SWOTI

Hello, SWOTI-boos! After Joe gives an account of his life as an amateur model in Provincetown (aka gay Mecca) and Brie offers a sneak peak of her leftist-themed, farewell-to-NYC party (aka She Left), the SWOTI hosts dive into some thought-provoking topics. First, they discuss the implications of Alex Jones being removed from Facebook, YouTube, and iTunes. Why has it been so challenging for these companies—and even liberals—to come up with a rigorous, consistent policy to address what does...

And we're back! After Joe gives an update on his whirlwind adventures to Hawaii and Iceland (including the joy of traveling internationally with a sibling), the SWOTI hosts dive in to talk politics and pop culture. First, Joe and Brie offer their thoughts on Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's primary victory in New York City. Is this a harbinger for a socialist wave come November? Or is socialism still too much of a dirty word for the average American voter? And why is it, our...

So...we need to talk about privilege, both as a concept and as a rhetorical tool. Privilege is a framing device that's been embraced by liberals to surface the various advantages and disadvantages bestowed upon individuals because of their identities. Unlike some folks on the right, Joe and Brie can agree that privilege exists. (Also, news flash: The Earth is round.) But has the term privilege outlasted its strategic utility? Rather than revealing various power structures and relationships,...

After an unexpectedly long hiatus, Joe and Brie are back to catch you up on who's wrong on the internet. First, they dish about what's new in their lives: Joe struggles with how he'll manage to take thirst-trap selfies with a broken phone. And in almost as gripping news, Brie dishes on her new job at The Intercept. How does she feel about leaving the law behind? And will our favorite leftist co-host be censoring herself now that she's an editor at The Intercept? (Nope.) Then, after a brief...

The illustrious Michael Jamal Brooks of the Michael Brooks Show joins us for the entire episode, and it's a real treat! We chat about his run in with "Tiger Mom's" progeny, the new Rachel Dolezal Netflix special, and the Oscars, before drilling down on The Shape of Water and the ethics of casting able-bodied actors to play characters with disabilities. (Brie also questions the public's acceptence of woman/fish bestialtiy #fishsex). We also debate Kobe Bryant's acceptance of an Oscar in the...

This episode is late but great! Joe and Brie catch up on some very important cultural events: figure skater Nathan Chen and his...physique, and the hottest queen in the game, Janelle Monae. Her music video "Make Me Feel" is definitely making us feel some things. Are Brie and Joe bisexual? Maybe. (Probably not.) Then, they take on the hottest Black Panther take, which asks whether the film is actually anti-revolutionary because it associates global black liberation with a murderous villain....

Joe and Brie do a deep dive into the GREATEST INTERVIEW ON EARTH! Last week, New York Mag interviewed Quincy Jones and uncovered stunning revelations about Marlon Brando's sexual relationship with Richard Pryor, and Pryor's public courtship of people across the gender spectrum! Brie and Joe talk about the cocaine on Pam Grier's cervix, Ivanka Trump's legs, & why Brie is an alternative Dope Queen. Then the pair welcome immigration lawyer Stephen Robbins to talk about what a progressive...

What exactly did Aziz Ansari do wrong on his now infamous date? Joe and Brie make sense of this divisive issue by breaking down all the factors which militate in favor of Aziz, as well as those for which he was properly called out. Next, they discuss whether comedian MoNique is being undervalued, as she claims, for a prospective Netflix special. Is she being lowballed, and if so, can she properly attribute that to her gender and/or race? Joe and Brie then devolve into some hilarious chatter...

Weeeeee're back!!! And we're jumping right into the fray with a no-holds barred episode about the #metoo movement and sexual assault. Does acknowledging the impact of rape culture require us to reconsider culpability for bad acts that happened in the past under different ethical standards? #georgetakei Why is it controversial to acknowledge that all sexual assaults aren't equally bad? And does failing to distinguish between them open up a slippery slope where crime and punishment may not...

What do a "hillbilly," a black Republican, and a Bangladeshi-American centrist have in common? They all spoke to us for this PACKED season finale! We interview two POC Republicans and one liberal Appalachian about how to talk to Republicans: what's really motivating them, and how does race affect their politics? Are POC Republicans able to help us learn how to reach across the aisle? Are they able to bring added empathy to the question of how to address Republican racial issues? The episode...

Free speech is for me, you, and Nazis too, and with good reason. In this week's episode, we tackle the liberal backlash against free speech in the wake of Charlottesville and James Damore (the Google Memo guy). We take down the NYT article suggesting that the ACLU needs to rethink its approach, and discuss how failing to protect the free speech rights for the worst among us establishes bad precedent for us all. We also ask how and whether we should modify race language to better communicate...

The Game of Throne producers are coming out with a new show called Confederate, about what would have happened if the south had won the Civil War. In the context of the current political climate, in which violence has erupted between aggressive white nationalists and peaceful counter protestors over a statue of Robert E. Lee, is this show appropriate? Is Black Twitter right to try to shut the project down? #noconfederate. Should we be happy that two talented show runners are turning their...

Joe & Brie catch up on life developments, including Joe's impending switch to a long distance relationship, before going into a deep dive on healthcare. Specifically, they unpack the unique history of healthcare in the United States to better understand how we ended up with our broken employer-based model, and discuss the role of race in shaping our current system. The pair welcome healthcare expert Rachael Wolfgang to outline coping mechanisms to employ if the ACA is repealed. Finally, they...

How do you define a hate crime in the absence of an explicit racial epithet? And why do hate crime laws matter? Joe and Brie discuss the murder of Nabra Hassanen, a teenage Muslim girl from Virginia, and unpack the psychic and cultural benefits of laws that specifically recognize the humanity of those whose lives matter less in the eyes of the criminal justice system and the public more broadly. Next, (at 34:35), they use the recent sexual assault allegations on Bachelorette spinoff...

When America calls, SWOTI answers. It's clear that even after last week's episode, there's still quite a bit of confusion about what cultural appropriation is and isn't, and importantly, why it matters. Katy Perry is trying and missing the mark in her interview with Deray McKesson, Bill Maher is regressing to antebellum sensibilities, and New York Times author Kenan Malik is defending cultural appropriation using, of all people, Elvis Presley as an example. So Brie and Joe buckled down and...

We need to talk about something important: Brie and Joe's upcoming ten-year college reunion. The SWOTI hosts discuss what we're looking forward to, what we're dreading, and the deep satisfaction of baring one's midriff to bypass some of those awkward reunion interactions. Next, we turn to Miley Cyrus and the ire she's drawn from the Internet due to her recent comments about hip hop: her complicated relationship with the genre and the parts of it she views as misogynistic. Is this outrage...

Joe and Brie are back, and they're talking about the controversial Shea Moisture advertisement that raised heckles when it excluded the black women--the very women who comprise the product's user base. What obligation does a black-owned, black-targeted hair product company have to acknowledge its base? Are black products "allowed" to expand to a more diverse audience? Would black women abandoning the company for a white-owned one teach it the desired lesson? Then, Brie & Joe discuss #wokebae...

Joe and Brie discuss Dr. David Dao's violent removal from a United Airlines flight last week. To what extent did his race affect his treatment? How did it influence the public's largely sympathetic response? And how are we supposed to interpret the role of United CEO—and fellow POC—Oscar Munoz in all of this? (Hint: implicit bias is a thing.) Also, though you might have heard about Dave Chappelle's controversial jokes about trans people on his new Netflix special, there has been next to no...

We watched Jordan Peele's revolutionary horror film "Get Out" and asked what, if any, message about interracial relationships we were supposed to draw from a horror flick about whiteness. How generalizable is the subtext about trust and authenticity? What lessons should we take from the inclusion of an Asian and Latino character in a film that otherwise draws black and white boundary lines between good and evil? Joe and Brie are joined by original SWOTI members Lyse and Chef for a...

Nary a week goes by without the First Amendment making headlines, whether it's protests at Berkeley, Milo Yiannopoulos becoming a lightning rod for speech rights on the right (until he wasn't), Tomi Lahren's recent fall from grace, "PC Culture" corrupting college campuses, Republican congressmen snatching high school kids' paintings off the wall, or the fervor over our constitutionally-enshrined right to wear that Pocahontas costume on Halloween. In this first episode of season two, Joe and...