It’s time for part 2 with Eli and Travis on gun control. After they’re done, I offer a few thoughts on the debate. Thanks so much for listening!
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All posts by Thomas Smith
AS253: Eli vs Travis on Gun Control
Everyone’s favorite Christian movie critic and Atheistically Speaking master debater, Eli Bosnick, is back at it defending a strong anti-gun position against listener Travis. Atheists actually tend to be quite split on this issue, as made clear by the comments I get on both sides. So, I’m very happy to be hosting a dialogue between two atheists of different sides of the gun debate!
Before the debate starts though, I talk about a very recent news story right from my neighborhood of Sacramento. Violence broke out in the Capitol over when a small white supremacist group who had a permit to hold a rally were counter protested by an anti-fascist group. Several people were stabbed. Who is to blame? I give my take on it in the first 15 minutes before the debate.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:22 — 47.0MB)
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AS252: Commentary; Inciting Incident
First up is some commentary on a common misconception about my Trump arguments. I do not think PC culture is blame to Trump. There’s a comment of disagreement I keep getting that I deal with in the first part of this episode. The second part is an interview with Al Laiman from the Inciting Incident podcast! We talk about his show, as well as the suicide epidemic at his university.
You can find Al’s show at:
www.blogtalkradio.com/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:22 — 47.0MB)
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AS251: Andrew Torrez on Hate Speech
Recently a hashtag went viral called #IStandWithHateSpeech. While that might seem to be on its surface a pretty insensitive statement, it perhaps voices a legitimate concern with EU hate speech laws. Here to help us wade through the details is everyone’s favorite legal correspondent, Andrew Torrez!
Here’s a news story that describes it a bit:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1937_en.htm
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AS250: Thinking Clearly on Orlando
In a world of knee jerk reactions and the desire for easy scapegoats, I hope to bring you some balanced analysis on the shooting. Many different contributing factors coalesce here – Islam, homophobia, homophobia in Christianity, gun control, masculinity. What are we to make of all these? Well, listen in and I hope we can both think more rationally about these things. Here are some articles discussed:
Economist on why AR is assault weapon
http://time.com/4270613/jihadists-dont-understand-the-quran/
Vox on terrorist attacks, 80% non-Muslim
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AS249: Tom and Cecil, Part 2
I’ve got those dirty bastards Tom and Cecil back for more! We talk about whether or not Hillary can get more done than Bernie would have, and whether PC culture has led to Trump.
After the dudes are gone I address some of the response I got to the Ania debate over ableist language. It was a lot!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:47 — 52.0MB)
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AS248: Cognitive Dissonance Or Bust
The dudes are back! Tom and Cecil are in the house, and we’re talking everything politics. What do they think about Bernie or Bust? Are they #neverTrump? Also, how do they feel about free college? Find out, and of course, enjoy a heaping helping of profanity and off-color jokes!
If you’d like to hear part 2 early, go to http://www.patreon.com/atheist!
And of course, you can hear the guys over at http://dissonancepod.com/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:37 — 42.7MB)
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AS247: Ableist Language with Ania Bula
Here’s the somewhat more contentious part 2 you’ve all been waiting for! In this one, Ania is a bit more critical of some of the ableist aspects of society, including language used by your host. We got into a hearty debate on the issue, and then I comment on it after. I’m very, very curious to hear where people come down on this one!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:59 — 52.2MB)
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AS246: Ania Bula on Living with Disability
Ania Bula has written a book called Young, Sick, and Disabled. Find it on amazon here. It’s about the challenges of living with disabilities and having everyone and their mother recommend things to you constantly. We talk about her life experiences as well as some reasons why society might still have a way to go in terms of being more facilitating and accepting of people with disabilities.
Here are some sources for studies referenced by Ania:
Re: Women’s Pain
http://www.theatlantic.com/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
http://thinkprogress.org/
http://verilymag.com/2015/10/
http://digitalcommons.law.
Black People Feeling Less Pain Belief:
https://www.statnews.com/2016/
https://www.washingtonpost.
http://thegrio.com/2016/04/06/
People of Colour and Meds:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/
http://www.colorlines.com/
In part 2, things got a bit heated with a debate on ableist language. You can listen to part 2 early by becoming a patron at http://patreon.com/atheist
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:47 — 52.0MB)
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AS245: Objective Morality, Boltzmann Brains and More
I’m back for some more analysis of points brought up in the Sean Carroll episodes. Spoiler alert: Sean Carroll was right about Boltzmann brains. Who would have thought! It took a commenter with a background in physics to actually address the problem I brought up on its own terms to convince me. I got even more comments on objective morality, so I spend some time clarifying that. Finally, I tried listening to a conservative podcast for about 2 weeks! Tune in and I’ll tell you how that went..
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:00 — 46.7MB)
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