#34 The Trump Thing

Trump is indicted and flies to New York for arraignment. The media cover it in a frenzy, but actual human interest seems low. There are no protests, no real crowds, and Marjorie Taylor Greene can’t get her megaphone to work.

In an age when we’ll burn a tree to power a machine to draw us a picture of a tree, what is Trump? What is it to be any sort of celebrity today, supported and sustained by internet connectivity and social media? What if we unplugged — what would we find?

#26 Sam Harris and Islamophobia

Is Sam Harris islamophobic? I think he criticizes all Abrahamic religions for their ideas, and rightly so. But there might be a connection he’s missing to why some people react to his criticism of Islam as if it was bigotry…

#24 Response to Kierkegaard

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish theologian and philosopher who said humans have existential anxiety because of our myriad choices.

T.J. discusses.

#22 FBOY Island

TJ breaks down the HBO Max reality dating show FBOY Island, why he likes it, and its place in our culture

#21 Two Impressions

Here’s my Fred Armisen impression from SNL’s “The Californians” and Matthew Goode as producer Bob Evans from Paramount Plus’s “The Offer.”

#17 - The Less We Will Communicate

Famed philosopher and spiritual orator Alan Watts said that the more technologically advanced we became with communication, the less we would actually “communicate.”

Was he right?

#16 - We Have to Hear the Other Side

We’re on the brink of cultural, political, and environmental disaster. The only way out is through — and it’s by learning to hear one another again, learning to see the point of view of those who disagree with you.

This isn’t “bothsideism” or false equivalence. We have to transcend the my-side-versus-your-side that continues to grow and metastasize in American life and politics. It’s profit-driven infotainment and it’s tearing us to pieces.