Topics include: Aaron’s brother-in-law is a giant douche, sexuality & gender, a Triple-FAIL Video Prozac (w/ an H1N1 boost!), 2 Badasses, truth, Halloween at Zack the Awful Poet’s, Listener Email of the Week: Science Edition, voicemails, our T-shirts, Glenn Beck vs. valid arguments, This Week in Fail, grumpy people make better decisions, and That’s Messed Up.
Also, Google Voice is so the bomb, and we debut a new segment called “Just the Headlines.”
Q: What was this kid for Halloween?
A: Irony.
Make sure you leave us a message on our brand new voicemail number:
(206) 414-9RAD No extension. No excuses.
This week, if you’ve had an encounter with law enforcement, we want to hear about it. If you haven’t, strap on your headphones and sing “Don’t Stop Believin’!”
Podcast: Download (82.0MB)
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Tim
8 months ago
How do I dial the voicemail form a rotary phone. I can’t find the “R!”
Aaron
8 months ago
A rotary phone?! I’m surprised you have time to dial on a rotary phone, what with all the dinosaurs chasing you, and that new-fangled Ice Age on the horizon.
Uptight Seattleite
8 months ago
I think the root of the problem in accepting transgender, sex changes and anyone who doesn’t embrace themselves for who they are is that our “upbringing” – moral beliefs instilled by our parents, religious advisors, mentors, teachers, etc. – have encouraged us to accept ourselves for who we are. Indeed, there are religions out there condemning those who choose to get tattoos, cosmetic surgery or try and change their body into anything other than your natural shape. Their restrictions are meant to reinforce the notion that by identifying with the body, you are losing control of your mind. By getting to know yourself (the mind) you are better positioned to have a more fulfilling life.
If you analyze religious texts across all religions, they all call for you to recognize and “know thy self” (so to speak). So if religion and our parents/mentors are supposed to be teaching us to accept ourselves for who we are and in that, we will find enlightenment, how much more difficult is it for us to accept others who go against our moral and religious upbringing – what we’ve been told is the right way to a better life?
Deez Grapes are understandably confused and trying to analyze what’s wrong with the man who wants to be a woman, when in reality his disposition might be better put to use in analyzing yourselves… getting to know who you really are.
ben
8 months ago
hi uptight- thanks for listening. my motivation in talking about the cross-dresser story is that i always want to know what’s going on in people’s heads. that’s probably why i’m studying psychology. i think i understand what you’re saying, but i don’t want to shrink somebody else’s story down to “what can i learn from this” either. i bet that guy at the book store has a really interesting story/experience, and i’m curious about it. at the same time, how in the hell could i ask him? culturally, we seattleites like to pretend that we already know everything, that nothing’s shocking. we’re not supposed to admit that we’re surprised to have a cross-dressing cashier, for example.
it’s a good conversation. let’s see where it goes…
Aaron
8 months ago
Don’t confuse curiosity with non-acceptance. I’m not in a position to decide whether or not there’s something wrong with a man who wants to be a woman or vice versa; judgment isn’t my style. But, it is weird. It’s not normal. That doesn’t make it bad or wrong, but it does make it unusual.
Also, my identity has nothing to do with whether or not someone wants to live their life as one gender or another. I don’t care how people’s identities manifest, and it doesn’t change my opinions of them (which speaks, I think, a lot about “who I really am”), but I’m not going to just accept something at face value as completely normal when I don’t think it is.
But I’m open to the idea.
Thanks for your input!
William
8 months ago
Check out this documentary, it gives some great insight into the discussion over gender identity.
http://www.m2fgender.com/
also, as a listener, I do have to say that your discussion on the issue of gender identity didn’t solely come across as ‘curiosity’, but instead walked the line between calling it weird and being sincerally interested in discussion. But, that doesn’t mean that I agree with UPTIGHT’s conclusion/analysis.
ben
8 months ago
ahh yes, if you are looking for in-depth sensitive discussion of personal issues, then [DISCLAIMER] this is the Grapes of Rad, and we are probably not what you’re looking for.
if, however, you are looking for something entertaining, funny, probably offensive, with good booze recipes, then we’re just what you want.
William
8 months ago
Clearly, you’re entertainmenters, and you two do a great job of it, but based on the request you made on the show (for listener contribution), it seemed that you do want some sort of in-depth analysis. Which is in contrast to your [DISCLAIMER].
William
8 months ago
ummmm. i meant ‘entertainers’ not ‘entertainmenters’…
Ben
8 months ago
I like how every comment added here makes “well hung hungarian” stupider.
megs
8 months ago
I agree w/ Ben on this. It can get annoying how progressive Seattleites think they are then it comes to issues like this. It would be nice if everyone stopped pretending that they understand everyone and the discussion was more open.
Well Hung Hungarian
8 months ago
I’m stupider for having read that.
stephy
8 months ago
Hi, finger jerks!
Dr. Drew says gender identity issues are often rooted in childhood sexual abuse. I think it makes sense but I’ll have to get my Ph.D in order to talk about it with any authority.
What I really want to know though is what Glenn Beck and Aaron’s brother-in-law think about transgendered people.
I love Aaron’s happy chortling when Ben is saying something funny or you can tell he just thought of something to say.
Vanilla stoli cape cods are the best cause they take away the tartness of the cranberry juice. I think I love them.
Aaron
8 months ago
I love your run-down recap comments!
…and YOU’RE a finger jerk.
William the bartender
8 months ago
Hey Ben, Aaro. And fellow grapes, here’s another tasty drink which includes vanilla vodka.
Dr. Pepper
start with glass full of ice
1 part vanilla vodka
1 part amaretto
top with coke
tastes just like Dr. Pepper
it might not be a classic cocktail, but damn, it sure is tasty!
(infct I’m writiing this after havvvving a feww mypself)
stephy
8 months ago
I’m going to make William’s Dr. Pepper and christen it The Finger Jerk.
Brendan
8 months ago
First off, I just want to say it’s not ironic that the guy got a DUI while dressed as a breathalyzer, as if he COULD “blow there” he’d never have left the house that night anyway.
Secondly, a finger jerk is when you only use the very tips of your fully-extended fingers to jerk someone off, careful to never brush against the balls. I have it on good authority that as long as you don’t ever touch the balls, it’s totally not gay.
Now I’m going to get a bit heavy on these grapes, not unlike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vFVnTMwt3w as I was on a bit of a tangent in my head after the description of the Muslim shooter at Fort Hood shooting, and was still there when you reinforced the point with Beck…
I was taking issue with Ben (well, really the media, Ben just mentioned it in passing) focussing on the shooter’s religion. He’s constantly characterized as a Muslim, when there was no indication his motivation was religion. But when an abortion doctor gets shot the shooter’s only a “fringe extremist” who felt strongly what he did was right… never a “Christian Shooter”, even though he was expressly motivated by his religion. When the school shootings are performed by Christians it’s the fault of video games, when it’s a Muslim it’s all about their heathen religion.
Not that I’m defending Islam… I’m just worried about the free pass that other equally logic-free religions get in our society. Which is how we bring this back around to Beck. His popularity is a perfect example of why religion, regardless of its specifics, is dangerous.
As long as a religion has mythos and dogma taken as literal truth, where you cannot question the doctrine or apply logic to the teachings… well you teach people to not think things through and blindly accept whatever the guy at the pulpit yells fervently. If there are gaping holes in the guy’s logic… well… you can’t ask about that. Don’t think about that. It’s a test of faith. If you only knew what the guy knew (that he can’t tell you, or maybe can’t even know himself, but still *knows* it), well… you wouldn’t be troubled by those obvious questions. Just accept it. Unquestioningly. Faith is a virtue!! If people bring up contradicting, but valid, points, they’re heretics and should be shunned. It doesn’t matter if they’re asking an honest question or bringing up a well-reasoned argument, they’re counter to what the guy at the pulpit says so they should be shouted down or pitied.
Once you teach people that that’s a valid (not only valid, not only accepted but encouraged) way to shape one’s world views, it’s not hard (or unusual) for some idiot to snag the podium, and with it the minds of a large flock of non-thinking believers. Even if there were a religion that elevated all the actions that I think are divine (like, say, hip flasks in a movie theater, or reciprocal finger jerks if you’re waiting in a line with someone and it’s going to be longer than 10 minutes) I’d still say it’s dangerous, as people shouldn’t be taught that believing something in the absence of facts (or, more and more often, in the face of contradicting facts) is a virtue. It’s dangerous. It may make the day go by easier for you, but it ends up putting a lot of power into the hands of one idiot, who has never denied that he raped and murdered (or was it murdered THEN raped??) a young girl in 1990.
Anyway, all this typing has made me thirsty. Happy hour ahoy!
Listener OUT!
p.s. The civilian cop lady should be bad ass of the YEAR.
Brendan
8 months ago
D’oh, it stripped my opening and closing tags… but I guess you probably will figure that out on your own.
Brendan
8 months ago
…last try… [Long Winded Rant] opening and closing tags…
<Long Winded Rant>
ben parsons
8 months ago
thanks brendan, for taking your hands off your penis for long enough to leave a comment. i think you’re right. on the media point- most media take it on themselves to describe events, and they do so by comparing things to other things. usually, the unwritten standard in the US is that everything is done by white male christians (look at the presidents, for example) so if someone happens to not be one of those things then it ends up in the description. for example: if there is a robbery on the news, and the robber was white you usually wont hear about his (cause its always dudes) ethnicity. if he’s not, then you will. i doubt this will change any time soon. after all, white dudes have (almost) all the money.
as for the religion bit- as a recently converted non-believer i’d like to point out that there are a bunch of people within many of the world religions who openly encourage and embrace questioning- to a point at least. there are a lot of christians who like to discuss difficult stuff about their beliefs, as well as not a few muslims, and sikhs for sure. buddhists pretty much live off that stuff, so although i’d watch out for people like mark driscoll, i’d also not figure that it’s “against the rules” to ask questions within a religion.
Brendan
8 months ago
But if you’re allowed to question things (I mean, really allowed, not allowed to pose the questions just to get “Well, God’s a very complicated dude. We mortals can’t understand it, but I assure you he’s got it under control, even if we can’t tell you how”) then there’s no need for the religion itself.
If you can logic things out, good ideas will stand on their own. They don’t need the support of dogma. That’s why they’re good ideas. The bad ideas won’t be propped up by the dogma. That’s why religion’s scary to me, is that it’s one of the few ways to get a smart, caring person to be evil. If a smart, caring person doesn’t outsource their morals, then it’s hard for them to do things that are all that bad. But if they’ve decided to throw their lot in with a book that says anybody who works on Sunday shall surely be put to death, or that infidels must die… well then they can end up rationalizing some really messed up stuff.
Back to the media thing, you’re right. It’s an easy short hand. But I just get annoyed when the media (in my opinion) characterizes all OTHER religions as silly and savage, where our silly savages get a pass, or are completely disassociated with their sect (even though the sect never disavows their actions), or even worse, are said to have a valid point because it was their belief that they were right, according to their religion. We wouldn’t take any of those excuses when other people’s religion say to kill us, so why do we ignore it when it’s homegrown?
Again, I’m not defending one breed of murdering terrorist over another, just saying we should paint them all with the same brush. If anything, assume we’re already xenophobic and highlight it when someone ISN’T as different from our mainstream when they do something truly messed up.
Now I’m really off to the happy hour!
p.s. I only needed to take one hand off
Ben
8 months ago
Werd.
ben
8 months ago
but…
there are a lot of questions science can’t answer either. and if you get yourself an honest physicist they’ll pretty well say “we don’t know how this thing works, but it does work, and we’re trying to figure it out” for a number of unanswered questions. i guess that makes science/logic sort of a religion too? maybe not.
Brendan
8 months ago
*Post happy-hour(s… many s) response:
For sure there are things that science doesn’t know… yet. There may even be some unknowable things. But because they’re unknowable doesn’t mean that a guy wearing a collar or a funny hat has a better guess at what they are than anybody else.
The thing that’s different about science from religion(s) is how it deals with new or contradictory information. If you can show something in science to be wrong… it’s wrong. Bam. They change their views when they learn more information. When you show something in religion to be wrong, they deny it. Or they try to talk around it with sophism and tautology. Or, as a very last resort, they may back up the goal posts a bit and say “Well that was only a SORTA divine and universal truth, it happens to be wrong… but the rest of the stuff is still unassailable. Everyone always knew that was just a metaphor, even when we were preaching it as the truth.”
That’s the beauty. A (good) scientist will try and figure something out, and when they do they show it to the world and say “I dare you to show me how this isn’t right”. And if you’re able to, they’ll shake your hand and go back to the drawing board, using your insight to better their work. If you try that in religion you’re burned at the stake, or placated with a “well we don’t know WHY he does that, but it’s obvious that HE DID IT, as it happened, and everything that happened is something he did, so obviously he did that!!”.
That’s really the nut of it. Understanding why science isn’t religion is key.
And it’s not hard. People deal with “science” in 99% of their daily interactions. I’m not talking about technology, but the scientific process. You deal with things that make sense, and you interact with them with reasonable assumptions as to how they’ll react due to your past experiments and your knowledge of the physical world. Nobody goes through their day to day activities with big-F Faith. And nobody applies the same rationale that they use in their day to day life to their religion (or, I’d argue, they wouldn’t be part of said religion). You don’t type in google.com and then see some random website pop up, or not pop up, and say “Well that’s the will of the internet, you can’t decipher what it’s trying to do” [and if it doesn't work, someone sufficiently educated could tell you why not], but you do pray for something and then rationalize it when it doesn’t work out how you wanted, or how it would be just, or how an omnipotent, interventionist, loving being would have made it happen.
Anyway, I fear I’m becoming known as a single-issue listener at this point, so I’ll hold off any further ranting. Or I’ll at least wait until I’m relatively sober.
stephy
8 months ago
SOTALLY TOBER
ben
8 months ago
well said, dude.
Devin
8 months ago
I want to provide you with another ‘Dr. Pepper’ recipe William. I’ve always made it as a drop shot.
3-4 oz of light beer
3-4 oz of coke
drop in a 1oz shot of amaretto
chug away…Very Tasty!
Alex
8 months ago
Haha! love the discussion, fellas! looks like ya’ll touched some nerrrrrves!
ever consider changing your name from Grapes of Rad to “Pushin’ Buttons”?!
ben
8 months ago
or hittin’ switches. what what.
THANKS FOR THE RAD BUSINESS CARDS, ALEX!
PNSChucker
8 months ago
Des Grape,
If your really interested I suggest Transponder podcast they are a bit(very) mellow but informational on the subject of anyone transsexual.
They are a couple that has gone thew the process MTF and have a very nice attitude about informing people.
Sincerely your servant
PNSChucker
ben
8 months ago
thanks chucker.
sara
8 months ago
ok to the kick the h1n1 virus video… hes not un showered… thats him on a normal basis… hes just greasy… and needs to cut his hair… lol its sad but his wife likes it?
Jamie
8 months ago
Media Fail:
(you guys are media now.. how do you feel about that?)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/massive-media-fail-female_b_355600.html
Ben
8 months ago
Dammit. I wondered about that when I read the story… Weep womp.
Mary
8 months ago
Hey Guys-
I know I am super late on this—but I wanna go back to the trannie thing: Can men dressing like women please be freaking age appropriate? Fine, dress like a woman, whatever—but do you have to be 40+ and dressing like an 18 yr old??? The people in the small town in Oregon with the trannie mayor were really cool about it—but upset that he dressed so inappropriately.
I am getting older and I know well enough to cover my ass up….why don’t all these men?
Ryan
8 months ago
Man, I am WAAAYYY behind on Deez Grapes, and was just catching up on old episodes and was listening to this episode.
Funny thing, Stu Rasmuessen the Mayor of Silverton, OR was actually MY mayor. I am from Silverton and grew up there for 21 years before leaving… and he is actually my parents neighbor still (he lives about 2 blocks away).
He does have breast implants, but he is also (happily?) married to his wife and is very open about the fact that he isn’t gay.
He also owns the local cinema in Silverton and often shows up for evening shows to talk with and interact with the patrons.
Silverton is a LOT like Shelton, it’s a small bedroom community for Salem (Shelton to Olympia) and instead of being rooted in timber, it’s rooted in farming (Willamette valley and all that) but very similar small town, kinda conservative but in close proximity to the state capital so lots of liberal influences… again, weird like Shelton.
Anyway, this is Stu’s second stint as Mayor, he was mayor once before about 10 years ago or so, then “Retired” and then came back about 10 years later.
He is definitely the closest thing to “local celebrity” that Silverton has (he has been on NPR and other national news stories) and is probably the 2nd most famous person/event to come out of Silverton. The only thing that made bigger news was during my sophomore year in High School, we had a contest where cheerleaders had to see how long they could sit on a block of dry ice… 5 third degree burned ass’s later… a lawsuit and lots of national exposure later…
So yeah, small world.
Aaron
8 months ago
Amazing, dude!