Beneath The Surface

95% of homicides are committed by males...and 76% of the victims are also male. Men are over-represented in prisons, in the army, and in combative sports. I explore the question "Why do men fight?" with two of my martial arts friends, Shawn Leahy and Zach Yuen. We talk about bullying, self-defense, reputation, and "monkey dances." Shawn Leahy is an amateur kickboxer, and Zach holds a blackbelt in both karate, and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. Rate, download and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode.

Don't talk about religion or politics is the advice you normally get to prevent getting into fights - Bill Morrow and I do both in this episode of the BeneathTheSurface podcast. Does religion cause violence? The mind of the average person seems to connect the two issues - the Crusades, Islamic Jihadists, the Israeli-Palestinian conclict - but is this connection justified? We explore this question in depth in this episode, well beyond the scope of what you'd normally hear from your average pundit. Bill Morrow is the Undergraduate Chair of the Religious Studies program at Queen's University, Professor of Hebrew Scriptures, teacher of the course Religion and Violence, and one of the smartest men I know.

"People are not their thoughts, they think they are, and it brings them all kinds of sadness" Is the quote from the movie "Peaceful Warrior" that got Shawn Leahy into meditation. In this episode, Shawn and I talk about martial arts, his photography YouTube channel entitled Handsome Nature, and zen philosophy. Shawn is such a knowledgeable and insightful man, and I learned a lot from speaking with him. I'm sure you will too. Listen to this episode on iTunes or Android. Make sure to download, rate and subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

"A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us." My uncle Glenn and I are both fans and avid readers of John Steinbeck, as was my grandfather (Glenn's dad) and my mom - so it runs in the family. It was hard to pick just one book, but we suggest that everyone should read Travels with Charley in Search of America, which chronicles Steinbeck's journey across America with his poodle Charley in a truck and a camper. It is a book written with the beauty only Steinbeck could manage. My uncle Glenn and I use this book as a starting point to talk about the psychology of travel, as Glenn has done much travelling himself. We also talk about the US in the days of Steinbeck vs now, and how many of the themes that Steinbeck exposed in his books are still relevant today, almost half a decade later.

Bruxy Cavey is the creator of the Meeting House, a church for people that aren't into church. We sit down and have a good discussion about people who are spiritual, but nor religious, Jesus, and community. Beneath The Surface is available on iTunes and Android (search BeneathTheSurface - no spaces - then look for the fish). Or click these links to find this episode and previous episodes: iTunes: tinyurl.com/btsiTunes Android: tinyurl.com/btsAndroid Be sure to rate, download and subscribe so you don't miss out on any new content. You can also follow Beneath The Surface on Instagram and Twitter (@benthesurface). If you are enjoying this podcast consider becoming a patron on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface

I was so excited to do this episode with Matt VanDerVelde, a childhood babysitter of mine turned accomplished photographer and published author. His book, "Abandoned Asylums takes readers on an unrestricted visual journey inside America's abandoned state hospitals, asylums, and psychiatric facilities." I speak with Matt about the treatment of people with mental illness, modern day institutions, and the unequal distribution of oreos. Matt can be found on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbandonedAsylumsBook/ instagram: @thirdeyefoto Website: http://www.abandonedasylums.ca/ Purchase Book: https://tinyurl.com/buymattsbook Beneath The Surface is available on iTunes and Android (search BeneathTheSurface - no spaces - then look for the fish). Or click these links to find this episode and previous episodes: iTunes: tinyurl.com/btsiTunes Android: tinyurl.com/btsAndroid Be sure to rate, download and subscribe so you don't miss out on any new content. You can also follow Beneath The Surface on Instagram and Twitter (@benthesurface). If you are enjoying this podcast consider becoming a patron on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface

This is the inaugural episode of "Suggestion Saturday" with my uncle Glenn. This episode our suggestion is Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death - a book about the dangers of television and radio to public discourse. The main argument is that television and radio force public discourse to be entertaining at the expense of intellectual substance, and supplant the written word with images. We bring this argument into the 21st century (the book was written in 1985) as we talk about Trump (our ex-entertainer President), YouTube, public intellectuals like Jordan Peterson, and we even get meta and talk about podcasts. Check it out. Beneath The Surface is available on iTunes and Android (search BeneathTheSurface - no spaces - then look for the fish). Or click these links to find this episode and previous episodes: iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/btsiTunes Android: https://tinyurl.com/btsAndroid Be sure to rate, download and subscribe so you don't miss out on any new content. You can also follow Beneath The Surface on Instagram and Twitter (@benthesurface). If you are enjoying this podcast consider becoming a patron on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface

On Episode 5 of Beneath The Surface Haydn talks with Bruce Sargent of Farm Boy Productions about the recent rhetoric coming out of the United States about Canada's Supply Management System for dairy farmers. Bruce grew up on a dairy farm and is currently the operator of Farm Boy Productions - a marketing company for agricultural businesses. Beneath The Surface is available on iTunes and Android (search BeneathTheSurface - no spaces - then look for the fish). You can also follow Beneath The Surface on Instagram and Twitter (@benthesurface). If you are enjoying this podcast consider becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface Coming your way are two great episodes. Saturday June 23 I will be starting a "Suggestion Saturday" series with my uncle Glenn. This week we are recommending you read "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. Uncle Glenn and I will do some digging through the book. The second great episode is with a childhood babysitter of mine turned accomplished photographer. Matt Vandervelde is the founder of ThirdEye Photography and we will be talking about his book Abandoned Asylums and mental illness. That episode will be out June 26th. Music credit: Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Thank you for your support.

In this episode of the BeneathTheSurface Podcast Haydn talks to Principal Daniel Woolf about Jordan Peterson's recent lecture and subsequent protests at Queen's University. Daniel Woolf is the principal and vice-chancellor of Queen’s University. After the event, Principal Woolf submitted an op-ed to the Globe and Mail that can be found here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-why-we-invited-jordan-peterson-to-discuss-compelled-speech/ As happens with most conversations, these interviews go by and I always regret not saying this or not saying that. I always write a follow up blog to these interviews to go over some of these things. The link to said blog will be uploaded into this description, and will also be shared to the BeneathTheSurface Facebook page and Twitter page. If you enjoyed this podcast, consider becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beneaththesurface041689/ Twitter/Instagram: @benthesurface Music credit: Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

In this episode of the BeneathTheSurface Podcast Haydn talks to Dr. Udo Schuklenk about abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide in the medical profession in Canada. Dr. Udo Schuklenk was born in Waltrop, Germany. He studied history and philosophy, and received his PhD from Monash University in Australia. He currently holds the Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. He is the editor of two major bioethics journals. He has written and spoken extensively on contraception, abortion, assisted suicide and atheist values. Udo's Blog: http://ethxblog.blogspot.ca/ As happens with most conversations, these interviews go by and I always regret not saying this or not saying that. Here are all the ideas I wish I explored, but didn't, with Udo Schuklenk: If you enjoyed this podcast, consider becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beneaththesurface041689/ Twitter/Instagram: @benthesurface Music credit: Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Is the eugenic movement dead and finished? Or do we as humans still engage in eugenic behavior today? In this episode of the BeneathTheSurface Podcast, Haydn talks to Tom Malcomson, a retired Professor from George Brown College about the eugenics movement of the 20th century in the United States, Canada and Nazi Germany. As happens with most conversations, these interviews go by and I always regret not saying this or not saying that. Here are all the ideas I wish I explored, but didn't, with Tom: https://beneath-the-surface.blog/2018/04/15/since-we-spoke-tom-malcomson/ After our talk, Tom also added some further thoughts via email which I will copy below: Haydn, So two thoughts I had on the way home. First, Vivian, Carrie Buck’s daughter, died when she was 8, of a fever. At the time she was in regular school and according to her report cards was a good student, and a nice young girl. So…Holmes and the eugenicists got it wrong…one person judged an imbecile, one a moron and the other normal. Across the three generations the IQ appears to go up. Their idea would stop that positive development. Of course they didn’t wait to see, they acted on their presuppositions, which were drastically faulty. One question is are we that better at our suppositions today? Second: the medical model holds sway over our culture in a way that needs more exploration. The biology that is at the root of the medical model directs the thinker's mind to seeing all human behaviour as caused ultimately by biology (okay there might be some environment but even that response is from within the biology of the person giving the response). So you add the area of genetics to the medical model and we see the only answer (for most human ways of being) to right situations deemed to be bad, deficient, troublesome, negative, or outright devastating of the human’s being-ness (I am making up a word here) is to do the medical procedure (operate, medicate,), to treat it. In terms of DNA the medical thought is to eliminate the gene or change it (again medication or splicing by cutting the gene). The technology available currently can’t change DNA, so we eliminate and that means killing the baby with the gene. Wolf [Wolf Wolfensberger, a mutual academic influence] would see this as a genocide against the disabled, particularly today against those who have or are projected to have, if born, Down’s Syndrome. We could expand that list. Anyway the point is that the medical model (which has provided incredibly good things for us humans) is not robust enough to explain/comprehend the totality of what it is to be human. Finally, Iceland has announced that it has almost totally eliminated Down’s Syndrome from the nation. Two or three births a year only. Google Down’s Syndrome Iceland the first piece should be a CBS news report. I will stop now. Regards, Tom Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface Music Credit: Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

In this episode of the BeneathTheSurface Podcast Haydn talks to Dr. James Miller about climate change, daoism, planetarity and the role of the University. Dr. James Miller has established himself as a lead scholar on Daoism and ecology in China. His academic career began at Durham University studying Chinese language. Since then he has served as the Director of both the School of Religion and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures @ Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Recently he has taken a job as Professor of Humanities at Kunshan University, a Sino-American partnership between Duke University and Wuhan University. As happens with most conversations, these interviews go by and I always regret not saying this or not saying that. Here are all the ideas I wish I explored, but didn't, with James Miller: https://beneath-the-surface.blog/2018/04/15/since-we-spoke-james-miller/ If you enjoyed this podcast, consider becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeneathTheSurface Music credit: Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0