Kind of a Lot with Matt Ruby

A lot of the conversation around the Israel/Palestine conflict goes off the rails when people start confuse the people for the government or anti-semitism for anti-zionism. So with that in mind, Matt offers some tips to keep in mind if you want to mindfully criticize Israel without coming off as either uninformed or potentially bigoted.

Produced by Stereoactive Media

Matt's father was an Israeli who grew up in Palestine back before the state of Israel even existed. He was also reluctantly a tank commander in the Israeli army because he had to serve. Now, Matt brings the perspective of his father, along with his own as he tries to explain how many Jewish people may be feeling in the wake of events in Israel and Gaza this month, which have added yet another chapter to the long cycle of violence in which brutality is disproportionately countered with further brutality.

Produced by Stereoactive Media

Have you ever gone to a rock (or pop) show and wondered why people pull out their phones to record it instead of just experiencing it? Well, now there's a place seemingly built just for those people. U2, once a band that explicitly criticized big commercialized theatrics (admittedly while exploiting big commercialized theatrics), recently played at the latestLas Vegas mecca of opulence. And if you were online as it was happening, you could have easily seen footage from it from many of the people in attendance. So, what does this new way of "elevating" live music mean for the future of music, live shows, and the communal experience?

Produced by Stereoactive Media

As the saying goes, “a family is a dictatorship ruled over by its sickest member.” Matt describes his first hand experience with this idea by way of his own mother, but also parallels the concept with other organizational structures, from the armed forces to society itself. What lessons can we all learn from the both simple and complicated circumstance of having a loved one that needs special attention.

Produced by Stereoactive Media

From time to time, Matt shares some of his favorite paragraphs of writing he’s come across. In this episode, he and producer J. McVay discuss a few of those paragraphs and the ideas behind them. 

Featuring passages from the following:

• “Vicious Traps” by Morgan Housel (Collab Fund)
• “Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Great ‘Indiana Jones’ Adventure” by David Marchese (The New York Times Magazine)
• “How Stewart Made Tucker” by Jon Askonas (The New Atlantis)

Produced by Stereoactive Media

Have you ever been in a coffee shop or other public area when someone gets on a Zoom meeting, plays their music out loud, or does something else that should politely be kept private? Well, Matt has an open letter for all those people about the agreed upon rules of a civil society because it sure seems like a lot of people need a refresher in our after spending so much time away from other people during the pandemic.

Produced by Stereoactive Media

From time to time, someone proposes the ingenious idea of a so-called national divorce to finally separate blue and red states that, to some, seem irreconcilable in their differences. Sometimes the proposal comes from someone on the right, sometimes someone on the left – and sometimes it’s someone as completely ignorant as Marjorie Taylor Greene. Well, now it’s Matt’s turn to play out the scenario… So who gets what when the divorce is final? Or is it just too dumb to work, especially if the real divide is between urban and rural neighbors. 

Produced by Stereoactive Media

“Aging well” is an oxymoron and the future will frown upon all of us. Matt explores the friction between generations that occurs when younger people expect elders to be able to keep up with changing expectations about language, behavior, etc, even as many elders are unreasonable in their refusal to even try. A wider willingness to forgive elders who are trying might be helpful, but it would probably also help if elders better recognized their own generational shortcomings as well as the advantages they had that will largely not be passed on.

Produced by Stereoactive Media

Matt collects aphorisms, mantras, and other brief thoughts that represent lessons he’s learned throughout his life. In this episode, he and producer J. McVay discuss a handful of these so-called “Rubyisms,” the stories behind them, and the deeper truths they’re connected to:

• We’ll have so many photos of so much nothing and no one will look at them. Meanwhile, your grandparents had a few photos in a shoebox and viewed them hundreds of times.
• Let your weight be absorbed by the ground. (Lesson from yoga.)
• An embarrassing success is worse than a proud failure.

Produced by Stereoactive Media

Matt collects aphorisms, mantras, and other brief thoughts that represent lessons he’s learned throughout his life. In this episode, he and producer J. McVay discuss a handful of these so-called “Rubyisms,” the stories behind them, and the deeper truths they’re connected to:

• Cynics are just disappointed romantics.
• Tradition makes you focus on the wrong things. Want people to remember your wedding? Skip the cake and spend that money on a choreographer for your first dance. No one cares about cake anyway.
• Make your violence beautiful. Make your violence, beautiful.
• Just because something is illegal doesn't mean it's wrong. Laws often have an ulterior motive.

Produced by Stereoactive Media