Pigweed wrestles with naming a new cat

This is a quick and silly episode where you get a glimmer of the boys' banter once the show is over.

Of course they're still drinking a beer. This time it's Sleeves Baltic Porter from Manor Hill brewing.

P&C drink and review Spruce Willis, from DuClaw, then discuss the state of journalism.

Sometimes journalists are simply ignorant. Other times they mix in opinion with the story. In fact, they do that most of the time.

Pigweed and Crowhill review a few recent egregious examples of journalistic malfeasance, like the way the press treated Kavanaugh vs. the way they're treating Biden.

Later the boys get into science journalism, which is, if possible, even worse.

The boys drink and review Pigweed's Imperial Amber and discuss Earth Day and environmentalism.

People believe the world is bad and getting worse. But if you measure the planet by its ability to promote human flourishing, Earth is getting better all the time.

The engine for all this prosperity is fossil fuels.

Humans should care for the environment so they can promote a better life for humans. That should be the focus of our environmentalism.

The boys drink and review Pigweed's delicious homebrewed sour beer, then discuss bumper stickers. 

Every day, each of us projects an image to the world -- how we want the world to perceive who we are, what we like, and so on. We do it in our clothes, the magazines and books we buy, the way we cut our hair, and .... in these weird stickers we put on the backs of our vehicles. 

P&C analyze a few interesting bumper stickers and discuss what image the person is trying to project.

Pigweed is upset about all these new rules and restrictions, telling him what to do.

Recently, we've seen more and more executive orders. How are we going to restrain this?

There are crisis situations where we need the public to act a certain way. But does that have to be an order? Can't we appeal to people and ask them to act responsibly?

Also, it seems un-American to give one person power without giving someone else the power to hold them in check. We seem to have missed that a little.

1. Our insulation from death in the modern world, and how that affects our lives.

2. What if the media covered auto fatalities in the same 24x7 manner they cover other stories?

3. How much power do you hand over to the government during a crisis, and what are the limits? Once the crisis is over, will it stop?

4. Pigweed's theory of the Asian bow, and might we see the death of the handshake?

5. Mail bag. Did the boys diss the 7 deadly sins? Also, women and men, the sense of smell, and brewing.

Where did we get the 10 Commandments, and why do they have such an influence on modern life? 

Why are so few of the commandments reflected in our laws? 

Why do Jews, Protestants and Catholics number them differently? And are there conflicting versions of the commandments in the Bible?

P&C each review a different beer: Ex Patriot IPA from Three Weavers, and Blackbeard's Breakfast from Heavy Seas.

The founding fathers said that our form of government only works if you have virtuous people. Why would that be true? What is it about the American style of government that requires personal virtue? And what virtues are meant?

What does "self governance" mean, and how does it fit uniquely into the American system?

If people won't govern themselves, will they be governed by somebody else?

Is there a fundamental human nature, or is it malleable?

This is a key difference between the left and the right. The right takes humanity as a given, and tries to create a structure that accommodates man as he is. The left has a vision for a better society and tries to tweak man to fit in.

Conservatives are willing to tolerate equality, so long as it doesn't get in the way of freedom, but liberals are willing to tolerate freedom so long as it doesn't get in the way of equality.

In their first quarantine version, P&C discuss shame vs. guilt, and how a shame culture differs from a guilt culture. 

Guilt stems from the feeling that you have violated a moral norm. You can have guilt over something you've done alone in the dark. Shame requires an audience. It's related to how others perceive you. 

Shame culture might also be called honor culture, and it leads to a very different sort of society. Guilt may be no fun, but it makes for a better culture than shame.