Global Humanist Shoptalk

Everyday objects like the sidewalk, and the routines we've built around them, can be sites of reflection on how we've built our societies, and for whom. In this episode, I reflect on how moving from Canada to Colombia compelled me to think differently about mobility, and the different priorities built into cityscapes on the ground. What assumptions and possibilities do you see, when travelling the sidewalks in yours?

In this first main-season episode, we reflect on the role that pronunciation plays in manifesting a deeper curiosity about our world, and empathy for others in it. I will always try my best to pronounce the names of people and places "properly", but is our choice to pronounce the names of other countries the same way that locals do always a mark of moral "superiority"? Or is there a level of dehumanizing elitism in expecting everyone to know exactly the right pronunciation to use? Can we find a balance between trying to normalize a wider range of terms, and making people feel left out for not already, automatically knowing which one is "best"?

In this podcast opener, I talk about the humanist aims of this series, and explore why learning to hold ideas in calmer tension is an important counterpoint to how we "do" discourse in much of our world.

Instead of focussing on the "hook", a highly cynical storytelling device with a fairly recent and context-driven history, what if we practised a more patient and reflective way of engaging with topics large and small?

Could we train ourselves out of the knee-jerk reactions currently cultivated by so much of our media? Learn to avoid leaping to snap judgments, and to avoid favouring "experts" who build their brand around making snap judgments, too?

Let's figure that out together, shall we?

You can also join me at onlysky.media/author/mlclark for more collaborative thinking around how global-humanist thinking can help us to build a better world.