Don't Know If The Trojan War Was Real
Don't Know, Do Care
Is the Trojan War a historical fact, or just the world’s most successful piece of ancient fanfiction? We all know the pop-culture version containing a thousand ships, an invincible heel, petty gods sabotaging boats, and a giant wooden horse that somehow fooled an entire city. But for historians, turning Homer’s Iliad into actual history is a total nightmare. In this episode, we treat the Trojan War like an ancient cold case. We look at why the Iliad isn't the military logbook people think it is and explore the real-life mound of Hisarlık in Turkey, a place with nine different layers of...
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Don't Know Why The Media Loved Hitler
Don't Know, Do Care
Last episode, we looked at how much of the Western media practically rolled out the red carpet for Benito Mussolini. This week, we move on to Adolf Hitler, and somehow, the reporting gets even stranger. Unlike Mussolini, Hitler wasn't treated like a visionary. He was treated like a joke. Major American newspapers described him as a loudmouth, a political clown, and a man whose moustache and mannerisms "suggest Charlie Chaplin." Journalists mocked his appearance, dismissed his supporters as gullible, and confidently predicted that once he entered government, the responsibilities of leadership...
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Don't Know Why The Media Loved Mussolini
Don't Know, Do Care
We like to imagine that the media is at its best when democracy is at its worst. That journalists become fearless, newspapers hold power accountable, and propaganda is easily spotted for what it is. History suggests that's not quite the case. In the first episode of a two-part series, we look at how the global media covered Benito Mussolini’s rise to power, and it’s far stranger than most people realise. Long before he became synonymous with fascism, dictatorship, and World War II, Mussolini was being described by major newspapers as a moderniser, a visionary, and the man who had restored...
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Don't Know About The World Cup's Smallest Nation
Don't Know, Do Care
In this episode, we travel (metaphorically) to Curaçao, a country so small that many football fans had never even heard of it before the World Cup draw. Most people recognise the name because of the bright blue cocktail liqueur. Almost nobody expected it to become one of the smallest nations ever to play on football’s biggest stage. But this isn’t just a football story. It’s a story about colonialism, migration, identity, and what happens when a country understands its own strengths instead of obsessing over its weaknesses. We explore Curaçao’s fascinating history, from its...
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Don't Know Who Banksy Is (Or Do We?)
Don't Know, Do Care
Most artists spend their entire careers trying to become famous. Banksy became one of the most famous artists on the planet by making sure nobody knew who he was. And somehow, that strategy worked so well that his anonymity became just as valuable as the art itself. In this episode, we dive into the strange, contradictory, and deeply fascinating world of Banksy. We look at some of his most iconic works, from Girl with a Balloon and Flower Thrower to the legendary painting that shredded itself moments after being sold at auction, and explore why his art manages to be simultaneously...
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Don't Know When Japan Ruled (a part of) India
Don't Know, Do Care
When people talk about World War II in India, the conversation usually jumps straight to Subhas Chandra Bose, the INA, and the fight against British colonial rule. What gets left out is the story of the only part of India that was actually occupied by another Axis power during the war: the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. And it is not a pleasant story. In this episode, we dive into the short but brutal Japanese occupation of the islands between 1942 and 1945. We explore how the Japanese rapidly captured the islands during World War II, why the Andamans were strategically important in the...
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Don't Know About 'The Salah Effect'
Don't Know, Do Care
Can a footballer make people less racist? It sounds like the setup to a terrible LinkedIn post, but it’s also a real question that researchers from Stanford and other institutions decided to investigate. And somehow, the answer may be yes. In this episode, we explore the bizarre and fascinating story of The Salah Effect, a term inspired by a 2019 study that examined whether Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah may have reduced Islamophobic attitudes and behaviours among football fans simply by being exceptionally good at football. The real story is about identity, prejudice, tribalism,...
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Don't Know Why This Cult Is Orgasmic
Don't Know, Do Care
This week, we dive into a story that starts with wellness, empowerment, mindfulness, and healing and somehow ends with forced labour, coercive sex, cult-like control, and prison sentences. We’re talking about OneTaste, the organisation that convinced thousands of people that repeatedly stroking someone’s clitoris for exactly fifteen minutes was a revolutionary spiritual practice called Orgasmic Meditation. What began in early-2000s San Francisco as a supposedly progressive movement centred on female pleasure eventually became one of the most bizarre and disturbing cult stories of the...
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Don't Know Why HYROX is (not) a Big Deal
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At some point over the last year, fitness quietly stopped being about six-packs and started becoming a personality. Suddenly everyone’s in a run club, waking up at unreasonable hours, posting Strava screenshots like stock market updates, and voluntarily paying money to suffer in public. Which brings us to this episode’s main character: HYROX . We break down what HYROX actually is, where it came from, and why it has exploded globally in such a short span of time. In reality, it’s basically a very organised way to discover new forms of exhaustion. But this episode isn’t just about...
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Don't Know If the Shroud of Turin is Indian
Don't Know, Do Care
This week, we dive headfirst into one of the strangest objects in human history: the Shroud of Turin, a 14-foot piece of linen that is either the burial cloth of Jesus Christ… or the world’s most successful medieval scam. For centuries, this faintly creepy cloth has sat at the exact intersection of faith, science, history, and people confidently yelling at each other online. Because printed onto it is the image of a tortured man bearing injuries eerily similar to the Biblical description of the crucifixion. So we trace the bizarre history of the Shroud, from its sudden appearance in...
info_outlineYou’ve seen it in Mario, fairy tales, and weird Christmas merch - the iconic red mushroom with white spots. But did you know it’s a real thing? And also a psychedelic? And possibly a religious relic? Oh, and people used to drink shaman pee to get high off it? Yeah.
In this episode, we deep-dive into the strange world of Amanita muscaria (aka fly agaric), the real mushroom that inspired Mario’s power-up. From Viking berserker legends to Siberian funeral rituals, Santa conspiracy theories, and shoutouts in the Rig Veda, this mushroom has… range.
Also featuring: Bear Grylls slander, psychedelic etiquette, and the sentence “please pee on this mushroom for flavour.”
Important links:
1. Super Mushroom in Super Mario — https://mario.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Mushroom
2. Trees for Life on Fly Agaric in the Koryak Tribe — https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/others/fly-agaric/fly-agaric-mythology-and-folklore/
3. Rituals of the Koryak Tribe — https://cosmovisions.shop/blogs/psychedelic-plants/fly-agaric-and-the-path-to-the-spirit-world-inside-the-koryak-people-s-sacred-mushroom-rituals
4. ”Harvard Divinity School” article — https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/publications/psychedelic-intersections/soma-question-gerety#section1
5. Wikipedia on Rig Veda — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(drink)
6. Harvard Law School article on theft of psychedelic knowledge by the West — https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2024/02/27/psychedelic-inequities-and-unexplored-risk-colonization-commercialization-and-regulation/
Don’t Know, Do Care is the brainchild of Ashmita, Sandy, and Prakhar, three friends from different backgrounds and interests. Ashmita works in sustainability, Sandy's an entrepreneur (puke) who’d rather not be, and Prakhar works with Sandy and is just trying to make sense of it all.
Three mildly confused friends, one weirdly specific topic each week. We don’t know much, but we care just enough to talk about it for up to an hour each week.
Don’t Know, Do Care is produced by "Ghar Pe Productions", edited by Prakhar and Sandy, critiqued (thoroughly) by Ashmita, and enjoyed mostly by our friends. Thanks for giving us a listen!