Category: 3-SometimeCommentary

Paris Marx is joined by Avi Asher-Schapiro and Maya Gebeily to discuss how Facebook isn’t fully enforcing its ban on conversion therapy in Arabic, what that means for LGBTQ people in Arabic-speaking countries, and how social media has become a battleground.

Avi Asher-Schapiro is a journalist covering technology for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Maya Gebeily is the Middle East Correspondent at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Follow Avi on Twitter as @AASchapiro and follow Maya as @GebeilyM.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Avi and Maya wrote about how Facebook is letting conversion therapy posts continue being shared on the platform in Arabic.
• Maya wrote about social media companies blaming glitches for disappearing posts about Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem.
• In September, Buzzfeed published an internal letter by Sophie Zhang on how Facebook was ignoring its impacts on the politics of countries around the world. Zhang has gone on to to do work with The Guardian and Rest of World.
• The United Nations says conversion therapy “may amount to torture” and should be banned.
• Lebanon provides more freedom for LGBTQ people, but there are still barriers.
• Saudi Arabia infiltrated Twitter to identify dissidents, and in 2020 convicted a Yemeni blogger for supporting gay rights.
• In September 2020, Algerian police arrested 44 people for attending a “gay wedding,” using the decoration as evidence against them.
• Israeli security agencies work to ensure Facebook censors Palestinian content at their request.

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Why does every institution feel so broken? Why would newspapers sacrifice their credibility to suppress something like the lab leak theory? Why does it feel like small differences of opinion so quickly turn into hate? Martin Gurri saw it all coming. The CIA analyst predicted Trump, Brexit, WallStreetBets, BLM, the Yellow vests, and believes all of these movements are connected by a single force: THE INTERNET. The printing press transformed humanity in the 1400s, but Gurri argues that we are now living through a more radical transformation. One that is just beginning. Gurri's prescient book is recommended by our host more than any other. If you haven't read it, don't wait. 

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Andy's back! He’s joined by his expanded In the Bubble team, including new regular contributor Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick and his son Zach, who returns with one of his signature “Zach facts.” This episode weaves in Andy’s audio journal from his time as Senior Advisor for Coronavirus Response in the Biden White House. Listen as Andy and Dr. Lisa go inside the administration’s urgent, war-like effort to vaccinate the public. Plus, Dr. Fauci like you've never heard him before.

Keep up with Andy on Twitter @ASlavitt and Instagram @andyslavitt.

Follow Dr. Lisa on Twitter @askdrfitz. 

Check out In the Bubble’s Twitter account @inthebubblepod.

In the Bubble is supported in part by listeners like you. Become a member, get exclusive bonus content, ask Andy questions, and get discounted merch at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/inthebubble/. 

Support the show by checking out our sponsors!

• Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: https://lemonadamedia.com/sponsors/ 

Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

• Read more about Andy’s time in the Biden White House: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/11/health-202-andy-slavitt-describes-life-white-house-coronavirus-task-force/ 
• Watch Dr. Lisa on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GrapevineHealth 
• Order Andy’s book, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250770165 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com/show/inthebubble.

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Hello from Tammy’s fantasy vacation house! It’s just the three of us today, with two important topics.

First, the renewed media and political interest in the Wuhan “lab leak theory,” which had previously been treated as a conspiracy. This essay, published last month by science journalist Nicholas Wade, made a stink by arguing that a lab leak was a reasonable possibility. China’s renowned virologist Shi Zhengli (aka, “bat woman”) responded just this week, in an interview with the NYT, and Biden has promised to lead an international effort to reinvestigate Covid’s origins in China.

We review the “wild” vs. “lab leak” theories, fears of anti-Asian backlash in the US, anti-China geopolitics, the need for greater transparency among all nations for the sake of global public health and science (read this, by friend of the pod Yangyang Cheng), and the political backlash that may await experts and scientists who dismissed the lab theory (read Thomas Frank and Matt Yglesias on technocratic libs and social-media bubble-ology). 

Second, we revisit the classic documentary, Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987, dirs. Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña). We talk about the murder case, the film, and how these real-world and on-screen histories resonate today. We also discuss the recent controversy around, and cancellation of, a star-studded Vincent Chin podcast and new representations of Asian stories (including rumors of green-lit film and TV projects). Why do Hollywood Asian Americans keep forgetting (or willfully neglecting) to do their homework?

Reminder: If you’re into storytelling across media, join Jay, Andy, and Tammy (and other friends of the pod) on Saturday, June 26, for the Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s Page Turner conference! Register here, and use discount code: FRIENDOFAAWW!

Thanks for listening and reading! Please help keep our mikes hot (and join our absurdly lively Discord!) at Patreon or Substack, and send questions and comments to Timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com or @TTSGPod.