{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F325a0107-581c-4de2-be79-2bcf351e7b2d","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" title=\"Episode 260 \u2013 5 Years of Podcasting\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"clipboard-write\" seamless src=\"http://player.captivate.fm/episode/325a0107-581c-4de2-be79-2bcf351e7b2d\"></iframe>","title":"Episode 260 \u2013 5 Years of Podcasting","description":"<br />\nToday we briefly celebrate 5 years of podcasting and then move on to discuss contemporary topics.<br />\nWho are we?<br />\nPaul, a bike riding music loving libertarian English Teacher, with a keen interest in Japan and China who is looking for love and as elder statesman of our group he represents the Baby Boomers.<br />\nWaz, is the founder and patron of a community running group but due to injury, he doesn\u2019t run, he started a bike riding tour guide business but due to Covid-19, can\u2019t guide and he is an engineer but due to job dissatisfaction has retired and no longer engineers. He started our beer sponsorships and thankfully still drinks beer. I wasn\u2019t sure who he should represent but I looked up gen x.<br />\nScott, is a private school educated accountant and a former card carrying member of the Liberal Party. But being an openly gay man he is the closest thing we have to a representative of an oppressed minority.<br />\nI\u2019m Trevor. I\u2019m an ex-lawyer who dabbles in watercolours and plays squash at a local country club. I live in a McMansion in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane with a tennis court and a custom built wood fired pizza oven so I naturally represent the working class.<br />\nActually my credentials are pretty good.<br />\nMy grandfather.<br />\nNo middle name.<br />\nFather Anonymous<br />\nCongratulates us on 5 years<br />\nWhat have we learned?<br />\n5 years and 260 episodes.<br />\nWhat have we learned?<br />\nWe started off thinking that if people only knew what unfair privileges are being handed to religious groups then they would be appalled and rise up and object.<br />\nWrong.<br />\nThe people don\u2019t care and when they do, they more often than not, are ok with the religious privilege. Think private schools.<br />\nThe ongoing power of religious groups is tied up with tradition and increasing embeddedness of religion in the key power structures of government, political parties and the media.<br />\nAll of the best arguments in the world won\u2019t matter while powerful people have a pro-religious agenda.<br />\nTo remove religious privilege we must forget about winning arguments and think about winning power.<br />\nAnd if we want to win power we must motivate the people with a tribal pitch. A narrow pitch of a secular utopia won\u2019t work. A pitch to the powerless against the powerful might work.<br />\nBut it requires a salesman. A storyteller. Someone who can pull back the curtain and reveal the shitty wizard. And it will require tough times when people are hurting and are amenable to new ideas.<br />\nThere will be no changes without tough times and a charismatic revolutionary.<br />\nYou have heard the saying \u2026 Cometh the hour, cometh the man (or woman).<br />\nYou need both.<br />\nReal power rests with either of the two major parties. The Liberals are beyond redemption. The Christian parasite has taken over the host. The ALP is still up for grabs. Join it and get some power while waiting for opportunity.<br />\nSecularism needs to take a leaf out of the Dominionism playbook.<br />\nSecularism needs to plant secular leaders in the Labor party and build power and be ready when the time is right.<br />\nMeanwhile \u2026 as we speak \u2026<br />\nThe left is strangling itself with identity politics and along the way has abandoned the working class and the importance of free speech. It has given up on left wing economic policies.<br />\nThe right has maintained popular acceptance of low taxes and small government. It continues to fool Australians into thinking the coalition are the better economic managers. It relies on the Murdoch press and religious support. Enthusiastic Conservative Protestant Christians willingly adopt prosperity gospel doctrine in return for conservative moral laws and their end times theology helps them ignore the dangers of climate change.<br />\nHave I missed anything?<br />\nFrom episode 177<br />\nBesides bedroom issues, the two parties are the same.<br />\nRemember the quote from Chris Hedges?\u00a0Well,\u00a0of course,","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}