Polite Conversations

This episode, hear me chat with the inspiring, gorgeous, eloquent Asifa Lahore. We talk about how she reconciles being gay and Muslim, doing drag while still adhering to religion. She's a fascinating person!Asifa is creating change & pushing boundaries everyday. She's carving out a path for many LGBT Muslims around the world. Her and I may not agree on religion, but she is exactly the kind of person I think needs to be propped up and supported. She's attacked and hated by both right wing Muslims and Westerners....who have issues with her identifying as both. She starred in a channel 4 documentary called Muslim Drag Queens. Here's a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbSgJQZelWkAnd do check out her most famous song Punjabi Girl : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS4P5uP2sCs----If you enjoy this show, please consider supporting via Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/nicemangosShare, like, comment interact and leave an iTunes review! xx

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Join me, as I talk to Pakistani-Canadian Hina Husain (@HinaTweetsNow) about her experience giving her mom psychedelics to cope with emotional baggage. As Muslim kids, many of us **joke** about 'spiking the Ramadan punch', or serving magic brownies, just to break up the monotony of growing up in a religiously orthodox culture. Hina...actually went and did it! *gasp* Here's a link to her Vice article: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/i-gave-my-mom-shrooms-so-she-would-open-up-about-my-fathers-deathHere's a recent CBC show on the effects mushrooms can have on depression (when taken in a medically supervised setting) http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/psychedelic-drugs-and-depression-runaway-stars-bird-flu-battle-and-more-1.4036396/can-psychedelic-drugs-work-magic-on-depression-1.4036497Please note: This conversation is not an endorsement of hallucinogenic drugs. Do not try this at home with your parents! The author is just sharing her personal experience, as she wrote about it in a Vice Magazine article. She received full consent from her mother before publishing the piece. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting here: https://www.patreon.com/nicemangosWith your help I can do so much more.

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In the wake of the recent London attacks, my thoughts are with those who lost friends and loved ones, with the victims of this barbaric attack.I wish we could say that this type of thing could never happen again…but sadly we see many such attacks occurring year after year.It seems to be the same coping mechanisms, same sentiments that repeatedly come out after such an attack. But how much of the reaction we see out there...is actually productive or helpful in furthering this conversation about Islamic terrorism, its causes and what we can do to tackle growing extremism better? For this episode I’m joined by British Muslim convert Sarah Ager (@SaritaAgerman) and friend of the show Jason Liggi (@Liggi) who works near where the attack happened.We discuss both positive and negative reactions to such attacks…between the ‘nothing to do with religion’ denialism on the left and the demonizing of muslims that tends to come from the right, it’s rare the issues actually get effectively addressed at all.Since Sarah is a convert and I’m an apostate, generally that made for an interesting dynamic. Pls note this conversation was recorded over the weekend. Some new details may have come out since that we did not cover. Links:Tommy Robinson on Rebel Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhrhLovaFs8Longer Tommy interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54TKESUoLUActor Riz Ahmed on diversity in British Television: http://www.thefader.com/2017/03/03/riz-ahmed-diveristy-parliamentWhite Supremacist who travelled to NYC to kill black men: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/03/27/terror-charges-for-anti-black-killer.html?via=desktop&source=copyurlMy Children’s books: My Chacha is Gay https://www.buzzfeed.com/imaansheikh/pakistans-first-childrens-book-on-lgbtqEid Book: https://www.buzzfeed.com/imaansheikh/eid-mubarak-everyone?utm_term=.eyQlqM761#.iejnYLJg2If you enjoy the show pls consider supporting via patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nicemangos

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Join Me and the legal podcast team from "Opening Arguments" (@Openargs) - which includes Harvard Lawyer Andrew Torrez and his Co-host Thomas Smith, as we discuss the "SJWs are the worst threat to freedom of speech even in the face of Trump" narrative. Here are some links relating to topics we covered:http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/michigan-republican-suggests-kent-state-protesters-article-1.2963902https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/25/shooting-milo-yiannopoulos-speech-seattle-chargeshttp://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/01/25/24822812/uw-republicans-to-protestors-after-shooting-its-time-your-flame-is-put-outhttp://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/paul-ryan-planned-parenthood-obamacare/https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/24/republican-lawmakers-introduce-bills-to-curb-protesting-in-at-least-17-states/https://www.aclusd.org/en/news/governor-daugaard-signs-discriminatory-senate-bill-149*This was recorded before the healthcare news of today. If you enjoy the show please consider supporting via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nicemangosYou can also support by leaving an iTunes review! https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/polite-conversations/id1086199663?mt=2

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The Complexity of Critiquing Islam Under Trump: Distinguishing between liberals & illiberals by Eiynah

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Joining me this episode is YouTuber @contrapoints. His videos are full of wit, humour, cross-dressing and takedowns of terrible alt-right arguments. Things that have resurfaced recently, but the left doesn’t engage with effectively. He answers questions many would consider beneath them like “Why is White Nationalism bad?” by getting into the nitty gritty, by combating the softer, newer forms of 'ironic nazism' with ironic anti nazism. Instead of outrage, he systematically dismantles this bullshit in a fun way. Where else are you gonna get to see a swastika bedazzled on someone’s chest solely for the purpose of trolling Youtube white supremacists?

We had such a fun, varied conversation on so many topics i’ve been itching to discuss. It’s been a while since i’ve had such a good ol’ fashioned lefty convo. We talk about how western liberals can be more informed allies to liberal muslims/ex muslims without applauding conservative aspects of the faith. We chat about transphobia, leftist infighting, cross-dressing, kink, radical feminism, BDSM & patriarchy, repackaged ‘frivolous’ nazism, and dick. We discuss dick.

I leave you with a quote from Contra on his YT comments section:

"They say white nationalists can't be convinced with reasons, and I sort of arrived at that conclusion myself while working on this video. Maybe they can be convinced by jokes, memes, anime, song, dance, and guitar solos?"

Check out Contrapoints videos, some of my favourites are:

Alpha Males https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6jYB74UQmI

What the Alt Right Fears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3XjRO4-kGk

Why White Nationalism is wrong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-c2qnfUNXE&t=1s

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nicemangos

With your help i can do so much more.

*This episode was recorded a couple of weeks ago, so the 'Muslim ban' referenced in the show is the first one, not the second.

A few weeks ago, before Milo's Real Time Appearance, and before his pedophilia-defending stuff surface in the mainstream. I had a wonderful conversation with Dan Savage - one of the topics we touched upon was Milo Yiannopolous. Dan rightly describes him as the attention-seeking, identity politicking, disingenuous hack that he is. This is just a snippet of our conversation. You can hear the whole thing here: https://soundcloud.com/politeconversations/episode-24-dan-savageYou can support the show here: https://www.patreon.com/nicemangos

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Join me and my good friend Ali Rizvi for a conversation about Life in Saudi Arabia. Ali and I share a very similar geographical background. We both grew up as Pakistani expats in Saudi in fairly liberal Muslim families. It’s always fun to compare notes…We discuss his early years in school, how snowflakes are secret code for The Star of David :P , we talk about the differences between the Shia experience and the Sunni one & reminisce about Betamax, Ramadan TV shows like Full House, Small Wonder, Punky Brewster. The ex-muslim community has grown, and with that comes some differences in approach….the disadvantages of ’the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ type of tactics. Overall, Ali put me in a really hopeful and optimistic mood about how attitudes around apostasy are changing, how irreligiosity in even countries like Saudi Arabia is growing. Here is a link to the gallup poll he referenced http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdfWe touched briefly upon the subject of creationism in public schools in the US, but I found that there are some instances where people to get away with teaching it: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_public_schools_mapped_where_tax_money_supports_alternatives.htmlCheck out Ali's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Atheist-Muslim-Journey-Religion-Reason/dp/1250094445----If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting via patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nicemangosLeave an iTunes review: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/polite-conversations/id1086199663?mt=2

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Join me for the second interview in my 'life in Saudi Arabia' series. I chat with a Saudi feminist now based in the UK, about her life growing up, the first time she put an a'abaya (modesty cloak thing) on, the strange contradictions of living in a theocracy in the 21st century. We also discussed what Saudi feminism entails, and touched upon the subject of female migrant worker rights in Saudi. Moudhy expands her thoughts further in a blogpost: https://asaudiabroad.com/2017/02/05/toward-a-more-inclusive-feminism/The blogpost where Moudhy talks about her first time putting on an a'abaya: https://asaudiabroad.com/2017/01/06/my-first-time/#more-318Follow her on twitter @Moudhy

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Here are some thought's to accompany my latest series of illustrations on my blog: http://nicemangos.blogspot.ca/2017/01/hijab-glorification-thoughts-on-shepard.html?zx=7de05f8fb0b125d1They are meant as a response to the Shepard Fairey poster.Here is the article I mentioned: https://nowtoronto.com/news/think-free-blog/liberal-muslims-face-an-uphill-battle/

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