For this episode, I’ve got Matthew Sears @matthewasears, Professor of Classics at The University of NB joining me to discuss Orientalism in Disney’s Aladdin. Specific, I know, but it’s something i’ve thought about a lot. It was a wonderfully rich conversation that went on many interesting tangents relevant to today’s political climate. I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did! 

Here are some links to things mentioned in the convo: 

Matthew’s Thread that sparked this whole discussion: https://twitter.com/matthewasears/status/1039222974166048768

Habibi, the graphic novel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habibi_(graphic_novel) 

My Children’s book about Eid: https://www.buzzfeed.com/imaansheikh/eid-mubarak-everyone

Poll on Bombing Agrabah: https://twitter.com/ppppolls/status/677871578281984002?s=19
http://time.com/4155228/amiercans-bomb-aladdin-agrabah/

Link to CBC documentary about transitioning from Islamic school to Public School: https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/episodes/14-muslim (i’ll link here, but it says that the episode is only available in Canada unfortunately)

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Episode 52 - Orientalism (in Disney's Aladdin) w Prof Matthew Sears

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.

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Places & Travel

In part 2 of this conversation we get into more specific concerns -  issues about responsible framing, softballing, etc. 

At what point do we recognize and consciously not contribute to maintaining the perception of “reasonable intellectual” for someone as far gone (imo) as Harris? At what point has he crossed the line into being as embarrassing as say … Bret Weinstein? We explore all these questions and more.
——
If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos and by leaving an Apple Podcasts or Spotify review. 

Links

NYT Investigation: Israel Used 'Most Destructive' Bombs in Areas Designated as Safe in South Gaza Strip:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-22/ty-article/nyt-investigation-israel-used-one-ton-bombs-in-safe-zones-in-south-gaza/0000018c-91f4-d47c-a7fd-dbfcc0bb0000

During the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel routinely used one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas it designated safe for civilians, according to an analysis of visual evidence by The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-bomb-investigation.html

Children 5-8, carried to the emergency room by their parents, all had single sniper shots to the head: https://x.com/latimes/status/1758587564397597168?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Rami Igra, previously head of the Captive & Missing Division in the Mossad, says there are no uninvolved civilians in Gaza over the age of four
https://x.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1757837275830907052?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Israel Created 'Kill Zones' in Gaza. Anyone Who Crosses Into Them Is Shot. The Israeli army says 9,000 terrorists have been killed since the Gaza war began. Defense officials and soldiers, however, tell Haaretz that these are often civilians whose only crime was to cross an invisible line drawn by the IDF
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-31/ty-article-magazine/.premium/israel-created-kill-zones-in-gaza-anyone-who-crosses-into-them-is-shot/0000018e-946c-d4de-afee-f46da9ee0000

Ep 77 Pt 2 - Decoding the Decoders w Chris Kavanagh

This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation. Part 2 is available early via patreon.com/nicemangos. 

Join me for a discussion with Chris Kavanagh of the Decoding the Gurus Podcast. In part one we chat more about the broader questions …like the eternal ‘litmus test’ question of “Is Sam Harris Rightwing?” and I try to get a sense of Chris’ own politics and positions.

On the surface Chris and I would probably vote the same, and we’re both critics of the heterodox/IDWsphere but our output is framed very differently, I think our motivations and goals with it are  perhaps vastly different as well. We get into that and more in part 2.
——
If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts/Spotify

Links:
Fastest decline in a population ever recorded https://x.com/medicalaidpal/status/1763172220900151317?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw 

Biggest cohort of paediatric amputees https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-children-who-lost-limbs-in-gaza

Law for Palestine Releases Database with 500+ Instances of Israeli Incitement to Genocide – Continuously Updated https://law4palestine.org/law-for-palestine-releases-database-with-500-instances-of-israeli-incitement-to-genocide-continuously-updated/

IDF removing children without consent from Gaza https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-said-to-transport-gazan-orphans-to-west-bank-via-israel-without-cabinets-ok/

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/1/2/israeli-soldier-brought-baby-back-to-israel-from-gaza

Israeli Cabinet Members Join Event Calling for Ethnic Cleansing & Resettlement of Gaza https://youtu.be/7J0_J3Qy6YY?si=clqZe5x8DH1rfCe4

Israeli Ministers attend conference calling for ‘voluntary migration’ of Palestinians   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/29/israeli-ministers-attend-conference-calling-for-voluntary-migration-of-palestinians

My miniseries on Sam Harris that Chris mentioned: Woking Up https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1caIpbHnvDjKu0Ph4DA0Nb?si=ab7b7bfcbfc14185

DTG’s recent conversation with Harris: https://open.spotify.com/episode/75PdQjoEnvfn6aHev5Xjuf?si=9RSwlQ4vS4qt1BzEk1Bjww

Ep 77 Pt 1 - Decoding the Decoders w Chris Kavanagh

I joined my friend Daniel of the I Don’t Speak German Podcast for a chat recently, to quote their description of the episode; “to talk about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and in particular about some questions that have come up around IDSG’s public response to it.”

Find IDSG here: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/public-bonus-talking-about-gaza-with-eiynah-mohammed-smith and @idsgpod on Twitter.

You can find the Twitter Space mentioned in the episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1dYrfZKfFpdib1zbSnMtQZ?si=7MZzHfT1Qh6ZFnCyIsdw0w

BONUS Ep w IDSG: “ Talking about Gaza with Eiynah”

My guest for this episode is Jason Lemieux, who formerly worked for The CFI (Center for Inquiry) A US secular non-profit organization where Richard Dawkins is a board member. The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science is a subsidiary of CFI.

Join us as we cover the bizarreness & bigotry of increasingly embarrassing Atheist public figure Richard Dawkins.

If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos or by leaving a 5 star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
 
———
Links:

Dawkins’ recent Cultural Christian clip: https://x.com/lbc/status/1774510715975368778?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Dawkins’ Church bells tweet:  x.com/RichardDawkins/status/1018933359978909696?s=20

Dawkins’ non-entities tweet: x.com/RichardDawkins/status/1463750520603131907?s=20

Dawkins’ eugenics-y views on Down Syndrome: https://x.com/brokenbottleboy/status/1393882552264499202?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

CFI’s archived note re: Kavin Senapathy https://web.archive.org/web/20201030180906/https://centerforinquiry.org/reposting/ Vs the one they have up  https://centerforinquiry.org/reposting/

Dawkins loses Humanist of the Year title https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/20/richard-dawkins-loses-humanist-of-the-year-trans-comments

David Silverman fired after allegations: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/david-silverman-atheist-fired-sexual-misconduct

Thread re: the whole merge-gate saga https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1406646731933167619?s=61&t=

Salon article that was mentioned in the conversation re: merge-gate -

Godless Grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the Far Right https://www.salon.com/2021/06/05/how-the-new-atheists-merged-with-the-far-right-a-story-of-intellectual-grift-and-abject-surrender/

Rolling stone article that was mentioned in the conversation: Study Shows How the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ Is a Gateway to the Far Right https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/youtube-far-right-radicalization-study-877061/

My miniseries on Sam Harris, ‘Woking Up’ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1caIpbHnvDjKu0Ph4DA0Nb?si=c3ef3e89db914464

Ep 76 - The Dawkins Delusion

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

***
Join me for an unexpected but fascinating chat that arose from the previous panel episodes on Germany, Identity & Palestine. I knew that one of my panelists (Claus) had been raised far-right and since shed those beliefs, but I had no idea just *how* far-right …

Strap yourselves in for a very wild, rollercoaster of a conversation. Major CONTENT WARNING: There’s talk of bigotry, nazi cults, smuggling, murder, suicide, white supremacy, and more horrific stuff. So please proceed with caution.

We discuss the skeptic scene and how rapidly it’s devolved, Michael Shermer in particular comes up. I also try to gauge and assess just how fashy Claus’s upbringing was, was it overtly and explicitly fash, was it IDWesque in trying to mask the bigotry… or was it a bit of both? 

Claus peels back the layers and helps us understand what got him out of that bigoted worldview, what kind of damage it did to the people around him, and how he sees echoes of it in present day culty, conspiracist circles. 
 
——

Links

Eric Ludendorff:

“The Nazis distanced themselves from Ludendorff because of his eccentric conspiracy theories

In 1926, Ludendorff divorced Margarethe Schmidt and married his second wife Mathilde von Kemnitz (1877–1966). They published books and essays claiming that the world's problems were the result of Christianity, especially the Jesuits and Catholics, but also conspiracies by Jews and the Freemasons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Ludendorff

Claus briefly mentioned Derek Black’s story:

Derek Black is an American former white supremacist. He is the son of Don Black, founder of the Stormfront online community, and godson of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. He publicly renounced white nationalism and chronicled his personal journey away from his family's beliefs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Black

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/24/651052970/how-a-rising-star-of-white-nationalism-broke-free-from-the-movement

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/derek-black-new-college-desantis-plan.html

Claus Also mentioned Zundel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Zündel

Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (German: [ˈtsʏndl̩]; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature. He was jailed several times: in Canada for publishing literature "likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group", and on charges of being a threat to national security; in the United States, for overstaying his visa; and in Germany for charges of "inciting racial hatred". He lived in Canada from 1958 to 2000.

David Silverman: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/david-silverman-atheist-fired-sexual-misconduct

Episode 52 - Orientalism (in Disney's Aladdin) w Prof Matthew Sears

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