According to Faisal Al Mutar, less than 1% of internet content is available in Arabic, creating a bubble of misinformation for many Arabic speakers. Al Mutar came to the United States as a refugee in 2013. In 2017, he founded the nonprofit “Ideas Beyond Borders” to provide educational opportunities to people who have little or no access to information about science, literature, philosophy, and history. In this deep discussion with host Dr. Alan Campbell, we hear about Al Mutar’s experiences in the Middle East and the mission of the organization, including the latest project to provide underground education to girls in Afghanistan.

Faisal Al Mutar: Ideas Beyond Borders

['Hosted by British born host Dr. Alan Campbell, Watching America combines interviews, engaging audio, and deep dive talks in to our local and national culture through the eloquent and ever-curious lens of a ‘Brit’ who has spent over two decades ‘figuring it all out’; Watching America.', 'In 1996, Dr. Alan Sokal, a physics professor, wanted to test the intellectual rigor of “postmodern cultural studies.” To do so, he wrote an article titled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.” \nThis article was full of absolute nonsense—but Dr. Sokal believed it would be accepted by an academic journal anyway. And he was right. \nThis hoax—called the “Sokal Affair” or “Sokal Hoax”—caused an uproar in academia because it questioned the validity of social science commentary on scientific inquiry.\nFast forward to 2017. \nThree academics, editor Helen Pluckrose, mathematician  James A. Lindsay, and philosopher Peter Boghossian, did something similar but bigger. And with a similar purpose—they wanted to test the intellectual rigor of academic journals in the fields of gender, queer, race, and fat studies—what they call as a whole, “grievance studies.” \nThey wanted to see if they could produce absurd articles using the catch-phrases and biases they observed in cultural studies academic journals—and get them published.\nOf the 20 nonsense articles the trio wrote, 7 passed peer review and were published, and one even received recognition. Seven more were on the verge of publication before their hoax was uncovered. \nThis academic project has been dubbed “Sokal Squared” as a nod to Dr. Alan Sokal’s hoax article from 1996.\nWhile it may sound like this topic is only of interest to academia, the authors believe it is relevant—in fact, crucial—for everyone to understand the implications of what is going on in universities and academic journals because the knowledge produced there affects us all. \nWe spoke with all three of the “Sokal Squared” hoaxers, or “academic whistleblowers” as they would say, for today’s program. \nWe should have the extended conversations with our guests posted by the evening of March 2, 2019.']

Society & Culture

['Hosted by British born host Dr. Alan Campbell, Watching America combines interviews, engaging audio, and deep dive talks in to our local and national culture through the eloquent and ever-curious lens of a ‘Brit’ who has spent over two decades ‘figuring it all out’; Watching America.', 'In 1996, Dr. Alan Sokal, a physics professor, wanted to test the intellectual rigor of “postmodern cultural studies.” To do so, he wrote an article titled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.” \nThis article was full of absolute nonsense—but Dr. Sokal believed it would be accepted by an academic journal anyway. And he was right. \nThis hoax—called the “Sokal Affair” or “Sokal Hoax”—caused an uproar in academia because it questioned the validity of social science commentary on scientific inquiry.\nFast forward to 2017. \nThree academics, editor Helen Pluckrose, mathematician James A. Lindsay, and philosopher Peter Boghossian, did something similar but bigger. And with a similar purpose—they wanted to test the intellectual rigor of academic journals in the fields of gender, queer, race, and fat studies—what they call as a whole, “grievance studies.” \nThey wanted to see if they could produce absurd articles using the catch-phrases and biases they observed in cultural studies academic journals—and get them published.\nOf the 20 nonsense articles the trio wrote, 7 passed peer review and were published, and one even received recognition. Seven more were on the verge of publication before their hoax was uncovered. \nThis academic project has been dubbed “Sokal Squared” as a nod to Dr. Alan Sokal’s hoax article from 1996.\nWhile it may sound like this topic is only of interest to academia, the authors believe it is relevant—in fact, crucial—for everyone to understand the implications of what is going on in universities and academic journals because the knowledge produced there affects us all. \nWe spoke with all three of the “Sokal Squared” hoaxers, or “academic whistleblowers” as they would say, for today’s program. \nWe should have the extended conversations with our guests posted by the evening of March 2, 2019.']

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