Polite Conversations

Joining me for this episode is Adi Callai, of the Rev & Reve Youtube channel - With an unusual perspective for someone who grew up in Israel. Adi researches counterinsurgency and military philosophy …& recently put out quite a radical, remarkable, well-researched video titled, ‘The Gaza Ghetto Uprising’.

In this part of the conversation we talk about topics such as; atrocity propaganda, the weaponization of identity for colonial purposes, pinkwashing, Refaat Al-Areer, the inversion of narratives (like Israel accusing Palestinians of using human shields while using human shields themselves). All this and more.

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

———

Links:

The Gaza Ghetto Uprising: https://youtu.be/Pt_1k7nSv1M?si=R0nIvAdNXkQxPBPZ

Antisemitism, Weaponized: https://youtu.be/5MVIh6Rnzog?si=k7A6aJ02r_AKn-22

Hen Mazzig admits he was a paid contractor for the government of Israel:https://forward.com/israel/412206/did-this-pro-israel-superstar-work-as-a-secret-agent-on-college-campuses/

Smotrich self-IDs as a fascist homophobe: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-01-16/ty-article/.premium/israels-far-right-finance-minister-im-a-fascist-homophobe-but-i-wont-stone-gays/00000185-b921-de59-a98f-ff7f47c70000

NY Times “investigation” of mass r*pe by Hamas falls apart https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-ny-times-investigation-mass-rape-hamas-falls-apart

Israeli media has debunked the ultra-Orthodox group Zaka's gruesome October 7 atrocity stories, but the American press won't do it. https://theintercept.com/2024/02/27/zaka-october-7-israel-hamas-new-york-times/

New York Times Exposé Lacks Evidence to Claim Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence Oct. 7 https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/1/nyt_anat_schwartz

An investigation into a New York Times story is causing internal chaos at the company https://www.npr.org/2024/03/03/1235606433/an-investigation-into-a-new-york-times-story-is-causing-internal-chaos-at-the-co

The unravelling of the New York Times 'Hamas r*pe' story https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2024/3/2/the-unraveling-of-the-new-york-times-hamas-rape-story

The New York Times pulled a high-profile episode of its podcast “The Daily” about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 amid a furious internal debate about the strength of it’s original reporting https://theintercept.com/2024/01/28/new-york-times-daily-podcast-camera/

Israeli soldiers are using Palestinian civilians as human shields in Gaza to enter and clear tunnels and buildings they suspect may have been booby-trapped, a leading Israeli NGO and newspaper have reported. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/14/israeli-forces-in-gaza-use-civilians-as-human-shields-against-possible-booby-traps

Israeli protesters rally for 'the right to r*pe' prisoners https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/8/13/israeli-protesters-rally-for-the-right-to-rape-prisoners

⚠️ Content Warning: discussion of Israel's assault on Gaza

Hey folks,

Here’s some of what I’ve been feeling lately. I will need to make some changes.

If you enjoy the show, pls consider leaving a review and/or supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos

[If you’re already a patron of the show this won’t affect you. But just so you know where I’m at.]

As always, I’m super thankful to all the wonderful patrons of this show who make this work possible. It’s truly a privilege to have your support.

Joining me for this fun-filled episode of The Aftershow is Entomologist *and* Jordan Peterson/Muppet impressionist, Peter.

We discussed a wide range of fascinating topics - from tabletop games & ‘nerd culture’ to air travel with octopuses, Jordan Peterson, The Muppets, Sam Harris, merge-gate, the recent multi-part episode on race ‘science’ & a whole lot more!

Access the full episode/series by becoming a patron today via patreon.com/nicemangos

Links:

Original Salon Article that caused the merge-gate outrage https://www.salon.com/2021/06/05/how-the-new-atheists-merged-with-the-far-right-a-story-of-intellectual-grift-and-abject-surrender/

My first episode responding to those who were defending ‘New Atheism’ during merge-gate

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6IQdcBSI6ShQuH5S6sYmi2?si=Inb2aotYSK221JCuZY72_w

2 Part Panel on merge-gate situation:

Defending New Atheism, Maybe Just Don’t (pt 1) https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FesH5ZincC0rUfKtYPkad?si=L4Nxbg5iTxyLKSKTTajQiA

Defending New Atheism, Maybe Just Don’t (pt 2) https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XIxGXj3IN8iLhU9xa0SPd?si=zlyJK1ztShqBH75WLk331w

Twitter thread explaining the timeline of the merge-gate situation: https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1406646731933167619?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Polite Conversations episodes ft. Michael Brooks:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PIDupohwYl7gzOdzXDHE4?si=pOIufMaSTu2iGr3chQp4yQ

Review of Rubin’s Book https://open.spotify.com/episode/6sduCNViMS0uZLeVayYPj7?si=fhjtM6FNTyq0-Gn23sqR_g

Recent Polite Conversations race ‘science’ episodes

Pt 1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1r8AfX2Z15mkgDBr8Q0e8g?si=2wIGL3vxReyzry7vz6-0yA

Pt 2: https://open.spotify.com/episode/12HQ6bzV3iB0dhGwkgRQ3v?si=AHek0UOLROK6G1vhKJmpGg

Pt 3: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ZRzUS4RBy3qq3zo9Enaly?si=3srh-vtBR72-c_DTvyUp7A

In this part of the panel we discuss several online movements adjacent to race ‘science’ - Pronatalism, the tech right, Effective Altruism, etc.

Present-day eugenicist Diana Fleischman trying to define eugenics as broadly as possible https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1385264417869283329?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

My Ex-Mus to TradFash Pipeline series that I mentioned (patreon exclusive)

Pt 1- https://www.patreon.com/posts/ex-mus-to-pt-1-106445369?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Pt 2- https://www.patreon.com/posts/ex-mus-to-pt-2-106501752?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Pt 3- https://www.patreon.com/posts/ex-mus-to-pt-3-106529773?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Rightwing Ex Muslim Sarah Haider tries to reassure her right/far-right audience that she supports white people having lots of babies https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1765759777848664346?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

On Effective Altruism: Fraud, Lies, Exploitation and Eugenic Fantasies https://www.truthdig.com/articles/effective-altruism-is-a-welter-of-fraud-lies-exploitation-and-eugenic-fantasies/

America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins

The articles Kevin mentioned near the end: https://www.science.org/content/article/it-s-toxic-place-how-online-world-white-nationalists-distorts-population-genetics

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03252-z

My guests for this episode include science ‘influencer’ Mr. @Evopsychgoogle, evolutionary biologist Kevin Bird @thebirdmaniac on Twitter and anthropologist Cathryn Townsend @cathryntownsend

On this part of the panel we discuss the panelists’ recent article in Stat News (linked below), on how this type of junk science continues to be legitimized to this day, despite glaring errors in the data.

We discuss self-described ‘scientific racist’ Richard Lynn as well as E.O. Wilson, Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, Charles Murray and their contributions to race ‘science’. We also talk more broadly about how the Intellectual Dark Web has played a major role in reviving it in recent years.

Links:

The Panelists’ article that we discussed in the beginning of the episode:

Journals that published Richard Lynn’s racist ‘research’ articles should retract them https://www.statnews.com/2024/06/20/richard-lynn-racist-research-articles-journals-retractions/

My previous episodes with Mr. @evopsychgoogle:

Pt 1 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4jSFhcmT6xNJ4JOwbEkscE?si=JnGZZ36GTNSVYKr0dYz4Fg

Pt 2 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gvuP3xLyqKSpJgTjf43A3?si=AenT06jVTuGNc-pd6W4BtA

My Miniseries on Sam Harris ‘Woking Up’ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1caIpbHnvDjKu0Ph4DA0Nb?si=DxI59yjtRjuDV7rQSv9cEw&pi=u-kmAFEyuTRNiJ

If you’d like to support the show pls subscribe to the YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@politeconversationspodcast

——

Other Related articles:

Quinn Slobodian article about the Pioneer Fund and The Bell Curve: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-white-man-unburdened-slobodian-schrader

The Tainted Sources of The Bell Curve: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1994/12/01/the-tainted-sources-of-the-bell-curve/

Free book by William Tucker on The Bell Curve: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-41614-9

Primary research articles debunking Lynn:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104160801000035X?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608009001071?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886909003675?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289609001470?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289609000634?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886909002475?via%3Dihub

https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tzr8c

https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/26vfb

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608024000141?via%3Dihub

Here’s the first part of my 3-part discussion on race ‘science’.

In this part I talk about my own observations of the slimy tactics and talking points the IDW/Heterodox race ‘science’ fans tend to use.

It’s a journey through some of the wildest IDW race ‘science’ clips I could find - From Molyneux and Rubin discussing brain size & race to Sam Harris platforming and defending Charles Murray.

The next 2 parts will be a panel featuring various scientists/academics. Including returning guest, Mr. @Evopsychgoogle from Twitter.

Consider this episode a primer for the panel discussion.

All parts are available early via patreon.com/nicemangos

If you enjoy the show please consider supporting via patreon and access all episodes before they are released.

Here’s a recording of the Twitter Space from Friday Aug 2nd, ICYMI.

Joining me on this Space was political writer/podcaster (and former rightwinger) Matthew Sheffield.

As always, please note, Twitter Spaces are live events, and unfortunately the sound is never as good as the usual podcast audio, since u can only functionally use Spaces on the mobile app.

If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon.com/nicemangos and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

——

If the *bad* kind of weirdness was an Olympic sport, it would be hard to pick a winner. There are so many unhinged rightwing takes to choose from.

We discussed a whole lot on this Space - Seems like years worth of stuff, but it really just covers the past couple of weeks; The assassination attempt on Trump, the weird culty prop bandages, JD Vance, couches & dolphins, Biden stepping down & endorsing Kamala (this was recorded pre Walz being picked, so that isn’t mentioned), the weird rightwing meltdowns about Kamala being both of Indian heritage and being black….the rightwing outrage about the Olympics, JK Rowling and others plunging to new levels of transphobic madness, the Olympics allowing genocidal war criminals to participate - all that and more, right here.

Links:

Police warned Secret Service of a suspicious person at Trump rally before gunman opened fire, source says https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/-police-warned-secret-service-suspicious-person-trump-rally-shooting-rcna161933

Diapers for Trump: https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-supporters-wear-nappies-13129050

Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA wearing diapers https://www.salon.com/2018/03/25/how-a-diaper-protest-led-to-the-implosion-of-a-conservative-student-group/

Rowling’ s horrendous tweet about Imane Khelif which is still up at the time of this writing https://x.com/nicemangos/status/1819488996356964754?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Khelif’s opponent apologizes https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/c2j3jg51rg4o

Loomer goes full birther about Kamala https://x.com/eyesontheright/status/1819240726003106181?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Loomer calls Kamala a ‘brain dead bimbo’ : https://x.com/eyesontheright/status/1815958476721369094?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Paris Olympics organisers apologise to Christians for unintentional Last Supper parody https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/28/paris-olympics-organisers-apologise-to-christians-for-last-supper-parody

Before Going MAGA, J.D. Vance Reportedly Brought Baked Goods to His Trans Friend: A former Yale classmate says Trump’s VP pick brought them treats while they recovered from top surgery. https://www.them.us/story/jd-vance-trans-friend-law-school-baked-goods-conservative-turn

Vance searching for woman + dolphin https://x.com/atrupar/status/1816849447407456694?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

SAMPLE: I had a fun chat with Patron of the show, Mugsy. A fellow Canadian, who has an interesting history as a former funeral director. We talk a little about that, about progressive Christianity, his impression of Sam Harris, other recent episodes of Polite conversations, rightwing tokenism, racism in Canada, centrism & more!

Access the full episode/series by becoming a patron today! www.patreon.com/nicemangos

Linguist, noted ‘Pinkerologist’ and friend of the show Dr. Caitlin Green (@Caitlinmoriah) joins me to analyze and discuss the Extremely Rational thoughts of one Steven Pinker.

In pt 2 we discuss Pinker’s constant downplaying of r*pe statistics and the inadequate, cherry-picked sources he uses to support his flawed arguments.

——

If you have experienced sexual assault or violence here are some helpful resources:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safe-campuses-bc/what-is-consent

https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/health/services/promotion/sexual-health-sex-101-sexual-assault-dating-violence-learn-more-alcohol-other-drugs-learn-more

Brown University: Yes, it is possible to establish consent if you and/or your partner(s) have been drinking or using other drugs. Consent cannot be obtained through the use of coercion or force or by taking advantage of the incapacitation of another individual. If anyone is incapacitated for any reason, they cannot give consent.

If someone has been using alcohol or other drugs and you are thinking about having any kind of sexual interaction with them, it is your responsibility to check in, ask, and make sure they consent to what is going on. Being intoxicated yourself does not absolve you of the responsibility of obtaining consent. If you are unsure whether you can establish consent, don’t have sex.

https://endingviolencecanada.org/sexual-assault-centres-crisis-lines-and-support-services/

https://www.wannatalkaboutit.com/ca/sexual-violence/

https://www.rainn.org/international-sexual-assault-resources

——

Links:

Great thread by Kate Manne which came up in the episode https://x.com/kate_manne/status/1149902823200632833?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Detailed thread on Pinker’s discussion on R*pe in Better Angels of our Nature https://x.com/magi_jay/status/972958282125062144?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw!

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

This is a public SAMPLE of an upcoming episode. Please subscribe via patreon.com to hear the full episode. Part 2 is available via Patreon.com/nicemangos

——-

Linguist, noted ‘Pinkerologist’ and friend of the show Dr. Caitlin Green (@Caitlinmoriah) joins me to analyze and discuss the Extremely Rational thoughts of one Steven Pinker.

In pt 2 we discuss Pinker’s constant downplaying of r*pe statistics and the inadequate, cherry-picked sources he uses to support his flawed arguments.

——

If you have experienced sexual assault or violence here are some helpful resources: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safe-campuses-bc/what-is-consent

https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/health/services/promotion/sexual-health-sex-101-sexual-assault-dating-violence-learn-more-alcohol-other-drugs-learn-more

Brown University: Yes, it is possible to establish consent if you and/or your partner(s) have been drinking or using other drugs. Consent cannot be obtained through the use of coercion or force or by taking advantage of the incapacitation of another individual. If anyone is incapacitated for any reason, they cannot give consent.

If someone has been using alcohol or other drugs and you are thinking about having any kind of sexual interaction with them, it is your responsibility to check in, ask, and make sure they consent to what is going on. Being intoxicated yourself does not absolve you of the responsibility of obtaining consent. If you are unsure whether you can establish consent, don’t have sex.

https://endingviolencecanada.org/sexual-assault-centres-crisis-lines-and-support-services/

https://www.wannatalkaboutit.com/ca/sexual-violence/

https://www.rainn.org/international-sexual-assault-resources

——

Links:

Great thread by Kate Manne which came up in the episode https://x.com/kate_manne/status/1149902823200632833?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw

Detailed thread on Pinker’s discussion on R*pe in Better Angels of our Nature https://x.com/magi_jay/status/972958282125062144?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw!