The Straw Man Podcast

Last week Steve issued a challenge to himself to seek out a book that would specifically challenge a belief that he had. Returning to the previous topic of vegetarianism, Steve picked up Eating Animals by Jonathon Safron Foer and found it challenging in ways he didn't expect, and also less of a challenge in other ways than he expected.

Another midnight solo podcast has Steve waxing philosophical on the concept of citizenship and how it needs to evolve from what he learned earning his merit badges in Boy Scouts to better fit the modern, digital, age.

In a fit of insomnia-inspired productivity, Steve recorded a solo podcast about a thing that's going around on Facebook: 10 books that stuck with you. He goes through his list of ten books and discusses the weaknesses in his list and ends with a resolution of sorts to read more from people that he specifically disagrees with.

Avid YouTuber Sarel is back to talk more about his passion. But is the influence of the Internet, and the new media outlets it allows to flourish unquestionably a good thing?

Aspiring vegetarian Gregor takes on aspiring hunter Steve in this rhetorical battle to the death! Okay, that's a bit overdramatic. And in fact, the two sides have some surprising common ground.

In this episode, two white guys talk about racism! I know; who cares, right? Well here's the twist: Your host Steve, from the U.S., interviews Sarel, a native of South Africa, about his experiences growing up there. Make sure to check out Sarel's YouTube channel, ZaffaGeek.

The pilot episode of the podcast welcomes the gentleman scholar Gregor, to try to figure out what the deal is with GMO foods. Gregor brings to the discussion a background in teaching, specifically for our purposes, in bioethics. Neither of us being scientists, we approach the ethical and political concerns of the topic. We don't come to any grand conclusions, but we do talk about deciding where you stand on the particular issue of labeling. This is a topic that we will surely come back to in the future for further discussion.