Two and a Mic - The Social Podcast Zak

Continuing with the corruption theme I began some weeks ago, here is a short analysis on democracy. Yes I know, for everyone democracy is the holy grail of political ideologies. I understand that we cannot mess with your prized baby when it comes to the champion of liberty. Yet when was the last time you stopped to question exactly whether what we have is a democracy at all?
From a certain point of view, the question must be asked, is it really a democracy if it has to be exported at the point of a bayonet? What is on the menu nowadays? Coup for starters, bombs for the mains, and democracy for dessert, as long as people choose someone we like to lead the liberation movement, and then award us all the juicy contracts.
Democracy in its current guise is corruption made real on a global scale. Not because the idea of democracy is bad, but because the leaders of democracies aren’t interested in the democratic values of the system, just the profit margins. Voting every few years is an exercise in voicing your thoughts, but what if the whole thing is fixed? What if whoever you vote for delivers the same long-term results? What if the business interests in the background, own both stables in a two-horse race? And just to keep those two horses in the lead, a third more gruesome creature lurches on the sidelines as a marker…
It sounds all conspiratorial but it’s just a description of what we can see happening. In some countries one of the two main parties have absorbed the creature, in others they remain temporarily isolated yet heavily influential.
If people really care about their democracy and they really want to protect it, then they need to do more than vote every few years. If people want to value the freedoms that the declaration on Human Rights guarantees, we need to make sure that we are willing to become active, loud, and inconvenient in the face of oppression, no matter how familiar or friendly that face may appear…
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Amnesty International
Enjoy!
I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:

Instagram: TwoandaMic

Twitter: TwoandaMic1

Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.

Amber has fast become the go to person for all things new and fantastical on TV. She has successfully negotiated 3 Body Problem, Fallout, WoT of course, and also Shogun. She has also spoken a lot about The Expanse, and I am sure there are some others I can’t think of off the top of my head.
What is extremely impressive remains the dedication, professionalism and ever-increasing regularity with which Amber produces top quality, critical content. In addition to this, she has made the jump to regularly recording video content with her guests which is an undertaking I am still not technically willing to consider. What I mean with all this, is that Amber is a lot braver than I am.
Here we discuss some of the shows mentioned above, the art of escapism, and how online trolling really doesn’t make any sense.
Thank you Amber for your time as always!
Enjoy!

I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:
Instagram: TwoandaMic
Twitter: TwoandaMic1
Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.

How do we achieve peace from chaos? How do we find a path to respect and understanding when society is pushing us towards anger, frustration and playing the blame game on unsuspecting people. How do we speak with our native wisdom and receive answers?
If I could answer those questions I’d be a much wiser person than I really am. We don’t all possess the same set of keys, we don’t find ourselves on the same paths. We need to use different skills in different ways to achieve our unique results.
In this podcast Tanja talks about her experiences in Thailand where she went to meditate in a monastery, to help find her way back to her inner peace. I myself can’t make such a trip and I suspect that many people can’t. Yet we need not all do so to find our own path towards calmness and understanding. Tanja talks about some of the experiences she has had and the thoughts that occurred to her, and perhaps within the sharing of these experiences, others can find some answers to the questions posed above.
Thank you again Tanja for your time.
Enjoy!
I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:
Instagram: TwoandaMic
Twitter: TwoandaMic1
Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.

When we use words we learned as children, we feel safe in their usage, because they were taught by trusted teachers in a trusted institution. We don’t always reflect on where they come from, what they signify, or how they may be interpreted by others. For some it doesn’t even matter. For many it matters more than they know.
Breaking down biases that have built up walls in our minds can be an arduous and painstaking task. Yet in a society becoming constantly more diverse, do we not see the need to reanalyse how we communicate and the words we use to communicate with? Or do we try to deny diversification, even when it is there, staring at us, waiting to be understood?
In this episode I refer to the boxes we start to build from our childhood and just a single phrase. How many more simple phrases have etched unconscious biases into the fabric of our thoughts? At what stage do we go back and try to identify what effect those biases have?
It’s likely time already.
Enjoy!
I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:
Instagram: TwoandaMic
Twitter: TwoandaMic1
Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.

This is a podcast about basketball. It is about sporting greatness and about NBA history. It is about what sport means to a young person growing up and being surrounded by people who love sport and want to share in that with you.
It’s about what that sport represents to a person. It’s about disappointment when someone big does something you can never reconcile yourself with.
This podcast looks to answer a simple question. Did LeBron ruin the NBA?
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for your time, Chris.
Enjoy!
I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:
Instagram: TwoandaMic
Twitter: TwoandaMic1
Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.

This is one of my favourite poems because it speaks to me of a parent’s love for their child and of a person wishing to impart wisdom in an affectionate manner.
It is a little dated, yet the words remain delicately selected and impressive. It was written in the 19th century as a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson, from whom Kipling hoped his son would draw inspiration. It is perhaps here that my discomfort stirs. The odour of colonialism and elitism is somewhat pungent.
In my spoken introduction I refer to ‘chivalry’ as a value I appreciate. I cannot separate the knightly virtue from my thought as being a value for good. I know that most knights who claimed to follow that path were only chivalrous to people of a ‘higher station,’ however, and that is where the dream fades. Chivalry for me, is a non-sexist, non-political, tolerant, respectful, and temperate code. Chivalry should ALWAYS protect the dignity of ALL others, without selective consideration for personal reward thereafter.
We face a world today where chivalry is only a faint ideal conjured up by old movies that tell of glorious pasts, and that which fail to present the complete picture of those times. It is not the job of a movie-producer to record history as a historian would. Though perhaps we should use movies we like as inspirational material to learn what really happened, and to whom, and why.
TwoandaMic clocking out!
Enjoy.
I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:
Instagram: TwoandaMic
Twitter: TwoandaMic1
Should I really have to ask? 😉 If you like the developing story of this social journey unfurling in my series of podcasts, feel more than free, feel partially responsible for spreading the word by subscribing and sharing and where possible, liking. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.