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Like I'm A Six-Year-Old

Comedian Tom Ballard sits down with politicians, activists, thinkers and comedians to try to talk, laugh, cry and argue about politics. You will learn things and get fired up and hear some swearing. Enjoy.
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Like I'm A Six-Year-Old
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Now displaying: November, 2016
Nov 30, 2016

Nayuka Gorrie returns to unpack Episode 2 of First Contact with me. It's bloody tough going as the episode looks at overcrowded housing and poverty in the NT town of Elliott and survivors of the Stolen Generation. 

What does the airing of this show actually mean for Indigenous Australians? Why do some react to the stories of the Stolen Generation with blatant denialism? How can non-Indigenous people (try to) be better allies?

The World Keeps Happening is being filmed for Stan at the Comedy Theatre this Saturday December 3rd

Watch Episode 2 on SBS On Demand here

"It Throws Black People Under The Bus": Black Reactions to First Contact by Nayuka & Paul Gorrie

First Contact: Poverty Porn And Trauma TV, With Bonus Celebrities by Amy McQuire

First Contact interview: Ray Martin

StolenGenerationsTestimonies.com

A story on Richard Campbell's beautiful art is here

Cause of the Week: Indigenous Literacy Foundation (indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au)

 

Nov 29, 2016

Episode 1 of First Contact has arrived. 

The kind Nayuka Gorrie joined me for a viewing of the show and to share her thoughts. We discuss #DefineAboriginal, the difficulty in making a show like this and the issues and attitudes it exposes. 

Watch Episode 1 on SBS On Demand here

Read my piece for Guardian Australia on the show here

Hear my previous episode with Nayuka here

@nayukagorrie

Check out some discussion of the show from Indigenous voices on the NITV website here

 

Nov 22, 2016

Jamila Rizvi is a writer, commentator, former Labor staffer and political junkie. She was raised in Canberra by her immigrant public service parents, joined the Labor Party at 18 and has worked for the Rudd and Gillard governments. 

In this frank and funny chat, Jamila reflects on her political pragmatism, the "Labor tragedy" that was the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd years and what her passionate exchange with Steve Price on The Project revealed to her about trolls, debate and PC. 
 
The World Keeps Happening is being filmed for Stan at the Comedy Theatre on Saturday December 3rd
 
First Contact series 2 starts Tuesday November 29th on SBS 
 
jamilarizvi.com.au
 
@jamilarizvi
 
Jamila's writing on Mamamia
 
Jamila's writing on news.com.au
 
change.org petition: Call for The Project to apologise to Steve Price live on air
 
A message to Steve Price and his supporters: grow up and get over it by Clementine Ford 
 
Cause of the Week: CARE Australia (care.org.au)
 
Nov 16, 2016

On the dancefloor at Mardi Gras this year, I met Tim Rosenberger. He is a gay, conservative, Republican law grad from Ohio. And he has supported Donald Trump's candidacy for President of the United States. That candidacy was successful. And now we're here. 

Here I have a lengthy chat with Tim via Skype about why he thinks Trump and Pence will be good for LGBTIQ+ Americans, racial politics, "pussy-gate", the electoral college, Clinton, climate change PC, identity politics and much more. I listened. It was hard and frustrating. But useful. I hope. #MAGA

The World Keeps Happening is being filmed for Stan at the Comedy Theatre on Saturday December 3rd

Boundless Plains To Share at Belvoir Theatre in January 2017

Boundless Plains to Share at Adelaide Fringe in February 2017

@TimJRJR

@twinksfortrump

Article: Aftermath - 16 writers on Trump's America in The New Yorker

Article: Trump warms to Electoral College, 4 Years After Calling it a "Disaster For Democracy"

Article: Reports of anti-LGBTQ extremists tapped for major roles on President-Elect Trump's transition

Article: Trump's Muslim register database - an explainer on Vox

Article: The Democrats are screwing up the resistance to Donald Trump by Jamelle Bouie

Article: Bursting the Facebook bubble - we asked voters on the left and right to swap feeds

Article: Virginia's governor restores voting rights for 13,000 felons

Article: China will soon trump America: the country is now the global leader in climate change reform 

Article: Trump in the White House - an interview with Noam Chomsky

Cause of the Week: Safe Schools Coalition (safeschoolscoalition.org.au), Log Cabin Republicans (logcabin.org)

 

Nov 10, 2016

It happened. Donald J. Trump is going to be the next President of the United States. 

I am very sad. 

I don't know about you, but I want to help. I want to make things better. 

Support queer rights by donating to allout.org

Support refugees by donating to UNHCR Australia

Support the fight against climate change by donating to 350.org 

Support gender equality by donating to Emily's List Australia

Slate's Trumpcast

The Republic Repeals Itself by Andrew Sullivan

It was the rise of the Davos class that sealed America's fate by Naomi Klein

Democrats, Trump, and the Ongoing, Dangerous Refusal to Learn the Lesson of Brexit by Glenn Greenwald

The Terrorists Have Won - Keith Olbermann

The US has elected its most dangerous leader. We all have plenty to fear by Jonathan Freedland

Stephen Colbert tries to make sense of all this

 

Nov 8, 2016

Nur Warsame is Australia's first openly gay imam. 

Yep. 

He's an incredible man with a fascinating story that I think is really important to hear. If you're like me and want to call out and stand up against any religious bigotry towards queer people BUT you also don't want to pile on to the current shitstorm of Islamophobia that's swirling around this country at the moment, there's a lot to be learnt here from Nur. Here we discuss his journey to coming out publicly, what that decision has cost him, how he reconciles his faith with his sexuality and how we can have better conversations about critiquing Islam and certain oppressive cultural attitudes. 

The World Keeps Happening is being filmed for Stan at the Comedy Theatre on Saturday December 3rd

Boundless Plains To Share at Belvoir Theatre in January 2017

Boundless Plains to Share at Adelaide Fringe in February 2017

Meet Australia's First Openly Gay Imam on SBS's The Feed

Article: Nur Warsame: Australia's First Openly Gay Imam

Article: The secret mosques opening their doors to LGBTI Muslims 

Nur on SBS's Insight: How Do People Make High Stakes Decisions? 

Fields of Blood: Religion & The History of Violence by Karen Armstrong

Article: New national snapshot finds 60% of Australians would be concerned if a relative married a Muslim 

Article: Half of all British Muslims think homosexuality should be illegal, poll finds

Cause of the Week: Marhaba (@marhaba_Melb)

 

Nov 1, 2016

Activist, writer, engineer, motoring enthusiast and outspoken young Muslim woman of colour Yassmin Abdel-Magied is kicking arse on multiple levels right now and I felt very lucky indeed to have this opportunity to chat with her.

Earlier this year, Yassmin sparked a large controversy in the literary world when she walked out on author Lionel Shriver's speech on cultural appropriation at the Brisbane Writers Festival. Here she reflects on that experience and further explores her thoughts on why an awareness of what cultural appropriation is and how it works is important. 

Last week's guest Gay Alcorn had a different take on this subject; you can listen back to that episode here

The World Keeps Happening is being filmed for Stan at the Comedy Theatre on Saturday December 3rd

Boundless Plains To Share at Belvoir Theatre in January 2017

The Greens' petition against the lifetime visa ban for people seeking asylum

Welcome to Eltham's video 

@yassmin_a

Why does my headscarf mean to you? Yassmin's TED talk

Lionel Shriver's speech in full: I hope the concept of cultural appropriation is a passing fad

I walked out of the Brisbane Writers Festival keynote address this is why by Yassmin Abdel-Magied

We need to talk about cultural appropriation: why Lionel Shriver's speech touched a nerve by Stephanie Convery

What happened in Brisbane by Suki Kim 

Identity politics doesn't deserve Lionel Shriver's contempt, but it can be limiting by Nesrine Malik

Will the Left survive the Millenials? by Lionel Shriver

A call for difficult conversations not censorship by Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Why the shaming of Lionel Shriver leads to a literary ghetto by Anson Cameron

Confronting Lionel Shriver by Maxine Beneba Clarke

White Fragility: why it's so hard to talk to white people about racism by Dr. Robin DiAngelo

White Nonsense Round Up on Facebook

Cause of the Week: Mumtaza (mumtaza.agency

 

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