Polite Conversations
Polite Conversations

Polite Conversations

Eiynah Mohammed-Smith

Overview
Episodes

Details

Growing up in Saudi Arabia as a Pakistani, who now resides in Canada, Eiynah brings a global perspective to discussions about religion, politics, culture & sexuality - through the lens of a progressive ex-muslim immigrant. This podcast often focuses on unpacking various forms of extremism, particularly types that are less overt and masquerading as ‘intellectual’. Eiynah has a specific interest in covering online scenes like New Atheism and the Intellectual Dark Web. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent Episodes

‘Fashademics’ 1 - War on Science
DEC 19, 2025
‘Fashademics’ 1 - War on Science
Introducing a new Polite Conversations miniseries: ‘Fashademics’ - where we talk about fash adjacency in academia (something this show has already covered for a long time). For ep 1 of this miniseries I speak to former academic Nathan Oseroff-Spicer (nateo.bsky.social) about his review of the widely mocked ‘War on Science’ book, put together by Lawrence Krauss. I would love to unlock this miniseries as we go along, but that can’t happen without your help dear listeners. Each episode takes a lot of time, research and work to put together. If you’d like to help this series keep going pls consider supporting the podcast via patreon.com/nicemangos I’ll unlock the episode if we get just 5 new patrons! Please help us get there. ———Links:Nathan’s review: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-science-real-and-otherwise/My unlocked patreon piece on the War on Science book: https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-on-science-123635833Boghossian goes full fash https://www.patreon.com/posts/boghossian-goes-137585027Sarah Haider promotes eugenics conference https://bsky.app/profile/nicemangos.bsky.social/post/3ljvcnahl2c2aHuman Diversity Foundation & Bo Winegard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Diversity_FoundationJordan Peterson & Spiritual Attacks https://bsky.app/profile/nicemangos.bsky.social/post/3m2fsg7ll3k2vOn close ties of 20 top editors, executives, and journalists at the New York Times who have covered Gaza and their connection to Israel and the IDFhttps://mondoweiss.net/2025/07/the-new-york-times-commitment-to-zionism-begins-with-its-own-staff/BBC Middle East News Editor Raffi Berg talks about being accepted into ‘a circle of trust with Mossad’ https://x.com/stevepowers_/status/1987464659113214115?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50Lqw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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45 MIN
PREMIUM BONUS: Riyadh Comedy Festival (Pt 2) Ft Andy Kindler
DEC 15, 2025
PREMIUM BONUS: Riyadh Comedy Festival (Pt 2) Ft Andy Kindler
Join me for an in depth look at some of the excuses that were made by the comedians who went to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.Was this festival an indication of progress in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or was it put on to create the illusion of progress?Comedian Andy Kindler (from Bob’s Burgers) joins me to discuss.[The extended episode is available via the Premium tiers on patreon.com/nicemangos]Subscribe today to support the show or you can purchase the episode individually too! ———Featured Clips from: Chris Tucker, NBC News, Bill Maher, Louis CK, Tim Dillon, Aziz Ansari, Whitney Cummings, Bill Burr & Joe RoganLinks:A Saudi journalist tweeted against the government – and was executed for ‘high treason’: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/18/saudi-arabia-turki-al-jasser-executedProducer/Animator receives prison sentence for Netflix Comedy series https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/world/middleeast/netflix-masameer-saudi-arabia-prison.htmlArchived version of NYT article: https://archive.ph/QqSR8Saudi cartoonist sentenced to 23 years https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-cartoonist-sentenced-crackdown-0fbb4a3d9532a363ea6f014bdab53876Human Rights Watch: Riyadh Comedy Festival Whitewashes Abuses https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/23/saudi-arabia-riyadh-comedy-festival-whitewashes-abusesHuman Rights Watch ‘Cannot Accept’ Donations From Aziz Ansari and Other Comedians Who Performed at Riyadh Comedy Festival https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/human-rights-watch-refuses-aziz-ansari-riyadh-donation-1236544862/Tim Dillon Fired from Riyadh Comedy Festival https://www.billboard.com/pro/tim-dillon-fired-riyadh-comedy-festival-saudi-slavery/Dave Chapelle says its easier to talk in Saudi Arabia than the US https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/dave-chappelle-saudi-arabia-free-speech-1235439890/82% of Jewish Israelis Back Forcibly Expelling Gazans https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-28/ty-article-magazine/.premium/yes-to-transfer-82-of-jewish-israelis-back-expelling-gazans/00000197-12a4-df22-a9d7-9ef6af930000 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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29 MIN
PREMIUM BONUS: Riyadh Comedy Festival (Pt 1)
DEC 12, 2025
PREMIUM BONUS: Riyadh Comedy Festival (Pt 1)
Join me for an in depth look at some of the excuses that were made by the comedians who went to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.Was this festival an indication of progress in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or was it put on to create the illusion of progress?Comedian Andy Kindler (from Bob’s Burgers) joins me to discuss in pt 2[The extended episode is available via the Premium tiers on patreon.com/nicemangos]Subscribe today to support the show or you can purchase the episode individually too! ———Featured Clips from: Chris Tucker, NBC News, Bill Maher, Louis CK, Tim Dillon, Aziz Ansari, Whitney Cummings, Bill Burr & Joe RoganLinks:A Saudi journalist tweeted against the government – and was executed for ‘high treason’: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/18/saudi-arabia-turki-al-jasser-executedProducer/Animator receives prison sentence for Netflix Comedy series https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/world/middleeast/netflix-masameer-saudi-arabia-prison.htmlArchived version of NYT article: https://archive.ph/QqSR8Saudi cartoonist sentenced to 23 years https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-cartoonist-sentenced-crackdown-0fbb4a3d9532a363ea6f014bdab53876Human Rights Watch: Riyadh Comedy Festival Whitewashes Abuses https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/23/saudi-arabia-riyadh-comedy-festival-whitewashes-abusesHuman Rights Watch ‘Cannot Accept’ Donations From Aziz Ansari and Other Comedians Who Performed at Riyadh Comedy Festival https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/human-rights-watch-refuses-aziz-ansari-riyadh-donation-1236544862/Tim Dillon Fired from Riyadh Comedy Festival https://www.billboard.com/pro/tim-dillon-fired-riyadh-comedy-festival-saudi-slavery/Dave Chapelle says its easier to talk in Saudi Arabia than the US https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/dave-chappelle-saudi-arabia-free-speech-1235439890/82% of Jewish Israelis Back Forcibly Expelling Gazans https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-28/ty-article-magazine/.premium/yes-to-transfer-82-of-jewish-israelis-back-expelling-gazans/00000197-12a4-df22-a9d7-9ef6af930000 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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21 MIN
UNLOCKED: Global Far Right 6 - Finland (FULL)
NOV 29, 2025
UNLOCKED: Global Far Right 6 - Finland (FULL)
[Aired originally Aug 13 2025 via patreon.com/nicemangos]If you’d like to access extended episodes and unlock miniseries early please consider subscribing via patreon.com/nicemangos and supporting this small show!Finnish expert on far-right extremism Sami Eerola [https://bsky.app/profile/eerolasami.bsky.social] joins me for a conversation about the far-right in Finland. We discuss the sharp swing from Sanna Marin’s progressive govt to the most rightwing government Finland has had since the 1930’s, neo-nazi groups & festivals like ‘white boy summer’, the various racism related scandals coming from far right govt officials and more.Links:Find Sami’s Finnish language newsletter here  https://laitaoikeistonviikko.substack.com/The Finnish government attempts to overcome the overt racism of its ministerhttps://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/08/20/the-finnish-government-attempts-to-overcome-the-overt-racism-of-its-ministers_6099989_4.htmlFar-right Finnish leader Riikka Purra sorry in racist posts uproarhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66166795Finland economy minister resigns over Nazi commentshttps://www.dw.com/en/finland-economy-minister-resigns-over-nazi-comments/a-66084409Many Finns Party ministers have pointed to replacement theoryhttps://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/politics/23836-many-finns-party-ministers-have-pointed-to-replacement-theory.htmlChet Hanks says Social Justice Warriors can kick rocks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgN1Lc5USOITom Hanks’ son shares anti-vaccine videos, claims there’s more evidence for UFOs than for COVID shot safetyhttps://www.news10.com/news/tom-hanks-son-shares-anti-vaccine-videos-claims-theres-more-evidence-for-ufos-than-for-covid-shot-safety/White Boy Summer: Investigating the Finnish Far Right https://youtu.be/3CXRZKihkUw?si=3ehv9c99jiEr-EEMThe Palestine Laboratory pt 1 https://youtu.be/1GvkFwpzDhI?si=ljpWs3vOjiUJQcYyPt 2 https://youtu.be/5pPQydBGwQY?si=Mc-9moAZWMOylkU2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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65 MIN
Ep 102 (Pt 2) - ‘Unfriending Sam Harris ft. Jay Shapiro
NOV 26, 2025
Ep 102 (Pt 2) - ‘Unfriending Sam Harris ft. Jay Shapiro
[This is Part 2 of a 2 Part episode]Find Pt 1 here: Public release: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ZBEPd76w5QBkc0ZiBaypd?si=LoZ5DP9FQI6Y-nkvj7W8swExtended Patreon version: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ep-102-pt-1-sam-143732568?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkFin the extended version of pt 2 here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/144454350——I spoke to a former friend of Sam Harris’ who fell out with Sam and others in the heterodox-sphere after Oct 7th, and their insistence on defending Israel no matter what. My guest for this episode is filmmaker Jay Shapiro who made a documentary featuring Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz in 2018. He has also collaborated with Sam and his wife, Annaka on other projects. Jay Shapiro has a book coming out in May, ‘Insufficient Rewards: How we Traded Integrity for Comfort and Outsourced Morality to History’.Links:Find more of Jay’s work here: https://whatjaythinks.comMy patreon post breaking down Sam’s ‘preemptive nuking’ takes - Sam Harris Nuke Freak: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sam-harris-nuke-136580589?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkYasmine justifying h8 crimes https://x.com/nicemangos/status/980853645519605761?s=61&t=w7q_ejvwZ_gCFj9WV50LqwIn the extended version we also discuss: Betar’s horrid tweet https://bsky.app/profile/nicemangos.bsky.social/post/3m6fwfptcxc2oSarah Hurwitz takes: https://bsky.app/profile/dropsitenews.com/post/3m67zwqvttc23https://www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfConscience/s/uBUyT68DfGIf you enjoy the show pls consider supporting it via patreon.com/nicemangos and/or by leaving a podcast review.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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21 MIN