TRC #622: Suez Canal Conspiracies + Are Maps Racist? + 2020 Book Picks

Cristina kicks off the show by diving hip deep into the conspiracy theories swirling around why the massive container ship Ever Given is blocking the Suez Canal. Adam ponders whether maps are racist after seeing an angry online commenter suggest as much when replying to a post featuring a world map. Darren really did read or listen to more than 100 books last year and he’s here to tell you which titles he thinks are worth your while.

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Suez Canal Conspiracies 

Suez Canal blocked by traffic jam after massive container ship runs aground

Suez Canal: Fresh effort to refloat wedged container ship

QAnon’s Suez Canal Dick Ship Conspiracies Are Getting Wilder and Wilder

Dislodging the huge ship blocking the Suez Canal could take ‘days to weeks,’ as the traffic jam builds

Suez Canal blockage adds strain to global supply chains

Toilet Paper and Coffee Among Products Affected by Suez Canal Blockage

The Evergreen ship blocking the Suez Canal is not linked to Hillary Clinton

Did Cargo Ship ‘Draw’ a Penis Before Getting Stuck in Suez Canal?

‘Anything you see in the stores’ could be affected by Canal logjam, shipping experts say

Pareidolia

Are Maps Racist?

Mercator projection – Wikipedia

“Your Map is Racist” Here’s How – Sociology In Focus

Modern Human Diversity – Skin Color – Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

2020 Book Picks

The Precipice by Toby Ord

The WEIRDEST People in the World by Joe Henrich

Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell

Innate by Kevin Mitchell

Warnings by Clarke and Eddy

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon

Logicomix

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2 Responses to TRC #622: Suez Canal Conspiracies + Are Maps Racist? + 2020 Book Picks

  1. Sharon says:

    Hello, I was compelled to write about this episode for a few reasons.

    When discussing whether maps can be racist, you looked at both the intent of the map creator and the effect of the map. When looking at the latter, you questioned whether it caused discernible harm to show some countries as bigger than they are and others as smaller. I am agnostic as to whether the Mercator map is racist or not, but I did want to point out that there can be other, less measurable effects of this kind of bias that contributes, among other things, to our overall Eurocentrism.

    Secondly, I will just point out that when Thomas Sowell examines gender pay disparity, as you said in your summary, he is considering pay for identical job functions. But this does not address why traditionally male dominated fields are higher paying than traditionally female dominated ones, jobs that require comparable levels of training but different skills. I have not read the book but this seemed to be the most obvious question that arises from your short summary. (I don’t know, for example, if he addresses issues like harassment and the “second shift” problem that primarily disadvantages women in the workplace, but I have read other books by him, and while they are thoughtful, he does seems to minimize the effects of structural inequities.) I will just note that not one of those many books you review appears to have been written by a woman, a kind of glaring imbalance that you may want to correct in the future and which may have addressed some of the issues I describe here.

  2. BezosTheClown says:

    Good comments, Sarah. I didn’t notice that none of those books were by women, but I think you’re right.

    I went back and listened to the last part again, thinking that maybe some of Darren’s top books of all time (not just “read-in-2020” books) were by women, but nope.

    It wasn’t clear what his top recommendation actually was, either. I couldn’t make out the name. It was _Something_ Macaskill’s “The Most Good You Can Do”, which isn’t actually by anybody named Macaskill. William Macaskill wrote a book with a similar theme called “Doing Good Better.” “The Most Good You Can Do” is by Peter Singer.

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