Uncancelled Culture (2024) - David Baddiel, Roxane Gay, Andy Mills, Megan Phelps-Roper & Tim Dean

Uncancelled Culture (2024) - David Baddiel, Roxane Gay, Andy Mills, Megan Phelps-Roper & Tim Dean

Author: Festival of Dangerous Ideas February 5, 2025 Duration: 1:01:20

Throughout history we have found ways to regulate human behaviour through the threat of social exclusion. But while the idea of 'cancellation' is not new, the online sphere has radically shifted the way we hold people to account and punish perceived wrongdoing. 

Is redemption possible in the digital age? And can narratives of growth and forgiveness help us shift the power from condemnation to compassion? What does 'forgiveness' look like in the digital age? 

 

David Baddiel is an accomplished comedian, author, screenwriter and television presenter. His works include the Sunday Times Politics Book of The Year – his polemic Jews Don't Count, and The God Desire.

Roxane Gay is an author whose works include AyitiAn Untamed StateThe New York Times' bestselling Bad Feminist, and The New York Times' bestselling Hunger: A Memoir of My Body and the nationally bestselling Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business.

Andy Mills is an American reporter and podcast producer who co-created The Daily at The New York TimesReflector and several documentary series including Rabbit Hole and The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.

Megan Phelps-Roper is an author and podcast producer who left a life of religious extremism in 2012. She has spent the past decade using her experiences to work with schools on anti-bullying campaigns, with law enforcement organisations investigating deradicalisation, and with tech companies on the intersection of safety, free speech, and the value of dialogue across ideological divides. She hosted and produced The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.

Chaired by philosopher, Tim Dean.


For more than a decade, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas has curated a space where provocative thinking isn't just welcomed, it's the entire point. This podcast is a direct line to that stage, offering an archive of talks that deliberately unsettle comfortable opinions and interrogate the stubborn problems we often agree to ignore. Each episode captures a live conversation from Australia's original disruptive ideas festival, presenting arguments that can be exhilarating, uncomfortable, and vitally important. You’ll hear from a compelling roster of festival alumni-including leading experts, intellectual troublemakers, and visionary authors-who share perspectives that conventional discourse frequently sidelines. The discussions here aren't theoretical exercises; they grapple with the pressing and difficult issues shaping our society and culture right now. Tuning in means granting yourself access to a decade-long tradition of intellectual courage, where the core assumption is that some truths are only reached by first entertaining a dangerous idea. It’s a chance to listen as boundaries are pushed, not for shock value, but for clarity. The result is a consistently challenging and refreshing audio experience that complicates simple narratives and expands what feels possible to talk about.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Podcast Episodes
Claire Wardle & Ariel Bogle (2020) | Misinformation is Infectious [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:15
As lockdowns and quarantines continue, some of us may feel like we're losing our grip on reality. Misinformation and conspiracy theories spread worldwide and algorithms continue to serve up our own custom-made versions o…
David Sinclair and Norman Swan (2020) | Ageing Is A Disease [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:19
COVID-19 has highlighted the particular vulnerability of the aged. However, as we find out more about the ageing process, we are uncovering new ways to treat it. One revolutionary approach is to look at ageing as a disea…
Alicia Garza & Stan Grant (2016) | Why Black Lives Matter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:28
#BlackLivesMatter has become the call to action for a generation of US human rights activists to denounce the violence and prejudice still experienced by African Americans. In the wake of the violent deaths of African Am…
Jennifer Rayner (2016) | Generation Less [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:20
Why are young people worse off than their parents? Why is the gap between older and younger Australians – in terms of work, wealth and wellbeing – growing wider? Is Australia cheating the young? Jennifer Rayner was born…
Michael Wesley (2015) | Feudal World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:04
Globalism is a Western construct which may not survive in its current form. Asia's rising powers are starting to look past global institutions to construct alternatives which could see what we know as the global communit…
S. Matthew Liao (2013) | Engineer Humans to Stop Climate Change [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:47
The latest science suggests that it is too late to prevent human-induced climate change. Technological optimists are now turning their minds to mitigation through techniques of geo-engineering, like giant space mirrors o…
Mona Eltahawy (2011) | Hypocrisy Rhymes With Democracy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:33
Recorded in 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring, Mona Eltahawy reflects on the hunger for freedom and democracy unleashed within Arab populations living under dictatorship. This is considered alongside questions ab…
Alok Jha (2016) | Water Wars [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:02
Will we run out of water – and if so, when? Will the Earth suffer? Explore how water drives modern conflict and is not about to stop. Alok Jha is the science correspondent for ITV News in the UK. Before that, he did the…
Slavoj Žižek (2011) | Let Us Be Realists and Demand the Impossible [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:21
In the late 90s, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the "end of history" and the undisputed triumph of liberal "democratic" capitalism. Communism was written off as dead and bu…