My Skepticism can Beat Up Your Politics . . . or something like that

I always get a kick when my podcast listening streams mix.  No.  I refer to something more than when one skeptic podcaster is a guest on another skeptic podcast such as when Stuart Robbins is on Karl Mamer's Conspiracy Skeptic podcast.  I mean when someone on a topically different podcast appears on another topically different podcast.  This occurred with the latest Skepticality podcast. (The episode also features a cameo by Swoopy.)  

The episode featured the normal podlettes at the first third of the episode.  I especially enjoyed Eve Siebert's of Skeptical Humanities contribution where she compares a Viking saga that contains the predictions of a Seer to a modern psychic and even points out that even with the hindsight of retellings of the poem the seer/psychic basically got it wrong.  Somethings just do not change.  

This week's Skepitcality
is money. 

Derek Colanduno interviewed Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast.  I discuss this podcast from time to time even though it is a history podcast and not a skeptical podcast.  Yet, just my last post mentioned this excellent effort by Mr. Carlson.   While Carlson does not produce a skeptical podcast per se I think the spirit of the podcast to put modern politics into the context of a more nuanced history is in the spirit of questioning and searching out the best evidence on how to view the past.  It seems that Colanduno is a fan of Carlson's work too.  I am a bit jealous of him of having the luxury of discussing history with Carlson one on one.  

Colanduno and Carlson do not have a focused discussion on any single topic other than to discuss Carlson's latest podcast arc on "Lies my Talking Head told me."  This is a series of podcasts that focus on truisms and non-nuanced views of past actors for support which skews events.  The example focused on in this podcast is a television personality quoting a "founding father" out of context to support some modern proposition.  When in reality it is difficult to discern just who was an alleged "founding father," and even more difficult to parse exactly not just this amorphous group thought, but exactly what the person quoted actually thought.  The founding generation had at least as much political discourse and rancor in the 1790 to 1820's as is present in modern political debate.  

For those who dislike history this episode might not be for you.  However, if you have wondered why I discuss this history podcast on a skeptic blog from time to time, this episode might be of some explanation.  Anyway, if Colanduno enjoys Carlson's work, I am in half decent company.  

Now if only Andy Ihanatko of Macbreak Weekly and the Ihanatko Almanac podcasts would appear on Virtual Skeptics or Strange Frequencies Radio, I think I might just retire on the spot.  Nothing could top that.