Host Jesse Hirsh welcomes back returning guests Mike Oppenheim and Russell McOrmond for a lively discussion that dives into the complex interplay between disinformation and the food system. The trio explores the nuances surrounding the recent news of a flight attendant implicated in a significant drug trafficking bust, sparking conversations about the broader implications of individual actions within systemic issues. As they navigate through various topics, they highlight the importance of transparency and accountability within the food supply chain, emphasizing that the perception of food quality is often muddled by corporate agendas. Hirsch, Oppenheim, and McOrmond also reflect on the future of education and community support, suggesting a need for a more integrative approach to learning that includes nourishment and wellness as core components. Their witty banter underscores not only the seriousness of these topics but also the necessity of fostering inclusive dialogues as they contemplate potential futures amidst current societal challenges.

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes the importance of community and collective action in addressing systemic issues rather than relying solely on individual efforts.
• Jesse Hirsh, Mike Oppenheim, and Russell McOrmond engage in a dynamic discussion about the complexities of the food system, including the implications of disinformation and food safety.
• Mike raises intriguing points about the motivations behind drug trafficking, linking it to broader societal issues such as poverty and systemic injustice.
• Russell underscores the need for a shift in how we understand responsibility, advocating for a more nuanced view that considers systemic factors over individual blame.
• The conversation highlights the tension between personal and systemic approaches to societal issues, particularly in the context of education and community support systems.
• Through witty banter, the trio explores the future of food production and social policy, suggesting that a collective reimagining of these systems is essential for sustainable change.

In this episode of Metaviews, Jesse Hirsh is joined by technologist and thinker Russell McOrmand for a wide-ranging conversation that dismantles the myth of “human nature” and exposes the lingering shadows of eugenics in modern institutions. Together, they explore how corporate culture has infested political discourse, reducing democracy to a sport and sidelining long-term thinking in favor of short-term spectacle.

What would it mean to think seven generations ahead? What role could neurodivergent individuals play in building better futures? And how might we imagine a news service designed by and for neurodivergent people—one that prioritizes clarity, complexity, and care over clickbait?

From systemic critique to visionary alternatives, this episode offers a radical reframing of where we are—and where we could go.

Russell’s shout out: https://daanis.ca/becoming-kin2/

Metaviews host Jesse Hirsh and Madrid correspondent Jason Willis-Lee discuss the potential and possibility of organizing an event in Madrid.

What do you think?

In this mind-bending episode of Metaviews, Jesse Hirsh reconnects with resident Radical American Whackadoo, Mike Oppenheim, for an unscripted exploration of belief, hope, agency, and the beautiful chaos of human connection. Together they pull at the threads of how emotions drive our actions, how messing with people’s minds can be an act of love, and why politics keeps obsessing over a mythical “centre” that doesn’t actually exist.

Taking inspiration from herds—where movement is constant and no one stays in the middle for long—Mike and Jesse challenge the framing of “extremism,” reframing it as natural diversity of agendas. They advocate for a return to bottom-up mutual respect, the kind that George Carlin might have described as both blunt and deeply compassionate.

This is a free-range conversation designed to unsettle, inspire, and maybe make you laugh at the absurdity of it all.

In this episode of Metaviews, host Jesse Hirsh welcomes back Laura Brekelmans—our resident Goddess of Chaos, Complexity, and Contradiction—for a conversation that refuses to resolve neatly. Building on her previous appearance exploring the thought-worlds of Wittgenstein and McLuhan, this dialogue ventures deeper into the entangled relationships between language, meaning, technology, and the sacred.

Together, Jesse and Laura explore the provocative question: what would a new religion for the digital age look like? One that doesn’t position nature and technology in opposition, but instead seeks to harmonize them. Along the way, they interrogate the limits of rationality, the necessity of myth, and the power of contradiction as a creative force.

This episode is not about tidy answers—it’s about embracing the generative mess of complexity, the poetry of systems thinking, and the spiritual imperative to live in tension with our time.

In this episode of Metaviews, agroecologist Jeanette Herrle sits down with Greg Peterson, from UrbanFarm.org, for a conversation about growing food as a radical act of autonomy and resistance.

Together they explore how seeds—both literal and metaphorical—can serve as catalysts for systemic change. From backyard gardens to urban food forests, from mutual aid to microbial soil life, this dialogue connects personal action with planetary transformation.

What does it mean to cultivate revolution in the soil beneath our feet? How can urban agriculture rewire our relationship with land, labour, and local governance? And what role do education, resilience, and seed sovereignty play in reimagining our food systems?

Jeanette and Greg share practical strategies and powerful stories from the front lines of the food sovereignty movement—challenging extractive models and offering hopeful alternatives rooted in care, community, and regeneration.

Keywords: food sovereignty, agroecology, urban farming, regenerative agriculture, seed saving, mutual aid, climate resilience, system change, gardening as resistance, local food systems