Thomas Smith

Where There's Woke

Society EN ↓ 141 episodes

Every single time the right, or even center-left, goes ballistic over a "woke" controversy, the slightest bit of investigation shows the scandal is almost entirely bogus. This is not a new phenomenon; it dates back decades. It's an intentional tool used to protect the powerful and preserve the status quo, while further scapegoating and otherizing those who push for political progress. This podcast digs into not just today's fake scandals, but those of yesterday and yesteryear. The terminology has changed some, but the pattern has not. Listen in as host Thomas Smith shines a light on the panic,...

Author

Thomas Smith

Category

Society

Podcast website

sites.libsyn.com

Latest episode

Jul 7, 2026

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Episodes

WTW113: Harvard Professor Announces His Exit Because History Dept. Needs More White Classes 01.03.2026

Professor James Hankins wrote a literal essay, published in Compact Magazine, about his decision to leave Harvard's History Department for greener pastures in...Florida. He wants more western civilization focus in history, and Thomas and Lydia break down why this is problematic. "Western Values" Explained, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DUT4aCkeRA **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving...

WTW112: How the Right Convinced Everyone There Was a Free Speech Crisis: A Case Study 02.02.2026

We watched No Safe Spaces with our friends over at God Awful Movies this month and there was SO MUCH from the anti-woke archive featured in that "documentary" that we couldn't possibly take over GAM to debunk it all. For this episode, we're focusing on one particular story that we hadn't covered yet involving Dennis Prager being allegedly SILENCED at the University of Wyoming. **If you enjoy our w...

WTW111: Antifa Is Good and Effective, Actually 01.02.2026

After nearly 10 years of covering the far right after Charlottesville, Chris Mathias has written an important book called " To Catch a Fascist, The Fight to Expose the Radical Right. " In addition to modern efforts to out the fascists and racists, Chris takes us through some fascinating history of that as well. It is inspiring work at a time when we all could use some inspiration and uplift! Also...

WTW110: America Fest 3 - Tucker Carlson Hits Back at Ben Shapiro 28.01.2026

Time to dig into the keynote speaker from Day 1 of AmFest 2025. That's right, folks! We FINALLY get to (have to) listen to Tucker Carlson! Tune in to hear how he handles the call out from Ben Shapiro earlier in the day, and stick around for some crazy Q&A - what seems to be a hallmark of TPUSA. Be sure to listen through to the end to hear the craziest attempt at an intro for a podcast that we've p...

WTW109: Russell Brand Is Reallllllly Into Jesus. Oh and Michael Knowles Is Realllly Into White Nationalism. 14.01.2026

Part 2. We continue working through the lineup of AmericaFest 2025, and this one's jam-packed! Kicking it off with Ben Shapiro and the SHADE he lays down against other folks on the Right, we then hear what upcoming criminal defendant Russell Brand has to say, and close out with quite a fashy character from The Daily Wire we've yet to cover in detail on WTW: Michael Knowles. If you enjoy our work,...

WTW108: AmericaFest Showed Turning Point's Massive Influence (and Bottomless Budget) 12.01.2026

Part 1. Thomas watched the entirety of Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025 so the rest of us didn't have to! In this episode, in addition to talking about what was going on at this entire event, we listen to the most ridiculous National Anthem presentation and hear words from America's Widow, Erika Kirk. In this day and age, we deserve to laugh. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-...

WTW107: Hello Mr. President I Got a Bad Grade Can You Fix It Pwease 24.12.2025

It's part 2 of this idiot Christian didn't do her homework and started a culture war over it. She and her terrible mom are bigots and since we live in the worst times, they get to win. But at least we have Eli Bosnick!

WTW106: Oklahoma Christian Idiot Gets a 0, Then Uses Christian Privilege to Get Teacher Fired 24.12.2025

Featuring special guest Eli Bosnick!!! An Oklahoma moron wrote some Christian diarrhea for her Psych homework. She got a 0 (which was generous) and then sent the mob after her trans teacher and got them shit canned. Meritocracy!

WTW105: A 2019 DSA Convention Was a Little Weird and Now Bill Maher Can't Possibly Support Mamdani 16.12.2025

Part 3 (and final!) of this terrible New Rules segment from Bill Maher last month. Maher attempts to go after socialism in America and the Democratic Socialists organization, and comes up with WILD examples. Reminder - this is all in an effort to scare people away from Zohran Mamdani. We tackle some debunks here related to the DSA platform and city-run grocery stores, and end the series with knock...

WTW104: Bill Maher Tries Comedy. It Doesn't Go Well. 09.12.2025

Part 2 of the latest Bill Maher debunk. Well, we couldn't help ourselves and this part mainly focuses on how unbelievably terrible Maher's "comedy" is. We also do a little debunking along the way, but the bulk of the remaining debunking is going to have to come in, that's right, part 3. We tried. We tried to make it only 2 parts but he's just so... dumb. If you enjoy our work, please consider leav...

WTW103: You'll Never Guess What Bill Maher and the NYT Think Democrats Should Do 05.12.2025

Sorry, wokies. Guess we have to close up shop. Bill Maher and The New York Times have said that the Left needs to moderate. Thomas guides us through the ridiculous source material that takes this position and we get plenty of debunks along the way! Also, chime in: Should we do a recurring Bill Maher segment? And: Is Maher Thomas's arch nemesis? Of course we barely scratched the surface, so we'll b...

WTW102: What It's Like Being the Center of a Culture War 03.12.2025

Logan was an out trans man serving children of servicemembers overseas as their pediatrician until the Trump Administration targeted trans folks in the military. Now that Logan has safely discharged, we're honored to have him join us to talk about the entire experience. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seri...

WTW101: Prof. Josh Fernandez Started an Anti-Fascist Club. Then He Was Investigated for Over a Year. 01.12.2025

Professor Josh Fernandez was accused of soliciting students for violent activities because of an antiracist club he helped start on his community college campus, and his administration investigated him for a year and a half. The Hands That Crafted the Bomb: The Making of a Lifelong Antifascist **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comment...

WTW100: The TP USA Event That Was More Important Than Your Freedom of Speech 29.11.2025

We return for an update to our ACTUAL-THREATS-TO-FREE-SPEECH series for our 100th episode! Lydia shares what's been happening with the various cases we discussed in Episodes 98 and 99, and then she walks us through some "highlights" from Auburn University's Turning Point USA event that seemed to be in the middle of the termination of one of our cases. **If you enjoy our work, please consider leavi...

WTW99: The Biggest Attack on Free Speech in Our Lifetime and Hardly Anyone Cares 24.11.2025

Part 2 in our Kirk's Free Speech series. The cases of teachers being suspended, investigated, and/or terminated based on their comments about Charlie Kirk never seem to dry up. We continue our examination of some of these instances. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com . Please pretty please cons...

WTW98: Your Free Speech "Rights" as a Teacher in the Wake of Charlie Kirk's Murder 24.11.2025

Part 1. We dive headfirst into stories in which a teacher's First Amendment rights appear to have been violated. It seems clear to us how wrong this all is after reading the complaint, but how will these cases play out in court? If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com . Please pretty please consider...

WTW97: A Tale of Two Free Speech Controversies 03.11.2025

A few weeks ago, Lydia and Thomas did an episode on the steps of the California Capitol for California Freethought Day, highlighting the differences between a fake free speech professor-story and a real one. This juxtaposition sparked a research effort to dig into more of these cases, some of which will be featured in the following episodes. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star...

WTW96: The Sudden Fall of Ryan Walters 02.11.2025

FOLKS. Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters is GONE. Lydia breaks down the final few things he pushed before he abruptly resigned with 15 months still left in his term, the bizarre happenings of that resignation and where he's headed next, and finally, what we've learned in the aftermath. This Is Ground Zero in the Conservative Quest for More Patriotic and Christian Public Schools , Jennifer Smith...

WTW95: Where Was Gondor When I Got Cancelled for Orc-Face?! 07.10.2025

Lydia continues sharing the very-good-examples from The Federalist of times when the Left abandoned Free Speech principles because the impacted person was a Conservative. Yep, they're still going. How Outrage at Kimmel Grew to a Shout From a Whisper , Stuart A. Thompson (9/19/2025) The Censorship-Industrial Complex , Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government (5/1/2024) The...

WTW94: Sure Kimmel Got Censored, but Whatabout When Whatabout Whatabouted? Yeah, That's What I Thought. 03.10.2025

Jimmy Kimmel caused significant outrage a couple of weeks ago that you likely heard about. The "outrage" on the Right was that he dared to say Charlie Kirk's name and imply that the alleged killer was MAGA. The outrage on the Left was that after Kimmel said that single sentence, the government mafia-bossed the broadcasters to pre-empt his show, ultimately leading to Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from...

WTW93: Everyone Is a Complete Idiot Except Bill Maher 02.10.2025

It's part 2 of our little foray into the disturbing transphobia-addled mind of Bill Maher. This one features a hilarious clip where Bill yells at Neil DeGrasse Tyson while not understanding a word Neil has said.

WTW92: Transphobia Has Melted Bill Maher's Brain 01.10.2025

Bill Maher decided to bless us all with his sage advice on our country's fascism problem - why don't we all just stop doing the things that the fascists use as their excuse to do the fascism they already were going to do anyway? How did we not think of that??? Are we all the dumbest bunch of idiots?

WTW91: From the Anti-Woke Archives – The NYT Donald McNeil Firing 12.09.2025

After the release of our PragerU videos (WTW88 & WTW89), we received a comment in the Facebook group from a listener pushing back on the characterization we made regarding a one sentence bit from Ben Shapiro's commencement speech video. This feedback emboldened Thomas to dig into the story further to see if we owed an apology to Ben. Was this a unique instance in which the anti-woke were right and...

WTW90: Kaiser Permanente "PAUSED" Their Pediatric Gender-Affirming Surgery Practice For Basically No Reason. 03.09.2025

Kaiser issued the most infuriating statement last month announcing that they were "pausing" their gender-affirming surgeries for patients 19 and under. Why in the world did they do this when the majority of Kaiser members are in California - a protective state for the transgender community and one of the most likely states to stand up to the Trump administration? Lydia breaks down what happened, w...

WTW89: PragerU Is Not a Grift and That Is Actually More Concerning. 02.09.2025

Part 2 of 2. Now that we're Oklahoma-certified teachers, it's time to learn more about PragerU. Who are they, where does their money come from, and are they really going to be the new PBS? We break down one of their PragerU Kids videos, and end with a pretty unhinged video presented by a WTW frenemy. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, co...

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