Ep. 19 – Wake up Sheeple

Let’s discuss all things on conscious consumerism, mindfulness, and critically thinking the things our eyes and ears consume. In this episode, we discuss:

• The surprising result of the poll from the last episode.
• Samar shares what happened when she watched a misleading documentary.
• Pros and Cons of one-minute documentaries on other cultures.
• How and why to critically think what you consume.
• Baked in biases in movies and social media we may not normally notice.
• What is a conscious consumer?

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Basic Breakdown

They both begin by discussing the poll results from previous episode and how the word “Matchista,” unbeknownst to them, refers to a mysoginistic person. Samia concedes her position and the final winner is “Comment Caffeine” to name the segment which will address your comments, reviews and DMs.

Reminder to review Matcha Talk podcast because it helps tremendously!

Samar starts to talk about a documentary she saw where they talked about a culture and calling it “kidnapping brides” when it is something that is minuscule and not overall. She saw two videos where one culture was reduced down to “kidnapping brides” and “abandoning videos in India.”

Samia brings up the topic that during the Super Bowl, there is a high rate of human trafficking but it would not be correct to call United States “The hub of Human Trafficking.”

Painting a culture without understanding the nuance in a light which gives the entire culture as a negative is not okay.

Samar discusses two movies, one with Chris Hemsworth, and another movie staged in Mexico where they filter the yellow-filter to portray a place as dirty. Being mindful while watching things on TV and how things are being made to influence the way you think about them.

They discuss another documentary where they talked about “What do Muslims eat in Ramadan.” That documentary had talked about one culture and just blanketed that statement through all. The culture they talked about eat sweets first, when that is not true for all cultures, yet the specific culture was not highlighted but rather the information was generalized.

They have a back and forth whether who is qualified to make documentaries on a culture.

Samia talks about a movie where there was a blatant agenda against immigration was parading as entertainment where even the language was used as a means to weaponize this movie.

“I believe we have to be critical thinkers.” Thinking, educating yourself, and constantly use what you are learning.

Samar shares one documentary on Canada which was properly done where the intention was stated and different opinions were given a platform.

They both have a discussion on what made that video good and then what made the video bad.

We need to support and uplift the people who need to be heard but we are following/subscribing the people who are not doing things properly. The issue is getting worst and worst as the means to spread misinformation, or at least misleading information, is become easier.

Samia says that we need to be mindful, we can not afford to be mindless.

Become a conscious consumer.

Samar asks you to tell her if you have seen these kind of videos and what country they were attacking, what was that video and share what you noticed. Samia asks you to share with us the POC people you follow and listen to that are delivering good content.

Instagram account mentioned: @thesairasiddiqui