Wrongspeak

As the Wrongspeak podcast hits pause and we say goodbye to Debra, Jon interviews his mother Barbara Kay for the first time. Barbara is a columnist with Canada's National Post and a wrongspeaker extraordinaire. They discuss their visions of classical liberalism, how Quebec nationalism gave Barbara "a taste for polemics," Jewish intellectualism and multiculturalism; Jon also calls out Barbara's antifeminism and, for the trollbait pièce de résistance, we find out if one Kay benefited from the other's nepotism. Thank you to Dr. Debra Soh for her invaluable contribution to our first series of episodes and to our producers at TNKR Media. You can reach us on Facebook, Twitter or Gmail @wrongspeak. 

Jon has a frank conversation with his friend and former colleague at Canada's National Post, Matt Gurney, a Toronto-based political commentator, about the inner workings of AM talk radio, the use of outrage as currency and the limitations of the medium.

In a crossover episode with the new Desiland podcast, Jon speaks with host Niru Kumar and veteran journalist Balraj Deol, editor of Canada's Khabarnama Punjabi Weekly, on the Khalistan movement promoting a separate Sikh state in India and how its supporters gained so much influence in Canadian politics.  Subscribe to Desiland on your favourite podcast platform to hear more from wrongspeaking journalists Terry Glavin and Terry Milewski in Part 2 of Niru's Currying Votes series, as well as the Khalistani argument to come.

Jon speaks with renegade Jewish activist Naftuli Moster. During his childhood, Moster was just another nice Jewish boy at a New York City yeshiva. But he isn't happy about the education he got—and now he's speaking out about it. 

We often hear about how political correctness is killing comedy. But for Craig Lauzon and other First Nations performers, that's just part of the challenge. Don't forget to subscribe, rate us and follow on Facebook and Twitter @Wrongspeak! 

Founded in 2015, Minds is a niche social platform that uses an open-source software model, allowing community members to express themselves with little fear of censorship and reward each other for popular content. Jon recently spoke with co-founder Bill Ottman in New York City about his techno-utopianism and why censorship is undermining social networks.

Jon speaks with Edward Hertrich, recently released from prison after a 35-year sentence for crimes, including murder, committed in his youth. The Toronto resident now strives to spread a clearer understanding of life and redemption. His memoir, Wasted Time, is published by Dundurn Press.

To end 2018 on a lighter note, Jon speaks with Canadian comic Mike Ward, fined by a Human Rights Tribunal in Quebec for a controversial joke; and Debra chats with American comedian Jamie Kilstein on political correctness and censorship among liberals.  And stay tuned until the very end to hear Jon tell Debra a classic Jewish joke! Thank you, Wrongspeak listeners, for your support during our inaugural year. We'll be taking a break for a few weeks and back in early 2019 with new episodes. In the meantime, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For comments or sponsorship inquires, email wrongspeak@gmail.com. Thanks as well to our first sponsors, Quillette and Goldwater, Dubé, and our producers at TNKR Media. 

Jon and Debra examine both sides of a tense debate on the left between radical feminists and transgender activists. Meghan Murphy, the Feminist Current founder recently banned from Twitter for misgendering, and Julie Rei Goldstein, actress and trans activist, make their cases to Wrongspeak.

Debra speaks with Dr. Susan Bradley, a world-renowned expert on gender dysphoria. She is a professor emeritus in psychiatry at the University of Toronto, the former psychiatrist-in-chief at Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital and the founder of the former Gender Identity Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), shuttered in 2015 following activist protests.

Debra may not agree with Marie-Claire Bissonnette's views on abortion but the manner in which the Canadian pro-life activist was treated by a counter-protester in Toronto last month should be universally condemned.

Debra speaks with three North American academics at the centre of debates about academic freedom and online mob behaviour: Jonathan Haidt is a moral psychologist, the co-founder of Heterodox Academy and the author, with Greg Lukianoff, of The Coddling of the American Mind; Bret Weinstein is an evolutionary theorist and former biology professor at Evergreen College; and Rebecca Tuvel is a philosophy professor at Rhodes College.

In their first two-on-one interview, Debra and Jon speak with David Frum, a political commentator who contributes to The Atlantic and once served as a speechwriter for US President George W. Bush. His latest book is "Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic".  

Canadian TV icon Ed the Sock (Steve Kerzner) and Toronto Sun editor-in-chief Adrienne Batra join Jon and Debra to discuss and debate the first three episodes of Wrongspeak on free speech on campus, women in STEM and rapid onset gender dysphoria.

Debra asks whether some children who identify as trans may be receiving definitive gender diagnoses too soon for their own good.

The saga of Canadian graduate student and activist Lindsay Shepherd, featuring surprising interviews from the Laurier University campus that cast fresh light on how she became a free-speech icon.

For Wrongspeak's introductory episode, Debra speaks with ex-Google engineer James Damore and takes a close look at the science behind his infamous “Google Memo” on gender in the tech field. Was Damore punished for his inconvenient brain?

In this preview clip, hosts Jonathan Kay and Dr. Debra Soh chat about their trip to Laurier University following the Lindsay Shepherd affair, and whether or not the climate for free speech on university campuses will improve.

In this preview of Wrongspeak's introductory episode, Dr. Debra Soh speaks with Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai of the University of Toronto about neurodiversity and embracing autism in the workplace. The full episode, "James Damore's Inconvenient Brain," is coming soon! Follow @ DrDebraSoh and @ JonKay on Twitter for updates.