rant · moment 10 of 17

How the U.S. Decides Who's a Terrorist

from What Does Your Brother Do In The Navy · #82

Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.

2 min

Dark joke about the arbitrary criteria for labeling someone a terrorist overseas, and frustration that people only start caring about foreign policy consequences once refugees show up in their own neighborhoods.

In this bit4 moments
  • 26:54Tim mocks the vague questionnaire used to determine if someone is a terrorist—asking a tribal leader what he thinks about the US and Jewish people, then declaring him a terrorist based on the answers.
  • 27:23Tim expresses annoyance that people suddenly care about refugee kids but weren't politically engaged enough to hold Bush or Obama accountable for their foreign policies.
  • 27:57He criticizes Americans who ignored decades of US military action abroad but get angry when Black kids from Sudan move into their neighborhood.
  • 28:24The republic was supposed to be founded on resisting government overreach, not taking the easy way out—yet society defaults to passivity instead of cerebral resistance.
Mentioned here

Barack ObamaGeorge W. Bush

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