Factory Settings Podcast

“Avoid talking about politics and religion” is such a boring cliche. It’s not helpful. Obviously, it’s prudent to know when to give in to that rule, because meaningless fighting is the real problem with a discussion about politics or religion. When it comes to politics and religion, differentiation should be the goal. In this episode of Factory Settings, Bridget and Jeren dive into religion, God, moderation, Catholicism, a Higher Power, and how to manage —all of the stuff, and more. We’re living through an era of infernal Discourse. This episode is an example of how to escape it.

QUESTIONS

Bridget

* If you’re celebrating Lent, what are you giving up? And if you’re not celebrating Lent, or religion at all—whatever you need to access your higher self: What are some distractions in your life? What’s distracting you?

Jeren

* What’s one thing in your life that you would better for, if you gave up? Is there something you’re doing that you shouldn’t be doing? Or if you did less of it, or gave it up, it would allow you to access some other part of yourself or achieve something—what would that be?

MENTIONED

“The Lord’s Prayer” from The Sermon On The Mount by Emmet Fox

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

“Bill’s Story” from The Big Book - Audio Version

Humbuggery Substack by Father Tom Miller

Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Bridget and Jeren discuss their diverging relationships with AA as they approach 13 and 9 years of sobriety, respectively, exploring what it means to feel “dry” (acting like a drunk without drinking) and how resentments, control issues, and the loss of spiritual connection can creep in during long-term recovery.

QUESTIONS

How does a normie kind of do this…

The Epstein news cycle has captivated Bridget in a way that it hasn’t captivated Jeren. Why?

Why do we latch on to certain stories, but not others?

QUESTIONS

Where are you at with the Epstein Files?

If you are captivated by the Epstein Files, why? How did you get to that place? If you’re not interested: Why? What makes you go, “Don’t care”?

And, whatever you believe, why do you want to believe it?

What are you getting from the Epstein Files?

In a hilarious return episode Jeren finally sits down and explains to Bridget how Dungeons & Dragons and other Role Playing Games work. Her endless questions include; Does sex come into the campaigns? What happens if I just walk up and stab the guy in the tavern? What does a Dungeon Master actually do? And so many more.

Questions:

Have you ever played a …

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, have a fun catch up conversation about their lives lately, what they’ve been reading, what they’ve been watching, the general loss of our ability to focus, the different types of science fiction, and the form and function of art as a means of protest and in…

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss technology this week. They cover what it’s like to raise a young child in today’s technology environment, the rise of AI, the debate about screen time, the number of technological shifts that occurred during their lifetimes, which new technologies b…

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, look back on 2023 and reflect on where they were at this point last year, the changes the year had in store for them, what they’re most proud of and what they’d do differently. They discuss the differences between intentions and resolutions, their move to Texas and what they’ve found in a new community, seeing Christmas through their daughter’s eyes, having the space to make mistakes, looking ahead to 2024, and how grateful they are that they don’t have to deal with the world of dating anymore.

Questions:

* When you look back on the year, what are you proud of?

* What would you do differently?

Subscribe to Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy to submit questions, suggest topics and access all Factory Settings Bonus Episodes.

Factory Settings is a podcast exploring politics, culture, relationships, mental health, addiction, and media, through the lens of how our built-in biases affect the way we consume information and form opinions.

Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This episode will remain open to the public for 2 weeks and then go behind the paywall.

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss the struggles of early sobriety. They cover what their individual rock bottoms were, and how different they looked, the lives they were leading at the time which finally led to the decision to get sober, why facing the wreckage of your life and past mistakes is the only way to change, how difficult large life changes in general can be, not realizing something’s a cope until you’re on the other side of it, feeling like their lives were never going to be any different, and how they can both honestly tell any newcomer that it does get better.

Questions:

* When has there been a time in your life that you’ve had to make a drastic change and you couldn’t see a path forward? How did you get through it?

* When was there so much pain or fear keeping you from making a change and what got you to make the change? What prevented you from making the change sooner?

Subscribe to Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy to submit questions, suggest topics and access all Factory Settings Bonus Episodes.

Factory Settings is a podcast exploring politics, culture, relationships, mental health, addiction, and media, through the lens of how our built-in biases affect the way we consume information and form opinions.

Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This episode will remain open to the public for 2 weeks and then go behind the paywall.

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, decided to talk about optimism this week to bring a little more positivity into the world. They discuss whether being in the real world is a more optimistic place than be…

This episode will remain open to the public for 2 weeks and then go behind the paywall.

Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss discipline this week. They talk about their first exposure to the concept, what it looks like to them, whether they agree with the idea that discipline equals fre…