Your job is probably the most toxic relationship in your life and you don't even realize it. This episode will make you think hard about how effed-up the whole system is.... how all the work-standards we must live by started long before you came along. Nobody asked you, right? Society demands that we participate in all the BS, no questions asked. And even if you're ready to pull the chute, it's hard to know exactly what to do. Seemingly out of nowhere....there is another way. And once you understand the top-down corporate structure isn't the only way to run a business, it becomes hard to un-ring this bell. #coops

The media we consume sculps our culture. Anyone who senses an America in decline need look no further than at their television set for an explanation- yes, that is still the place where most people get their news. It's not just corporate profits that cause objective hold-them-accountable reporters to be filtered-out of the system (and zombies like Wolf Blitzer to be allowed to rise to the top), it is that the demonstrably false narrative of a "left-wing media bias" has become so deeply engrained into our collective consciousness that placating conservatives and protecting them from the truth is now main stream media's actual bias. [Apologies neither of us could remember Mohammed bin Salman's name off the top of our heads.]

Marty and Gary discuss what's good about religion but don't hold back where Christianity goes off the rails. How would God's behavior look if someone you knew acted the same way? Science is the shit and does a far better job of explaining the world than religion. Curious thing is just how many barriers lay in front of someone like Marty when it comes to joining the scientific community.... and yet the preacher lane is left wide open.

Even when the regular show is a wrap, M & G cannot turn off their interesting conversations. Marty breaks down why politicians, even those with good intentions, should not be given a pass when their colleagues screw over the country. 'You were still in the car' is the legal standard for accomplices in the streets, why not among government officials? Gary gets a tiny taste of discrimination and doesn't like it one bit while M is treated like a regular-ass dude at and all-Asian party on the lake.

Is suicide literally NEVER the answer? Marty and Gary both have a few things to say about this. Like, "Life is a lottery! Either fix the system or we should be allowed to opt the f*** out." Ooof, a lotta people aren't gonna like this kind of talk but... This episode investigates familial, societal, and environmental trauma and also explores ways to mitigate the damage that's done. Keep your mind open and your tissues near by (for Gary).

MaTB take an adorably deep dive into how the white supremacy construct can weasel its way inside the heads of even the most well-meaning white folk. (Wait!? Are we talking about Gary?) M also talks on solutions for rhetorically crossing the racial divide with a warning for white folks- you need to be okay with being uncomfortable. It's all good. And finally, we learn how Marty and The Bro came to know each other.

Our justice system reflects a society functioning at its worst. But not always in the way people are likely to assume- there is a surprising amount goodness, redemption, and honor 'among thieves.' And an inappropriate amount of "roid rage" among the guards. Regardless of how someone finds themself behind bars the experience is humbling and humiliating. But it shouldn't be anyone's final chapter. Marty get's a lucky break, but what about the others- those still in jail...sitting...waiting to see the sun.

The Struggle is not just about money; it is a lifestyle no one voluntarily chooses. Why would they? Being dead-ass broke doesn't just suck, which it does...there are an unlimited number of painful (and often hidden) consequences that come with having to adapt to an environment of perpetual insecurity.

Wide-ranging discussion of racism as it relates to where people live, how they earn money, and interact with law enforcement. Being black in America- at least Marty's kind of black -means you cannot move freely through life (at least in the US) without fear of being stopped and questioned. Having to justify your existence is simply not an issue for white people. As Marty says: We do not need to change. We need to be accepted.

So often in conversation interesting points of view are lost because we get distracted by HOW something is being said- a word that offends or even makes us wince. We may find ourselves judging as inferior styles of speaking that are not midwestern news anchorman vanilla. Or, perhaps what is being said makes us uncomfortable and we defend ourselves by going on offense around something that will keep us safe from the truth.