Polite Conversations

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...

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-articl...

The Complexity of Critiquing Islam Under Trump: Distinguishing between liberals & illiberals by Eiynah Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 t...

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 expe...

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. Mo...

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/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

(This Episode was recorded before the inauguration) Join me and Dan Savage for an honest conversation about the Left's response to minorities within minorities like ex muslims, even muslims who are critical of things like homophobia, misogyny within their religion. It's a tough spot, but we've got to start discussing this fellow liberals! We also chat about the glorification of hijab, Milo, germop...

Join me and Saudi Activist Moudhi (@Moudhi90) as we talk about life in Saudi Arabia. She studied Sharia Law, so she has some pretty shocking insights about the Saudi legal system. I mean, I knew it was bad, but its still shocking to hear it all the same. I grew up as an expat in a Western compound in Saudi.....always segregated from locals...so even though Ive had the occasional short conversation...

Join me and Irshad for a wonderful conversation, where we both nudge and challenge each other. Despite some pretty fundamental differences (belief vs. disbelief), Irshad has always been an inspiration to me. She is someone I admire a great deal, even if we don't always agree. In her compassion and open mindedness towards others with differing viewpoints she sets an excellent example on how we can...

Written, sang, created, coordinated & produced by godless heathens. Tis the season, Sing along now:On the first day of Haraam-mas, Shaitaan gave to me…An apostate in a free country! On the 2nd day of Haraam-mas, Shaitaan gave to me…2 nice mangos and an apostate in a free country! On the 3rd day of Haraam-mas, Shaitaan gave to me…3 wine bottles2 nice mangosand an apostate in a free country! On the...

Here's my chat with British Journalist and Author Nick Cohen. Nick is really such a gem of a person. Consistent and principled in calling out bad ideas on all sides...like almost no one else. A much needed sensible voice in today's political climate. Join us to discuss issues on the left and right, how politics has shifted, how there's a crisis coming in conservatism and much more...Do check out h...

Dear listeners, My apologies for the delayed release. This past week I have lost a childhood friend as well as a close relative. So I've been traveling, and things have been up in the air for a while. Robert has tweeted about this as some sort of plot to edit him to look bad... I can assure you that the content is pretty much unedited. I usually obsessively remove umms and Ahs.. but i even let mos...

DISCLAIMER: This is an old episode, my views on Sam Harris and his politics have changed quite a bit since this conversation...partially because of how telling this convo was. For more recent views on Sam check out my recent episodes on him, or my miniseries #WokingUp-----Last Friday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sam Harris! We had an excellent, robust discussion on a variety of topics. We...

For this episode, the co founder of The Satanic Temple returns to the show for a discussion about offensive halloween costumes, cultural appropriation, whether pumpkins have anything to do with white privilege...Satanic cultural identity, conspiracy theory culture in america vs. muslim world (even though, sadly, anti semitic conspiracy theories are common place among muslims i haven't come across...

[Sorry for all the sound effects. Michael's neighbours were drilling and hammering, I was recording in my basement for the first (and last) time..where it turns out the mic picks up the sound of water going through the pipes] ****Here's my chat with Michael Sherlock - activist, atheist, author. We delved into some pretty interesting conversations....about 'befriending' bigots...jihadists..islamist...

What happens when four women of Muslim background with varied opinions discuss Islamic modesty clothing? Fireworks! Join Me, Sarah Haider (co-founder of Ex Muslims of North America), Hoda Katebi (Muslim Iranian fashion blogger), Hala Arafa (former newscaster/news editor at Voice of America, Arabic branch) for this wonderful, passionate and intellectually diverse discussion. Please note that there...

I spoke via skype at the non conference on Saturday Aug 13th. The audio was a bit unclear so I re-recorded it on my end, for those who wanted to hear. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago." (BBC)Join me as I speak to a former member, Zubin Madon, of a rarely heard about religion. In India and Pakistan they are a small and mysterious, dwindling community. We discuss how the religion has evolved over the years, the openness that ref...

A panel discussion with @westerspace and @elibosnick regarding the recent Milo ban from Twitter. Pls consider supporting the show via Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/nicemangosiTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/polite-conversations/id1086199663?l=en&mt=2#episodeGuid=tag%3Asoundcloud%2C2010%3Atracks%2F269208778 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the last couple of episodes being stressful and debate-y, what could be better than a cute, fluffy episode on Satanism?

At the end of the podcast there are a few Urdu words, loose translation:Tarek: Go find your (future) kids a 'white school' - oh but all schools here (in Canada) are whiteMe: Oh yeah ... all schools here are white... whatever should i do now (sarcasm)Him: Is there anything left? (to talk about)Me: Whats left? Nothing. Tell me, do you at least now believe i'm a Pakistani woman? Him: Yes, yes I belie...

Tarek and I may agree on the basic fact that Islamism is a huge problem, that isn’t adequately being addressed….you’ll quickly see we disagree on many things as well. Starting from the weather :P But in more seriousness, I am a harsh critic of Islam, who is not a fan of generalizations against Muslims. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that Tarek defends Islam, Mohammed while generalizing Musl...

Some quick thoughts on Saudi Arabia and yesterday's multiple attacks...and how people are using attacks near a holy site as some sort of proof of ISIS' non-muslim status. Saudi is a place i have so many different feelings for. Read more about the Conquest of Mecca here:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_of_Mecca Read more about The Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia...

Join me, Ali Rizvi, and Faisal Al Mutar for a fun and *polite* conversation. We discuss the Ex-Muslim/Muslim identity, the necessity of labels, Ramadan of course, US presidential candidates, Justin Timberlake and much much more. :DFollow Ali Rizvi @aliamjadrizvi & look out for his new book, The Atheist MuslimFollow Faisal @faisalalmutar & check out his work at www.faisalalmutar.comRSS: http://feed...