to a relatively cheap school, so it wasn't too bad. So I had to pay money for that, but it got me accepted into this job, which I really like now.

I think the degree itself, yeah, probably not as important, but I think the university lifestyle is important because you get out of your niche, you get to meet people from other walks of life, you get exposed to different thought processes, which maybe you agree with, maybe you don't, but I think it opens up your eyes and gives you perspective on things that will help you out for the rest of your life. So waste of money, yes, worth it, I still say yes. Yeah, I agree with that.

I do think there's something to be said for the experience of learning how to learn, getting, hopefully, and not that there's anything wrong with, I have to be careful because I grew up in a small college town. There's nothing wrong with going to college where you grew up if you have that ability and it saves you money. But there is something to be said for going out into the world and learning how to be an independent adult in the security of

college life, I think. So this book I'm reading right now is ⁓ Candide by Voltaire. Great book, highly recommended. Mr. Highbrow over here. But basically the guy grows up in this castle, right? He's the illegitimate son of the Baron and life is perfect for him. He's got the hot cousin that he really likes, which you could do back then. He's not from Alabama.

He's got the professor that's teaching him. He's pretty sheltered. And then under a series of events, he gets kicked out and gets tossed into the world where he recognizes that not everything is just like the castle. And that kind of starts his journey of discovery, if you will. ⁓ think while it sucks to go through hell, it sucks to go through things that you're uncomfortable with. It also is good for you to learn and to gain that perspective. So yeah.

Also read that book. All right. We have dogs aren't smart. They're easily manipulated and that's why we love them. I agree. I mean, it's not untrue. We're with you on this one. Yep. Okay. It doesn't mean they're not cute sometimes or whatever, but yeah, they are probably easily manipulated and some can be very smart. ⁓

Okay, low rise anything is unflattering on everybody. No. Jimmy's like modest is not hottest. No, low rise is okay. Low rise is okay. As a woman, low rise is very, I feel like there is a short period of time where you can wear low rise and it truly looks good for most women.

And so part of me is like, maybe I need to sit down and watch them because I see tons of content on book talk about them where they're like, it's terrible and we love it because it's terrible. Anyways, I've been thinking about watching. Did you ever see any of them? Not once. Would you watch them with me? Sure. Okay. Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie. I haven't seen it either. ⁓ I wasn't sure if that was the one you saw on your deployment. Which one did I see?

I saw the one, it was whatever the first of the new ones was. And I took my dad to see it cause he's old. And he loves Star Wars. And the whole time he was sitting there. So we were deployed in Qatar and they had this movie theater on base. And I took him and the whole time he was just looking up at it going, wow. my. Guys, that is what he sounds like. that's great. He's got his little like Canadian Utah accent too.

It was worth it just to watch him watch that movie. Yeah. But no, I haven't seen Rogue One. Not really a Star Wars person. Sorry. But if you say Rogue One's the best, I believe you. OK. Do you feel like, I mean, I know there's millennials that really like Star Wars, but I feel like Star Wars target audience, I was thinking about this, is young boomers through Gen X. They love it so much, especially men. It is like to me, Star Wars is the equivalent of Dad Rock.

Okay, they just love it. I don't know. I think they should do like Nickelback as the music in Star Wars. That'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Gosh. Okay. 85 % of people writing a memoir shouldn't publish it. Get a few copies printed for your posterity and be done with it. Nobody cares. Unless you're a famous person or you are exposing some sort of conspiracy. Nobody cares. That's it. Yeah, that's true.

it was Lauren Graham's talking as fast as I can. And I think what I liked about her is I did the audio book and she narrated it. And it was just almost like an anthology of stories where she shared like the life lessons she learned. And it was just, and it was a short book. wasn't like super long and drawn out. And so I think it was the combination of her telling these stories that made it entertaining, but I listened to it once and I'm probably never going to listen to it again.

And then the other one, this is one I actually would recommend like everyone read is Jeanette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died. It is intense. That was the one I listened to it when we went on our cruise. yeah. Yeah. And that one was really intense. She was a child star. She had a lot of emotional and I would even say to a certain extent, physical abuse and hearing her process that for me was really interesting. And I think

I don't know. think there's value in that, but it's also another one that was very intense and I don't think I could ever handle reading or listening to it again. But I'm grateful that I did. ⁓ What's a podcast with the bruh? If you don't talk about civil war generals. Yeah. Ulysses S. Grant. Okay. So he was a nobody, literally a nobody. He was a captain. He's a retired captain when the civil war started out, which is a nobody, right?

And so when the Civil War starts, he's like, all right, I'll get into it. Becomes a Colonel, becomes a general, wins the Civil War, is like the most popular person in the United States, becomes the President of the United States after being like a nobody from Ohio, right? ⁓ Has some bad advice from his legal advisors and there's a lot of corruption, a lot of bankruptcy. He's a nobody again after the presidency, but everyone still really likes him, but he's got no money and he's about to die because he has cancer. And so.

He like works nonstop for weeks to write out his memoirs, dies like two days after finishing it, but his memoirs are so successful that his wife is filthy rich for the rest of her life. And I just thought that was really cool. He just, he really cared about his wife. I didn't really sell that very well, but he was very kind to his wife, very loving to his wife. And he did this as like a last measure to atone and make sure that she was set up for the rest of her life. And I thought that was kind of cool.

The, I mean, there is something to be said for like trying to take care of your family when you know you're about to be gone. ⁓ Fun fact, our oldest is named after Ulysses S. Grant, his middle name. Also fun fact, his name isn't actually Ulysses S. Grant. ⁓ His real name is Hiram Ulysses Grant. But when he went to West Point, he didn't want his initials to be hug. So he just called himself Ulysses S. Simpson was his mother's maiden name.

Which is funny because I swear I've heard it called Ulysses Sammy. Sam was his other nickname. Okay. So yeah. And then our son's name just happened to be Samuel. Yeah. Grant. Okay. This is the last one. Podcast bro. I think it's more like they talk about the Roman Empire, right? I don't know. There's probably a Roman Emperor that had been more. Probably.

Okay, this is the last one. And I actually had to ask someone if they were messing with me when like trolling me when they sent this. When this, this was anonymous. So I don't know who sent it because I had just been talking to one of my friends about this, like the night before I got this submission. Okay.

Mormons are not Christian. And this is our last one. And ooh, do we have opinions? I would consider myself ex-Mormon now. And I will fight people on this one until the day I am dead. And I understand where it comes from. But this is something that I feel very defensive over. Go for it. me. Okay. So number one, Mormons believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that he

I'm gonna say we, because that just feels what you grew up with. What I grew up with. culture. Yeah. We believe that Jesus Christ is our savior. We believe in living a Christ-like life. And to me, that is the epitome of being a Christian, is you are using Jesus Christ as an example for how you should be living your life, and you accept him as your savior. Now, I understand that Mormons differ from a lot of other denominations.

in that we believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are separate beings. ⁓ Catholics believe in the Trinity and I believe other denominations also believe that they're one being. I can see why people are like, no, Mormons aren't real Christians because they do X, Y, and Z. But also, I considered myself a Christian. I consider my Mormon friends and families Christian.

And I think that when you behave a certain way, is following the Christ-like behavior. I have spicier takes, I could say, but I'm going to let Jimmy talk. ⁓ Yeah. So I was told this one a lot growing up in Alabama. So in Alabama, everyone there was either Baptist or Methodist, home Church of Christ in there. So in high school,

It was me and my best friend, I was the Mormon, he was the Catholic, and neither one of us were Christians, according to our friends there. Which was kind of a shock to me, because I'm like, well, what the heck have I been doing this whole time? I in our first article of faith is we believe in God, we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in the Holy Ghost, right? was like, well, I'm pretty sure I'm a Christian, right? As I got to know other denominations there, I kind of learned, at least in the South, there's this conglomeration of

churches known as Protestants or Evangelicals, right? And they're all kind of similar to each other, but slight difference here and there. And then Mormons were quite different from that. Catholics are quite different from that. Jehovah's Witnesses are all different from that. So yes, we do not fit that cultural assortment of Christians. However, kind of like she said, mean,

Is a Christian someone that is part of a group or is a Christian someone that is following the teachings of Jesus Christ? I think there's a lot of Christians, I say that with quotations, who belong to the church but don't actually live very Christ-like lives. And would I consider them Christian? No, because I'm judgmental and a bad person. ⁓ So with Liz, Mormons are Christians. mean, the whole basis of the religion is to follow Jesus Christ, to receive his atonement.

and to live with him again. I know people are like, well, well, Joseph Smith. mean, people followed Moses a lot. People followed, you know, John Wycliffe a lot. mean, Lutherans are Christians, even though they follow Luther. The whole point of Mormonism is to go back to Jesus Christ. I do have another hot take on religion once we're done with this one though. Okay, well, we're done. Let's do it. All right. So thinking about this, my other hot take, and this is going to put me back in the, he's definitely not a Christian side anymore. I think.

we should dump the King James Bible. It is old, it is not a current language that anyone speaks, and the point of the Bible, in my opinion, is to teach us what Jesus Christ wants us to know, not to maintain the integrity of a document. I mean, that's good that we have an integrity of a document, but what good is that if we don't know what the heck it means? There are lots of translations out there which are being used more and more, and I think that's good.

In Mormonism specifically, is taught in English. We need to use the King James Version of the Bible. That being said, some leaders will use other translations in official talks. I think it's a great step in the right direction, but I think we need to move beyond that. Languages are dynamic. They're not static. They're all constantly changing. Meanings change. And I think if we want to learn the Word of God, we need to have that Word of God in our speak, in our language.

conceptualization. So that's my hot take. I know I'm not a Christian anymore. Sorry. No, I agree with your hot take. And the thing is though, like, so Mormons, it's pretty standard. We use the King James, we say it's a more pure version of the Bible because it hasn't been translated over and over again. But to that point, I do think it's becoming a little more common to see at least members being like, I actually got a different Bible and it's been really helpful.

⁓ I wonder what other denominations are like.

Super because you know being in the south we could go to like a Christian bookstore and there's all these different Bibles and people are using them. So I wonder like are Catholics really? Set on a specific not the King James. Yeah, that was an Anglican Bible. Yeah, I don't know Yeah, it's also interesting too because we're so set in this and it's like well There's only so many English Christians in the world. There's a lot of Christians and other religions that don't use the King James Why are we so set on this one? Yeah

So, hmm, hot take. Hot take. burn. All right. Well, that was unfiltered in the best way. Do feel like we made some enemies today? Probably, but I hope you still like me. I kind of like you still. Yeah. Unless you're that dog person. Unless you're the dog person. All right. Well, that wraps us up.

I hope that we made some new besties who maybe finally feel seen. And if you heard your hot take on today's show, thank you for being brave and bold and a little bit chaotic. We love you for it. And if you want to be part of future episodes like this one, make sure you're following me on Instagram. That's where all the fun is. You can drop your spicy thoughts, confessions, stories, anytime my DMs are always open. And in my

link in bio, I have a Google form, it's also anonymous. I am looking for submissions around friendship in adulthood as well as parenthood in general. So go check that out, submit whatever you want. And I don't know if you disagree with anything we said today, don't come for us. All right. He said, do. All right, besties, until next time, keep living loud, laughing hard, and loving yourself unapologetically. This is Besties Unfiltered, and we'll see you next week.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Besties Unfiltered. I hope today's conversation left you feeling inspired and connected. Remember, we're all in this together and there's power in sharing our stories. If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your besties. And as always, keep being real, keep being you, and I'll catch you next time. No filter, just friendship.