Jon Ronson (@JonRonson) joins me this episode to chat about his latest project, The Butterfly Effect...A truly fascinating and moving audio documentary, about the ripple effects of the availability of free streamable pirated porn on Pornhub. 

You can find it on Audible - and soon on iTunes and other platforms for free - so go check it out! https://twitter.com/jonronson/status/924626605699424256

We also briefly discuss Justine Sacco from his previous book ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ - here’s an article Jon wrote about Justine:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html

The documentary with Alex Jones I mention is part of the series- The Secret Rulers of the World : Part 4 The Satanic Shadowy Elite?  (I thought it was from the late 90’s but wikipedia tells me it was aired 2001)
----
If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via Patreon.com/nicemangos - without listeners like you this podcast isn't possible. 

You can also support the show by leaving a good iTunes review https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/polite-conversations/id1086199663?mt=2 :)

Episode 40 Jon Ronson, The Butterfly Effect

Growing up in Saudi Arabia as a Pakistani, who now resides in Canada, Eiynah brings a global perspective to discussions about religion, politics, culture & sexuality...through the lens of a progressive ex-muslim immigrant.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

[This is a SAMPLE of my new Premium Miniseries, pls subscribe to the premium tiers via patreon.com/nicemangos to access the full episode]

Researcher (from Political Research Associates) & co-author of Safety through Solidarity, Ben Lorber (@BenLorber8 on Twitter) Joins me for a conversation about the far right in both Israel and more broadly, the Jewish far right. 

We discuss far right Israeli ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich, the rhetoric we are seeing coming from so many Israeli officials, extremist anti-miscegenation groups like Lehava, and American-Israeli extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. We also discuss the ADL and the demonization of solidarity protests and encampments, as well as the concerning new pipelines for liberals to make common cause with the right on the topic of Israel. Christian Zionists, tokenization, and more, right here on episode 4 of The Global Far Right. 

If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos 

Links: 

Find Ben’s book, co-authored with Shane Burley, ‘Safety Through Solidarity’ here https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741043/safety-through-solidarity-by-shane-burley/

Ben’s article on Bronze Age Zionists https://x.com/benlorber8/status/1757871425925333192?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Ben’s thread on ADL’s inconsistent methodology for their antisemitism audit  
https://x.com/benlorber8/status/1780623385971540469?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

CNN clip on tokenization that came up in our chat https://x.com/abbydphillip/status/1785147804668616941?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL saying “we are not the Jews of trembling knees” https://x.com/benlorber8/status/1787536049465413921?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Greenblatt referring to students, including Jewish groups, as ‘Iranian proxies’ https://www.thedailybeast.com/cair-calls-on-msnbc-to-ban-adl-boss-over-iranian-proxies-remark

The Atlantic: The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/04/us-anti-semitism-jewish-american-safety/677469/

Tom Cotton calls encampments ‘little Gazas’ https://www.axios.com/local/nw-arkansas/2024/05/01/tom-cotton-campus-protests-gaza

Former US ambassador to Israel says students are marching in support of Hamas https://x.com/davidm_friedman/status/1719070572083040616?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Columbia Professor Shai Davidai refers to students as terrorists https://x.com/palmena_ic/status/1782361692900384969?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Ted Cruz saying these protests are antisemitic while perpetuating antisemitic tropes himself https://x.com/tedcruz/status/1785406268607287383?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Ben Shapiro tweet on antisemitism vs support for Israel: https://x.com/benshapiro/status/644505141299671041?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw
“.@anncoulter tweets re: Jews awful, nonsensical. @anncoulter is also super pro-Israel, and has always been so, so I won't lose sleep.”

Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht enthusiastic about rising antisemitism
https://x.com/benlorber8/status/1783539026022006823?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Ben Gvir’s association with far right leader of extremist group Lehava https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-extremist-benzi-gopstein-said-advising-ben-gvir-on-police-issues/

Isaac Herzog referred to intermarriage as a ‘plague’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/incoming-jewish-agency-head-walks-back-calling-intermarriage-a-plague/

Meet Lehava, the Israeli Fascists Mounting a Vicious Crusade to Keep their Women Away from Arabs https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/meet-lehava-israeli-fascists-mounting-vicious-crusade-keep-their-women-away-arabs-1466584

Israel’s Far-right Finance Minister Says He's 'A Fascist Homophobe' but 'Won't Stone Gays'  Israel’s Far-right Finance Minister Says He's 'A Fascist Homophobe' but 'Won't Stone Gays' - Israel News - Haaretz.com

PREMIUM (SAMPLE) Global Far Right 4 - Israel & The Jewish Far Right

Since we are around the 6 year anniversary of the IDW debut in the NYT, myself and political writer/podcaster (former rightwinger himself) Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield on Twitter) did a Twitter Space last week (14th May 2024) to honour this magnificent group of intellectual giants…

We took an in-depth look at the history of both the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ and more broadly…the history of rightwing movements rebranding as new, exciting, different, transgressive or even ‘counter cultural’/ ‘heterodox’ while they continue to spout the same orthodoxies and viewpoints upholding the status quo.

You will never believe the SHOCKING conclusion …..are the IDW truly Heterodox or just another attempt at a rightwing movement rebranding themselves?

We also did a bit of a ‘where are they now’ segment, let me tell you dear listeners — they are not in the greatest intellectual shape, these Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web…

Please note this is a live event, so the audio is not up to usual podcasting standards - apologies! We cleaned it up as best we could.
———
If you enjoy the show pls consider subscribing via patreon.com/nicemangos

Links:

Archived version of the original IDW article in the New York Times by Bari Weiss https://web.archive.org/web/20180508113210/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html

Archived version of the ‘Sleek Website’ that Bari references in her ‘Meet the Renegades of the IDW’ piece which is essentially just a list of awful people https://web.archive.org/web/20180509020318/http://intellectualdark.website/

The IDWesque article from 1995 that Matthew was referring to, also from the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/magazine/the-counter-counterculture.html

A piece I wrote a couple of years ago on Harris’ rightwingery and how New Atheism in general has been useful for the Christian Right https://x.com/mattsheffield/status/1490457060307177472?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Eric Weinstein’s unhinged ‘to the victims go the spoils theory’ re: Palestinians https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1790462571537133925?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

The Evopsych episode mentioned in the Space: pt 1 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4jSFhcmT6xNJ4JOwbEkscE?si=By3wE6dxSs-oRRqHfyzYqQ

Pt 2 https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gvuP3xLyqKSpJgTjf43A3?si=jLKlykmWTj6tcu3dbW65ig

My recent ep on Dawkins mentioned in the Space https://open.spotify.com/episode/1uSIJRoF9LxkkNtRYBZvRV?si=1abadRJkRw-RK7O7nP1orA

Polite Conversations episode on the IDW in Pakistan & Saudi which also came up in the Space: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4OWPkudZ6zfH7p9swNXAtI?si=Ofpw6DuYReOjtX_AKzyCBw

Twitter Space: IDW - ‘Heterodox or RW Rebrand’? (Full episode)

Tech critic Paris Marx (@parismarx on Twitter) of the excellent ‘Tech Won’t Save us’ Podcast joins me for a fascinating & frightening discussion about the intersection of Tech & Fascism.

Tech Won’t Save Us is a podcast that critically examines the tech industry.

———

Links:

Find Tech Won’t Save us Here:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3UhsI7s4bkH1FcMZI5u9iD?si=15c68cd79657412d
Find Paris’ newsletter Disconnect here: https://disconnect.blog

The Tech Won’t Save us Miniseries on Musk is available here:
Pt 1 https://open.spotify.com/episode/7M6jMwkb9cJ0kOrMTqzQDi?si=tHJgsAnQTlKVUlmOEYKTwg
Pt 2 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3g9zikUskeQYeCxVV8ut58?si=TCiCPTB2TVGOkANlSUN8BA
Pt 3 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1VQboA8VgR7UD9fXEHhDoy?si=sQnRVnZjQ36TGa-dZ1_BVw
Pt 4 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3DwZUo59Qm7MFJ2cHvVWj0 si=2U0BQ4X9SLm2LmXd9h_JAA

My Miniseries on Harris ‘Woking Up’ is available here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1caIpbHnvDjKu0Ph4DA0Nb?si=66ec707de5ec4fd9

Polite Conversations Food & Fascism ep: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ESZbJst9wpaEaEGziGSFo?si=scsteHS7QbaIi7XbFcEI1Q

———
More about Balaji & his ‘Tech Zionism’ https://x.com/veenadubal/status/1783896103823585538?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

The New York Times instructed journalists covering Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip to restrict the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when describing Palestinian land, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The Intercept.

The memo also instructs reporters not to use the word Palestine “except in very rare cases” and to steer clear of the term “refugee camps” to describe areas of Gaza historically settled by displaced Palestinians expelled from other parts of Palestine during previous Israeli–Arab wars.
https://theintercept.com/2024/04/15/nyt-israel-gaza-genocide-palestine-coverage/

Australian PM has called Elon Musk an "arrogant billionaire" in an escalating feud over X's reluctance to remove footage of a church stabbing. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-68878967

Meta has apologised for adding "terrorist" to the biographies of some Instagram users describing themselves as Palestinian. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67169228

Meta censors pro-Palestinian views on a global scale, report claims:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/21/meta-facebook-instagram-pro-palestine-censorship-human-rights-watch-report

Twitter Removes BBC Doc Criticizing Indian PM Narendra Modi:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/twitter-elon-musk-bbc-india-modi-1234667887/

Jerry Coyne accused of spitting on pro Palestinian protester: https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/05/01/credentialed-leftist-at-work/

https://x.com/yumcoconutmilk/status/1785638690678620577?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Coyne saying the more minorities u let into a school the less quality you have: https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1725166190945833392?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza

The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties:
https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

CNN Political & Foreign Policy Analyst, Barak Ravid, shares what he heard from IDF soldiers - “The orders are basically just shoot every man of fighting age":
https://x.com/abierkhatib/status/1775778192608931922?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

——
If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos - the show is entirely listener funded.

Ep 78 - Technofascism w/ Paris Marx

Since we are around the 6 year anniversary of the IDW debut in the NYT, myself and political writer/podcaster (former rightwinger himself) Matthew Sheffield (@mattsheffield on Twitter) did a Twitter Space last week (14th May 2024) to honour this magnificent group of intellectual giants…

We took an in-depth look at the history of both the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ and more broadly…the history of rightwing movements rebranding as new, exciting, different, transgressive or even ‘counter cultural’/ ‘heterodox’ while they continue to spout the same orthodoxies and viewpoints upholding the status quo.

You will never believe the SHOCKING conclusion …..are the IDW truly Heterodox or just another attempt at a rightwing movement rebranding themselves?

We also did a bit of a ‘where are they now’ segment, let me tell you dear listeners — they are not in the greatest intellectual shape, these Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web…

Please note this is a live event, so the audio is not up to usual podcasting standards - apologies! We cleaned it up as best we could.
———
If you enjoy the show pls consider subscribing via patreon.com/nicemangos

Links:

Archived version of the original IDW article in the New York Times by Bari Weiss https://web.archive.org/web/20180508113210/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html

Archived version of the ‘Sleek Website’ that Bari references in her ‘Meet the Renegades of the IDW’ piece which is essentially just a list of awful people https://web.archive.org/web/20180509020318/http://intellectualdark.website/

The IDWesque article from 1995 that Matthew was referring to, also from the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/magazine/the-counter-counterculture.html

SAMPLE: Twitter Space: IDW - ‘Heterodox or RW Rebrand’?

This is a SAMPLE version of the episode, access the full episode via patreon.com/nicemangos
——

Tech critic Paris Marx (@parismarx on Twitter) of the excellent ‘Tech Won’t Save us’ Podcast joins me for a fascinating & frightening discussion about the intersection of Tech & Fascism. 

Tech Won’t Save Us is a podcast that critically examines the tech industry.

Episode 40 Jon Ronson, The Butterfly Effect

Download our free app to listen on your phone