heretics.

Trigger warning: This one is going to alienate some people – the woke among you - but this is a safe space for open discussion. Today, I speak with Helen Pluckrose, author of the new book Cynical Theories and an anti-woke scholar who was part of a team that composed fake papers to highlight poor scholarship across academic fields. They created these bogus academic papers on things like dogs engage in rape culture, men can cure their transphobia by inserting something up their back passage and that mein kampf be translated using feminist language. Many of these hoax papers were indeed published by leading journals, leaving them red-faced both metaphorically and politically. Communism joke there… In the wake of the J.K. Rowling trans debate and the hijacking of the Black Lives Matter movement by anti-Zionist organisations, Helen talks to me about the dangers of woke culture and the hierarchy it creates between different groups. She says the woke or social justice system places trans and certain races at the top, with Jews - like myself – firmly at the bottom, just below women, gay men and lesbians, who are increasingly getting a rough time. In the past few days we’ve had UK grime music star Wiley tweeting incessantly about how the Jews are slippery and lots of other horrible stuff…I very nearly had him on this podcast and was even waiting in the Zoom call – but he didn’t show up. Before we start, I’d just like to apologise to my dad Neil Gold, for swearing on the last two podcasts…he gets very upset about it, and by listening, you’ve all been complicit in my micro-aggressions. You thought I was going to swear there. Always keep ‘em guessing. You fff… See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we peer behind the curtain of the life of ex-Muslim Ray - founder of the counter-extremism non-profit, The Committee to Protect Muslims and Ex-Muslims. Disclaimer: this is by no means an attack on Islam, just as the episode with Emily Green the Hasidic Jew was not an attack on Judaism. Both episodes are simply a case of giving a platform to women who were suppressed, harassed and threatened by their families and the extreme sides of their culture. Before I continue about Ray: thanks so much for your continued support and all the messages – I love it, so do get in touch on Twitter or wherever. In just six weeks, we’ve gone from 50 listeners a week to a couple of thousand, and growing fast. All I ask of you is that you go to the place you download this and see if you can review it and give it some love, it helps with all the charts and analytics and stuff. Ray and I have been online pen pals for a while. Now a prominent ex-Muslim speaker on the perils of extremism, Ray – who moved to the UK from Bangladesh - is still stalked by her family and wider members of Islamist extremist groups who believe in the blasphemy law. She is also attacked online by both the far-left and the far-right – so, not an enviable position. Her family abused her throughout childhood, and when she was 26 her father urged her to drink two bottles of unknown medicine, suggesting if she drink them, she’ll die. He then violently assaulted her, prompting her to leave her family for the UK. She’s been in constant communication with the police; and I reached her at her current safe house. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew F. Collins, a former racist turned spy and author. In 1993, he raided a town meeting in the Welling Library with the British National Party – not known to be very nice people. He found himself changed by the senseless violence, and became a mole for the Searchlight and Hope Not Hate anti-racist organisations. In 2018, it was in his role running the intelligence network and recruitment of far-right extremists for Hope not Hate that he helped to prevent the assassination of British politician Rosie Cooper – an attempted murder that reminded the UK of Joe Cox, who was tragically killed two years earlier. Jack Renshaw, the baby-faced spokesman of terrorist group National Action had bought a machete to carry out the murder, and will serve at least 20 years in prison. I was interested in Matthew because he has some fascinating tales, but also because he encapsulates the human tendency to follow the stories we’re told about ourselves as well as our capacity for change. For a more detailed look at his life, read his books Hate: My Life in the British Far Right and Nazi Terrorist. I found him a no-nonsense mood that also reflects how we’re all beginning to feel after months of lockdown. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is probably one for the football fans, but it's also a look into how to grow a social media channel and cross over into TV. Robbie Lyle of Arsenal Fan TV created his own channel in 2012 and it now has more a million followers. He can't walk the streets without being greeted by fans - and that goes for China and other parts of the world just as much as it does the UK. AFTV has attracted criticism from high profile fans and players, former and current, who claim the show profits from the teams defeats. Robbie has always flatly denied this accusation. I ask him about it and point out that 16 of his top-20 videos came after defeats, because his regular fellow fans get so angry that it brings in rival fans out of schadenfreude. We also have a great chat about his surprise upon meeting Spurs player Harry Kane, before Robbie gives his opinion and recounts person stories on everyone from Wenger and Lacazette to Kanu and Xhaka. He talks about the racist abuse he received at Spurs, and how the club got in touch with the YouTuber afterwards. And we get into life on the road and how it affects his kids. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I don't want to go into this one too much, because it's a topic that is just too controversial and awful, and you'll make your own minds up. That said, I thought it was important to approach it, so that we can learn about these people...and how to keep our children safe from them. This is in no way a plea to take the act involved more lightly; it is in fact a plea for us to understand it and find a way to root it out. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special and important one because I got to talk to Race Cooper, a former porn star, who told me all about racism in the industry. Now a personal trainer and fitness model, Race worked for the illustrious gay porn company Falcon Studios, where he told me he suffered racism in many different forms. Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, Race signed off a tweet and an Insta post decrying the hypocrisy and the racial prejudice in the porn industry. He blew up in a big way and was even interviewed by Pink News. He still goes by his stage name of Race - which he initially picked as a test that he believes the porn industry failed. He’s a thoroughly nice fella, he’s good company, he’s bright and determined to help change things. And he taught me a lot about subtle forms of systemic racism and the highs and lows of porn. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder who the world's first ever blogger was? The first blog in history was links.net, published by Justin Hall. And I was lucky enough to get an interview with him for the fourth episode of the Andrew Gold Podcast. From the Kardashians and One Direction to Kelly Clarkson and Donald Trump, every influencer and reality star owes a debt to Justin Hall, the world’s first ever blogger. If over-sharing online has become a disease, I like to think of Justin as Patient Zero of our Social Influenza. And yet, you’ve probably never heard of him. His is a tale of the cautionary variety. When he was just 8, his father killed himself in a corner of the family home. Justin went to therapy, where he developed a penchant for oversharing to anyone who’d listen, judge and advise. The Web came around at just the right time, allowing him an outlet for these thoughts and feelings. For some time, he was the darling of the early web and he amassed a following in the tens of thousands in the early 90s. Steadfast in his commitment to document every minor and major detail in his life and lay himself bear, he…quite literally lay himself bear, his sexy pornographic photos juxtaposing well with images of his flaccid, infected penis – a work of art he calls Cat Dick. As friends and family began to call him out for writing about them on the net, Justin fell apart, leading to the breakdown video you heard at the top of this recording. You’ll find that, along with everything else, on his blog, links.net, which has been running since 1993 in its original format. It’s a digital museum. The highlights of his story include the time he travelled across the States to meet his fans and teach them to make their own websites – and the time he had a physical altercation with writer Kurt Vonnegut. All of this has led him, I’m pleased and humbled to say, to a conversation ON THIS PODCAST about how it all began, what led to his breakdown and how he sees the future of online sharing, blogging and influencing. We also talk about Cat Dick. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Orthodox Jewish Woman tells Andrew Gold on episode 3 of the Andrew Gold Podcast about what it was like growing up in the Hasidic community, an extreme branch of the Jewish Orthodox group. Having broken out of the cult, she talks of the difficulties she had taking her children with her and compares it to the struggles of the protagonist in Netflix's Unorthodox, we she watched a little uncomfortably with her children. She started Gesher EU, an organisation that, like New York's Footsteps, helps other Orthodox men and women to leave the sect and adjust to a new life in 'the real world'. If you're struggling with these issues and want to leave the community - or if you know someone you could help - contact them here: http://www.geshereu.org.uk/ Please do subscribe to the channel for more riveting entertainment of this kind, with the world's first ever blogger, Justin Hall, on next week's podcast. Find me on Twitter and Instagram on @andrewgold_ok See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you want to live forever? I know I do. Here, Zoltan Istvan - a leading light in the Transhumanist movement - believes we can move beyond our physical human limitations (hence the trans-human name) and into an age of immortality. Welcome to my second ever podcast, which is double the number of my first one last week. If you missed that, do go back and listen, it was an absolute belter with Nate Phelps, defector from the Westboro Baptist Church. But now, I hope I don’t sound too much like a sycophant when I tell you how I excited I am to introduce my chat with Zoltan Istvan. Zoltan is frankly one of the most interesting people in the world. He believes very strongly that we can and will achieve immortality – far sooner than many of us may think. While some people – who Zoltan calls Deathists – find the idea of living forever abhorrent, many of us see it as our saving grace. The very idea has sparked thousands of years of religious practices, traditions…and war. Essentially, we don’t want to die. And former National Geographic correspondent Zoltan is at the forefront of that movement. Like a futuristic evangelist, he tours the US in the so-called Immortality Bus – shaped like a coffin - promoting the concept that death is a merely a disease waiting to be cured. He opens doors with a chip in his hand, has written sci-fi novels and is currently making a documentary about the immortality industry. In our chat, he tells me about how he just ran for president, how he believes we can bring people back from the dead through something called quantum archaeology and tells me what inspired him to want to live forever. He’s great company and full of enthusiasm, so I hope by the end of this episode, you’ll also want him to stick around. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to the first episode of On the Edge with Andrew Gold. This being the inaugural one, I should probably tell you a little about myself and the podcast. I’m a documentary maker and TV presenter by trade. You can watch my documentary about an abusive exorcist in Argentina on YouTube or BBC iPlayer, and I’ve made films on everything from UFOs and porn to abortion and infidelity. Over the years, with my documentary hat on, I connected with so many people on the edge of society who I found absolutely fascinating, but didn’t quite fit the stories that TV channels were looking for, so I thought, why not bring these characters to you via a podcast. In my first ever episode, I talk to Nate Phelps, the son of Gramps Phelps - from America's Most Hated Family: the Westboro Baptist Church. Brother of Shirley Phelps and son of Fred 'Gramps' Phelps, Nate is now an LGBT advocate and an extremely lovely and thoughtful guy. He is a defector from the Westboro Baptist Church sect from Topeka, Kansas. The cult, which is also known as America's Most Hated Family, became infamous in the 1990s for its campaigns in which they'd picket funerals of military personnel as a bizarre and illogical protest against homosexuality. And now, with more church members defecting, we're approaching the baptist church death. Their signs at the pickets usually claimed that 'god hates f***' (a homophobic slur), but also took aim at such celebrities as Princess Diana and Louis Theroux, who made three BBC documentaries about the Kansas-based cult. Nate was indoctrinated with the church’s homophobic philosophy and made to listen to his father’s preaching from the moment he left the womb. After doubts began to rise in his mind, he escaped his father’s church at midnight on his 18th birthday in a terrifying account you’ll hear him relay. He was left to fend for himself, confused, scared and alone, his mind still consumed by the teachings of his abusive cult leader of a father. This led him to do some bad things, once out of the church, which he discusses openly. He now speaks as a public advocate of LGBT rights and is a prominent member of the hub of secular thought, the Center for Inquiry. In our conversation, I find him charming, penitent and single-minded in his defence of civil liberties. He discusses his meeting with Louis Theroux, the brutal abuse with a medieval instrument at the hands of his tyrannical father and the intelligence, wit and humour of his sister and mouthpiece for the church, Shirley. He tells me what really went down with his supposedly repentant dad and the LGBT Rainbow House across the street from the church, and he reveals what he tells his children about the church he grew up in. As we speak, I find it hard to believe that I’m speaking to a man who – even after leaving the church - has would physically attack gay men … and, as explains, some of those demons remain deep within. This is my very first podcast, so I was delighted to have such a fascinating and charming person on the show. Like most of us, I've always had a strange fascination around the Westboro Baptist Church, and as we discuss, I think part of that is down the cruel and acerbic wit and intelligence behind their bonkers theories and religious drivel. Like a car crash, you can't help but look. I hope you feel the same about our chat, and like and subscribe to be updated about my next guests in the coming weeks. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices