Episode 107: Appreciating Strangers

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.”
— William Butler Yeats
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
— Tennessee Williams
“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
— Barack Obama

In an ever-growing and interconnected world, a glimpse outside of our social groups and inner worlds can remind each of us of the vast oceans of strangers in our world. Some consider this idea with understandable fear, but this week Olivia Sanabria joins us to help explore this conception of "the stranger". In what ways is it a mental framework with which to maintain a clear and digestible worldview? Is there are respectful and acceptable manner in which to approach those we would like to know but do not yet? What can our beliefs about those who are strangers indicate about our own perspectives and opinions? To our listeners: How do you define strangers? What is your protocol when interacting with strangers and do you tend to avoid such interactions?

Episode 107: Appreciating Strangers
Kip Clark and Olivia Sanabria
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Episode 106: For Non-Gamers — Gone Home

“Pick up a can of soda in Gone Home, spin it around and you’ll find a fully detailed nutrition label. Pick up anything else in the house that serves as the game’s setting and you’ll find a comparable level of detail. From the coffee mugs to the diverse styles of handwriting across every interactible piece of paper, nothing feels generic.”
— Charles Onyett, IGN, November 15, 2012
“Historically games haven’t done a very good job at recreating what it’s like to inhabit a specific time and place. [Gone Home] is cut out all the things that turn the scenery into a backdrop - combat, puzzles, large worlds, etc. - and instead placed the setting in the foreground. Exploring its relatively small but astonishingly detailed manor in 1995 is the game’s central mechanic.”
— Jeffrey Matulef, Eurogamer, November 15, 2012

This week, Phoebe Lewis returns for the second entry in our series "For Non-Gamers". She played through the critically-acclaimed success, Gone Home - a narrative exploration of a fictitious Oregonian family set in the summer of 1995. Because of her limited exposure to gaming as a pastime, we asked Phoebe about her initial impressions and discuss the similarities between the game, films and books which all contain similar storytelling elements. We also discuss the biases about gaming which this title helps disprove and how Gone Home helps model games as multimedia experiences and not as narrow entertainment. In what ways does this title illuminate first person experience as conveyed in video games? How do we conceive of the decorations and items in our houses as extensions of our families and our lives?

Episode 106: For Non-Gamers — Gone Home
Kip Clark and Phoebe Lewis
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Episode 105: Alternative Genius

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
— Ernst F. Schumacher
“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
— Albert Einstein
“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that
without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.”
— Pearl S. Buck

Because intellectual capability is often a marker of individual value and aptitude, the title of "genius" is a highly complimentary term. But in what ways do we label others and their work as genius only to gloss over nuance and complexity as a result? Are there ways in which each of us possess genius but deny ourselves that pride in the face of more overt and compelling examples? This week we welcome Sam Graf to discuss the idea of alternative genius and it what ways in might expand our conventional definitions of genius. Are there moral components to demonstrating one's genius? Does the genius have an obligation to share their gifts and talents with their society?

Episode 105: Alternative Genius
Kip Clark and Sam Graf
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Episode 104: The American Response to September 11

“On September 11, 2001, a tiny group of deluded men — members of al-Qaida, a fringe group of a fringe group with grandiose visions of its own importance — managed, again largely because of luck, to pull off a risky, if clever and carefully planned, terrorist act that became by far the most destructive in history.”
— John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart in "The Terrorism Delusion"
“Accordingly, it is surely time to consider that, as Russell Seitz put it in 2004, ‘9/11 could join the Trojan Horse and Pearl Harbor among stratagems so uniquely surprising that their very success precludes their repetition,’ and, accordingly, that ‘al-Qaeda’s best shot may have been exactly that.’”
— Mueller and Stewart quoting Russell Seitz in "Weaker Than We Think"

Nearly fifteen years ago, members of al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes, killing 2,996 and injuring over 6,000 in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The unprecedented tragedy of the event led many Americans, including politicians, to wonder about the likelihood of similar atrocities in the future. This week, we welcome Sam Whipple to discuss an article written in 2012 entitled "The Terrorism Delusion: America's Overwrought Response to September 11". In the article, authors John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart suggest that the political and security responses since the attacks have been blown out of proportion and imply a false probability and reality of terrorism that statistics do not reflect. In what ways do our communal fears and feelings of empathy lead us to trust in any promise of safety? How do politicians capitalize on emotion rather than facts and statistics? How might we have a healthy conversation as a country and a globe which acknowledges both legitimate fears and consistent evidence?

Episode 104: The American Response to September 11
Kip Clark and Sam Whipple
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Episode 103: TRAP Laws and Abortion Rights

“Four decades after the 1973 supreme court ruling Roe v Wade gave women a constitutional right to abortion, the Boyds say they are “deeply disturbed” by the march of anti-abortion laws. They believe the procedure has been hijacked as a political rather than a medical issue, causing women to feel more shame than ever before.”
— Karen McVeigh, The Guardian, November 21, 2014
“Empathy can be the foundation of profound understanding, communication and connection despite differences, the central mechanic of any personal or character-driven story, real or fictional. If indifference maintains a callous and unjust status quo, to be moved to feel deeply or strongly for another must therefore be positive and constructive, and if not helpful than certainly not harmful.”
— K. Talt Jarboe, The Toast, December 3, 2015

Given our belief in honest, thoughtful discourse, we must at times cover topics and issues that are politically, emotionally and personally charged. As issues themselves grow more controversial, we tend to internalize these very polarized arguments over critical debates. Our interest in objectivity is therefore more difficult to disentangle from our personal biases, whatever they may be. This week, we welcome Charlotte Graham to discuss controversial TRAP Laws dealing with a woman's right to an abortion. While we are both pro-choice individuals, we do hope listeners who feel differently will feel comfortable sharing their perspectives as well. We examine misunderstandings we perceive in the discussion as well as the political efforts made by those who disapprove of the access to abortion. What are some of the consequences for a woman's biological autonomy? Is the argument related to a quantity of life vs. a quality of life dichotomy? How can we have more respectful and open-minded discussions over such tense issues?

Episode 103: TRAP Laws and Abortion Rights
Kip Clark and Charlotte Graham
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