Serious Inquiries Only

October 23, 2019October 24, 2019

SIO214: Ok WTF is with Tulsi Gabbard?

Jamie and I embark on a Tulsi Gabbard deep dive! We’ve struggled trying to figure out what her deal is, and then the Hillary Clinton story blew up, so we figured it would be a great time to do a deep dive and try to answer the question of…. WTF. Is she an asset for Russia? Is she a secret Republican? Is she a progressive? Find out what we dug up!

Here are some key sources. I read a lot for this but many sources were redundant. The main two would be Jacobin and Daily Kos.

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October 17, 2019October 17, 2019

SIO213: Democratic Debate No. 43

Jamie and I watched the latest Democratic Primary Debate so that you don’t have to. Unless you want to. We’ve got opinions! Come listen and let us know what you think!

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October 9, 2019October 10, 2019

SIO212: A Joker Review

Jamie and I watched Joker, so you don’t have to! Unless you still want to, that’s fine. The movie has generated a lot of buzz and think pieces, with people worried that it would inspire white terrorism. On the other end, though, some people think it is an absolutely brilliant movie. So where do we come down? Listen and find out!

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October 2, 2019October 3, 2019

SIO211: Listener Questions, with Jamie!

It’s a great time to stay on top of some listener mail! But first, a new segment, “Feminist Yells at News!” Jamie talks about Brett Kavanaugh’s latest victim complex, and Hillary Clinton opening up in recent interviews.
After that, it’s listener questions! Topics include: supporting local news organizations vs. national news organizations; comedians feeling like they can’t do comedy because of the PC left; is it useful to have conservatives like Ross Douthat in the NYT opinion section; are we strawmanning the Yang UBI arguments?

After that, we’ve got an excellent bonus 30 minutes for patrons! We talk about needing meaning in life, Jamie answers criticism on her Biden comments, and then we talk about which are our favorite musicals! (and not so favorite…)

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September 30, 2019October 1, 2019

SIO210: The Case of David Silverman

Former President of American Atheists, David Silverman, has been on an attempted comeback tour. He has done some interviews, including with noted sexual harasser of British PMs, Carl Benjamin. It’s one thing if Silverman wanted to try to seek forgiveness and start over, but he seems to be completely re-writing history and is also adopting MRA talking points in the process. Jamie and I are here to set the record straight as to what he was accused of, and argue that his victim-narrative is quite bogus.

Sources: American Atheists Statement; BuzzFeed Article; WaPo Article.

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September 19, 2019September 20, 2019

SIO209: More Listener Questions!

I’m here with an old fashioned solo-pod, since there are so many more good listener questions to answer! Topics are: more non-binary folks respond to ContraPoints, racism, cancel culture, the real dark web, bubbles, and atheists still associating with certain problematic atheists. Hope you enjoy the bonus episode!

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September 18, 2019September 19, 2019

SIO208: Kavanaugh, Weinstein, and Listener Qs with Jamie

Jamie and I start off with a bit of a ‘#metoo in the news’ update. There were new allegations against Kavanaugh that were revealed in a truly bizarre way by the New York Times, and there was also a devastation episode of the NYT Daily Podcast that talked about Gloria Allred and her daughter Lisa Bloom, and the work Lisa did to defend Harvey Weinstein and discredit his accusers. After that, we’ve got some voicemail and email on Yang and UBI. Finally, we discuss an email about white guilt and dealing with relative privilege in our society.

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September 12, 2019September 13, 2019

SIO207: Post-Debate Special!

Jamie is here to talk Democratic Debate, and we’ve got a fun one for you! We’ve got lots of opinions on the nature of the debate itself, the highlights the low-lights, which candidates shined and which were Joe Biden. Plus, and EXTRA segment for patrons! Hop onto patreon and get a bonus 25 minutes!

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September 12, 2019September 12, 2019

SIO206: ContraPoints and Cancel Culture

What could turn a left-tube favorite into the IDW’s poster child overnight? Just ask ContraPoints. Well actually you can’t, because she deleted her Twitter after a run-in with some folks who have accused her of saying things that are offensive to non-binary people. To get more info, Tris Mamone has a good explainer here that I would recommend. I’d also recommend this video by another non-binary YouTuber, and this video by trans YouTuber Kat Blaque. So Jamie and I are here, not to adjudicate the trans questions involved but to talk about so-called “cancel culture.” Was ContraPoints canceled? What does that mean exactly? Is it true that the left is a circle firing squad cancel machine? How ought we deal with tough criticism online? And since Jamie is a smart philosopher person, what insights does philosophy offer us on these questions? I think this was a really valuable discussion that will help put a lot of these issues into the proper perspective.

If you are a smart philosopher person like Jamie, here is some reading she recommends:

Rachel McKinnon: Allies Behaving Badly; Talia Mae Bettcher: Trapped in the Wrong Theory; Robin Dembroff: Beyond the Binary; Katie Dotson: Tracking Epistemic Violence.

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August 28, 2019August 29, 2019

SIO205: What Camus Can Still Teach Us

It’s time for a philosophy lesson with Jamie! She’s here to teach us about one of her faves, Albert Camus. We touch on absurdism, existentialism, nihilism, and more. Camus lived and wrote during the time of literal Nazis, so his work has a lot to tell us about our current time of arguably literal Nazis. Content note: there’s a brief discussion of hypothetical suicide. Here’s the essay that Jamie recommends reading if you want to get a taste of Camus’s writing.

After that, patrons get a bonus segment about a statement Elizabeth Warren made that people are saying is victim blaming Hillary for Trump’s bad behavior. Make sure you’re a patron so you can hear it!

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