Citizens Of Nowhere

In the last few days, James Gunn (writer/director of 'Guardians of the Galaxy') was fired by Disney because of some tweets he sent years ago. This poses the question: where does your 'employee' identity end and your online identity begin? Do you have the right to have your online life considered separately from your work life, or are you always a representative of your employer? And should anyone ever lose their job over a joke, even one that's in bad taste? How does this compare to Roseanne? And does it matter that this whole affair was effectively orchestrated as a right-wing attack? If this can get someone fired, can you now end the career of anyone in the public eye just by trawling through their Twitter history? Nick and Carey attempt to answer these questions, after a bit of rambling.

This episode came out of the question, 'What do we do now that we think will become unacceptable in the future?'

Things have changed a lot in the last couple of hundred years, and not just technologically; human values have also changed. Attitudes that were commonplace just a few generations ago now seem prehistoric. So do we have to forgive the people of the past because 'it was a different time', or are they all just as guilty as if they were born now? And how long will we keep the values we have now? Will they seem outdated and ludicrous to future generations?

These are all interesting questions that could do with some expert analysis, but unfortunately you've got Nick and Carey rambling as usual.`

You may recently have heard accusations of 'cultural appropriation'. Examples range from white people wearing dreadlocks or chopsticks in their hair to Elvis's musical 'inspirations' to an 18-year-old being attacked in a social media storm for wearing a Chinese-style dress to her prom. So what is cultural appropriation? Is it a real, well-defined phenomenon? Is it as serious a problem as those who complain about it seem to think? Should we care about it at all?

Nick and Carey try their very best to give a shit.

Some links:

Time covers the Chinese dress storm: http://time.com/5262748/chinese-prom-dress-cultural-appropriation/

David Frum on the Chinese dress furore: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/05/cultural-appropriation/559802/

The Bustle on Cultural Appropriation: https://www.bustle.com/p/7-things-you-might-not-realize-are-cultural-appropriation-that-are-60679

Should there be limits on free speech? Do we have too much of it in the UK, or not enough? What does the term even mean, really? We talk about all this, throwing in some experiences we've both had in countries where there definitely isn't free speech.

To commemorate the birth and naming of a new Royal Baby, we discuss whether it would be better for the country if we threw it out a window.

Yes, this episode is about the Royal Family. Are they worth it to the country? Does it really matter? What are the alternatives?

We talk about the baffling public hysteria over the death of Princess Diana, the weird fact that the public would rather see William become King than Charles, the surprising degree to which the Royals interfere in the running of the country, and how brilliant 'The Crown' is. Also, it is revealed that Nick may have committed treason as a child.

What is antisemitism? What's a Jew? Why would anyone hate them? What are they up to? Do they control the media? Really? Not even the Jewish Chronicle? And is there a real problem with antisemitism on the left? Have either or both of Nick and Carey experienced antisemitism? And if both, why, given that only Carey is Jewish? Listen to find the answers to a couple, if not some, of these poorly-framed questions.

What starts as an informal chat with no planned focus becomes, at one point, a discussion (by two comedians with no maths background) of the difference in chances for a group seen as a whole, and the chances for any individual member of that group. Along the way we talk about comedian Sofie Hagen's recent mini-twitterstorm about an ad by Cancer Research UK, and an incredibly abstract example involving a lottery where black people are given more tickets than white people. This lottery does not exist, as far as we're aware.

WARNING: CONTAINS OFF-THE-CUFF MATHS.

This is in no way influenced by the fact that neither of us is ever on Mock The Week.

Sofie's original tweet here: https://twitter.com/SofieHagen/status/968841936906981376

Definition of a bell-curve here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution - not to be confused with the book 'The Bell Curve', which we haven't touched yet, but may at some point.

This episode may sound like the sequel to 'Guns, Germs and Steel', but in fact Nick and Carey talk about Steven Pinker's new book, 'Enlightenment Now', which continues from his previous book, 'The Better Angels of our Nature' in that it claims that things are, broadly, improving for humanity. Is this true? And if it is, why does claiming it make some people so angry? Carey explains the Mean World Syndrome, then they get sidetracked onto school shootings, gun control and, inevitably, Trump.

In this episode, Nick and Carey talk about a couple of related items: the decision by the Manchester Art Gallery to remove the painting 'Hylas and the Nymphs' by John William Waterhouse, in order to 'provoke debate', and Formula One's announcement that they will no longer use 'grid girls' (they're to be replaced with 'grid kids' We talk about objectification, changing attitudes and the implications for porn if all titillating female roles are now going to be taken by children. We also take in the fallout (so far) of the #metoo movement - is it proportional, and is it too early to say if real change has happened?

Links to the stories: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/manchester-art-gallery-removes-waterhouse-nude-naked-nymphs-painting-hylas-girls-times-up-metoo-a8190606.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42950040