Two for Tea Podcast

7:02 Derren Brown’s book Happy

7:50 The positive thinking movement

9:18 The concept of the self from the ancient Greeks to Margaret Thatcher

22:33 Suicide

23:42 Being a Westerner at different points in history from the Medieval monasteries to Silicon Valley

25:11 “The Death of a Dreamer”: the story of Austen Heinz

36:37 Social perfectionism

43:26 Likeability

45:51 Self-loathing

50:06 Cognitive behavioural therapy, Adlerian psychology & other approaches

58:07 Connection versus status

1:03:33 Why do so many of the most loved people hate themselves?

1:06:10 Social media, narcissism & depression

Read more of Will Storr's writings here:

http://www.willstorr.com

Find Will's latest book, Selfie, here:

https://www.amazon.com/Selfie-How-West-Became-Self-Obsessed/dp/1447283643

Or follow Will on Twitter @wstorr.

Other references

Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human:

http://jonathangottschall.com/storytelling-animal

Derren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-More-Less-Everything-Absolutely/dp/0593076192

I review this for Areo magazine here:

https://areomagazine.com/2019/01/21/in-praise-of-stoicism-derren-browns-happy-book-review/

You can find the Cosmopolitan March 2019 article about Jordan Peterson (“Why does every guy you know worship Jordan Peterson”) by searching for the keywords here:

https://www.pressreader.com/

The Esalen institute:

https://www.esalen.org/

Will’s article on Austen Heinz:

https://quillette.com/2019/01/30/the-death-of-a-dreamer/

David Burns website (an introduction to cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT):

https://feelinggood.com/

Ishiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga, The Courage to be Disliked:

https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Be-Disliked-Phenomenon-Happiness-ebook/dp/B078MDSV8T

Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis:

https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Hypothesis-Finding-Modern-Ancient/dp/0465028020

Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind:

https://www.thecoddling.com/

(I review this for Areo here:

https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/26/good-intentions-gone-awry-jonathan-haidt-and-greg-lukianoffs-the-coddling-of-the-american-mind-book-review/).

The ripple effect:

http://humanityhealing.org/who-we-are/the-ripple-effect/

For more on Mary Orben & her work on social media:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/find-an-expert/amy-orben

Jean Twenge: iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152016

2:12 Is the free speech crisis on campus over?

4:34 What is deplatforming?

11:06 Should there be a right to debate?

22:07 Have things really got better over the past year and if so why?

25:47 The polarisation of US politics following Trump’s election

31:42 Inflammatory speakers, trolling & outrage culture

32:27 Victimhood culture

55:24 Microaggressions

1:07:32 Over- and underestimating racism

1:09:18 The Covington Catholic affair

1:24:34 Identity politics

1:29:42 The gay rights movement

1:35:15 Equality of opportunity versus equality of outcome

1:52:48 Have there been changes in the atmosphere on campus over the past five years?

You can follow Jeffrey on Twitter @JeffreyASachs.

His recent articles on campus culture and free speech can be found here:

https://niskanencenter.org/blog/the-campus-free-speech-crisis-ended-last-year/

here:

https://niskanencenter.org/blog/there-is-no-campus-free-speech-crisis-a-close-look-at-the-evidence/

and here:

https://heterodoxacademy.org/viewpoint-diversity-community-partisanship/

Other references:

Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (1946)

René Girard, Violence and the Sacred (1972)

Glenn Loury and Sam Harris in conversation about police violence against African-Americans:

https://samharris.org/racism-and-violence-in-america/

6:41 The difference between Hinduism and Hindutva

12:55 How is ethnonationalist militancy compatible with Hinduism?

19:42 Buddhism and violence

23:24 The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)

26:27 What ethnonationalist groups have in common

31:04 The caste system

54:16 Arranged marriage in India

58:04 Hypocrises of Indians living in the US

59:17 Violence in the media

1:00:43 More on arranged marriage

1:06:38 Modi & his government

1:08:21 Babri Masjid

1:20:51 Yogi Adityanath

1:33:09 Indian secularism

1:42:47 The future of Hindu nationalism & how to combat it

Rohini Mohan is the author of The Seasons of Trouble: Life Amid the Ruins of Sri Lanka's Civil War (2014): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239396/the-seasons-of-trouble-by-rohini-mohan/9781781688830/

Rohit Chopra is the author of three books: Inter-Religious Marriages Among Muslims: Negotiating Religious and Social Identity in Family and Community (2005), with Abdullahi An-Naim; Technology and Nationalism in India: Cultural Negotiations from Colonialism to Cyberspace (2008); and The Virtual Hindu Rashtra. Saffron Nationalism and New Media (2019). His latest work can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/9789353029579-Books/s?k=9789353029579&rh=n%3A283155

You can follow @rohini_mohan on Twitter.

For a particularly moving article of hers, see "A Template for Hate":

https://harpers.org/archive/2018/09/india-bharatiya-janata-party-intolerance-bjp-muslim-hindu/

You can follow Rohit Chopra on Twitter, where he tweets as @IndiaExplained.

His podcast with Bunty Bolta can be found here: https://audioboom.com/channel/the-india-explained-podcast

and on most other podcast apps.

Other References:

Shashi Tharoor, Why I am a Hindu (2018)

The work of Ashis Nandy (b. 1937) and Nirad Chandra Chaudhuri (1897–1999)

Urvashi Butalia, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (2000)

1:43 The different evolutionary social sciences

7:25 Are humans a naturally promiscuous or polyamorous species?

11:42 The design of the human penis

23:17 Polygamy

32:33 The eating habits of hunter-gatherers

40:55 Has violence declined since prehistoric times?

51:07 Is there anything positive about the human propensity towards violence?

56:12 Male control over female mate choice & its evolutionary implications

1:01:15 Penis size

1:03:33 How important is intrasexual competition?

1:04:49 Jordan Peterson’s remarks on lipstick

1:09:55 Homosexuality

1:35:14 Men’s greater tendency towards violence

1:42:00 Are some societies ‘better’ than others?

You can follow William Buckner on Twitter, @evolving_moloch and read more of his writings here:

https://traditionsofconflict.com/publications/

William Buckner's articles for Areo magazine can be found here:

https://areomagazine.com/author/williamvbuckner_140185461_1432130083/

You can follow Cody Moser on Twitter @LTF_01 and read more of his writings here:

https://culturologies.wordpress.com/

Cody Moser's articles for Areo magazine can be found here:

https://areomagazine.com/author/littlefoot01/

Other references:

Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá, Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality (2010)

Richard B. Lee, “Hunter-Gatherers and Human Evolution: New Light on Old Debates” (2018): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326817410_Hunter-Gatherers_and_Human_Evolution_New_Light_on_Old_Debates

Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (2011)

Jordan B. Peterson, remarks on lipstick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9dZSlUjVls&t=2s

Richard Dawkins on homosexuality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHDCAllQgS0

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDmQns78FR8

William Buckner, “The Behavioral Ecology of Male Violence”:

https://quillette.com/2018/02/24/behavioral-ecology-male-violence/

01:52 The history of secular circumcision, beginning in the Victorian era with the anti-masturbation campaign

6:20 Extract from a medical case study on a masturbator.

9:10 Shift from concerns about masturbation to concerns about STDs in the 1960s.

12:13 Why Brian dislikes the term genital mutilation.

19:02 Sensitivity

26:00 The Hippocratic oath

30:23 African men & the HIV study

33:37 The hygiene argument

36:42 The World Health Organisation

39:49 Ali Rizvi on why prophylaxis is not a good argument

49:37 FGM and the Dawoodi Bohra

53:51 The infant experience

54:35 African circumcision of teens

57:13 Why there has never been a class action lawsuit?

1:00:11 Male vulnerability

1:05:16 Resource allocation: are anti-FGM and anti-circumcision activists in competition with each other?

1:07:49 Jews and circumcision

1:20:15 Women’s experiences of sex with circumcised men

1:41:05 How Brian became the go-to guy for this topic

1:44:19 Future dangers

You can read more of Brian David Earp's work at:

http://oxford.academia.edu/BrianDEarp

and follow him on Twitter at @briandavidearp.

Further resources:

https://15square.org.uk/

http://arclaw.org/

https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/

http://www.beyondthebris.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Education/Jews-Against-Circumcision-165424110207450/

Robert Darby, A Surgical Temptation:

The Demonization of the Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain (2005)

American Circumcision: The Movie (2019):

https://circumcisionmovie.com/

Marie Fox and Michael Thomson, “Foreskin is a Feminist Issue” (2009):

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08164640902852415?journalCode=cafs20

Shaye J. D. Cohen, Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant in Judaism (2005):

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520212503/why-arent-jewish-women-circumcised

1:52 Why Thomas doesn’t use the term mixed race

10:21 Perception that being brown/black is synonymous with oppression

15:08 Whiteness

16:12 Skin colour inheritance

20:35 The importance of representation; links between race and class

27:44 Hip hop as performative blackness

33:40 “Acting white”

34:48 Mixed race identity as an opportunity

37:15 The yearning for belonging

40:05 Adrian Piper

42:15 Ancestral guilt and ‘worshipping the wound’

50:47 The rejection of optimism

53:07 What prompted Thomas to write Self-Portrait in Black and White

56:18 Thomas reads an extract from the book

1:03:57 Richard Spencer, the European far right, & the identity politics arms race

1:09:44 Culture & multiculturalism

1:11:55 White guilt

1:15:21 Transcending the mental habits of race

Thomas Chatterton Williams' memoir "Losing My Cool" is available here:

https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Chatterton-Williams/e/B0035FEJHC%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Thomas Chatterton Williams, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race (2019):

https://www.amazon.com/Self-Portrait-Black-White-Unlearning-Race/dp/0393608867

You can read an extract from his upcoming book, "Self Portrait in Black and White" here:

https://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2015/01/black-and-blue-and-blond

For more of Thomas's writings, see:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/magazine/adrian-pipers-self-imposed-exile-from-america-and-from-race-itself.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/the-french-origins-of-you-will-not-replace-us

and

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/ta-nehisi-coates-whiteness-power.html?_r=0 ….

Follow Thomas on Twitter at @thomaschattwill.

Additional References

For more on Adrian Piper:

http://www.adrianpiper.com/

Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (2018)

John H. McWhorter, “Antiracism: Our Flawed New Religion” (2015)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/antiracism-our-flawed-new-religion

The preface to Iona’s piece on mixed race themes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdUunlGWqrw&t=17s

2:56 Gita’s work as a trainer preventing workplace sexual harassment

4:17 The low proportion of women in Indian workplaces

17:54 Gender sensitisation training

20:24 The importance of openness

33:12 The Me Too movement in America

48:10 Me Too in India; the case at SRM University in Tamil Nadu

58:31 Consent complications

1:05:00 Legal ramifications in India

1:15:27 George Takei clears his name

1:23:32 Title IX

1:31:02 How the Indian situation might develop in the future

In this episode, I discuss the MeToo movement and its impact on India and Indian culture with expert on the Indian workplace Gita Jaisinghani.

You can follow Gita on Twitter @gita_ .

To find out more about the case at SRM University in Tamil Nadu we allude to, start here:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/srm-university-students-stage-protest-on-campus-alleging-inaction-on-sexual-harassment-complaint/articleshow/66760777.cms

Laura Kipnis, Unwanted Advances:

Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus (2017)

George Takei;

Binny Bansal;

Phaneesh Murthy of Infosys.

6:33 Action is character

8:29 Impersonate the person you want to be

11:51 Confidence is domain specific

14:15 Advice for dating situations

18:25 Shame as a tool

22:48 The power of being inauthentic

25:28 Standing up to bullies

31:00 Advice for shy guys

33:05 The process of becoming more confident and some of the setback you will face

You can find Amy Alkon's "science-help column" here: https://www.creators.com/features/advice-goddess-amy-alkon

Follow Amy on Twitter at @amyalkon.

And you'll find her book, Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence, here:

https://www.amazon.com/Unf-ckology-Field-Living-Confidence/dp/125008086X

I highly recommend it!

Further References

Amy Alkon, Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say Fuck (2014); I See Rude People: One Woman’s Battle to Beat Some Manners Into Impolite Society (2009); Free Advice, with Caroline Johnson and Marlowe Minnick (1996)

Robert Trivers: http://www.roberttrivers.com/Robert_Trivers/Welcome.html

James Pennebaker and John Frank Evans, Expressive Writing: Words that Heal (2014)

Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want (2017)

David Buss, “The Evolution of Happiness” (2000): https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-13324-002

2:06 What genetics can tell us about ancient and more recent Indian history

12:37 Caste and genetics

22:14 Hindu ethnonationalists and the out of India theory

29:21 How conflicts between different peoples can lead to the development of mythologies

40:56 The Indus Valley civilisation and its conflicts with other groups

45:39 Barbarians and citizens, tribes and states

53:21 The caste system

1:12:55 Skin colour

1:49:24 Telling people apart

1:52:50 Colouring more generally

2:04:27 Growing up straddling two cultures

2:10:29 Political tribalism

Follow Razib on Twitter: @razibkhan.

You can also read his blog here: https://www.gnxp.com/ . And follow his podcast at https://insitome.libsyn.com/ .

Further References

Al Biruni’s India, edited and translated Edward C. Sachau (1910):

https://archive.org/details/alberunisindia_201612

Episodes on India from the podcast The Insight:

https://insitome.libsyn.com/the-indo-european-enigma and https://insitome.libsyn.com/ani-asi-ivc-and-the-gentics-ofindia

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006)

For my thoughts on the casting of Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, see:

https://areomagazine.com/2018/11/11/a-persian-popinjay-a-review-of-the-film-bohemian-rhapsody/

2:48 What does it mean to be an “atheist Muslim”?

6:42 Different aspects of religion: tradition/ritual/belonging versus ideology and belief

11:25 Mild apostasy versus transformative apostasy

13:55 New atheism

18:37 On not staying in your lane

20:06 Raif Badawi

22:14 Criticising Islam without anti-Muslim bigotry.

26:14 Twitter

28:09 Reformers

30:08 More on Twitter

31:18 Offence and blasphemy

33:18 Different types of effective speech for different audiences

37:10 Different kinds of Muslims

42:55 Political polarisation and ex-Muslims

46:21 The Social Justice left; left and right-wing identity politics

50:48 Dave Rubin

55:00 Mockery and satire

58:46 The left’s problem with messaging

1:03:31 Belief and identity

1:10:27 Cultural appropriation

1:18:41 Women as the bearers of identity

Ali Rizvi is a musician, writer, clinical pathologist and secular activist. Ali’s book, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/Atheist-Muslim-Journey-Religion-Reason/dp/1250094445

His podcast, Secular Jihadists for a Muslim Enlightenment, co-hosted with Armin Navabi, is here:

https://www.secularjihadists.com/

You can follow Ali on Twitter @aliamjadrizvi

Other References

Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA):

https://exmuslims.org/

Phil Zuckerman:

https://philzuckerman.com/bio/

Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (2004)

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006)

Richard Dawkins, “The Case for Militant Atheism”: https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_dawkins_on_militant_atheism?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Maryam Namazie: https://maryamnamazie.com/about/

The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain:

https://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/

Raif Badawi:

https://www.raifbadawi.org/

Bill Maher;

Tropic Thunder (2008);

The Interview (2014);

The Sokal Squared Hoax:

https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/02/academic-grievance-studies-and-the-corruption-of-scholarship/