E57. Faisal Saeed Al Mutar Believes Focus and Dedication Can See You Through Anything

Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

Conversations with people from all walks of life.

Society & Culture, Comedy Interviews, Comedy, News, News Commentary

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2019

⏱️ 108 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar’s first experience with Americans was during the second Iraq war when a US tank rolled up in front of his house. He shares his incredible story of growing up under Saddam Hussein’s regime, the vaccuum in his neighborhood that was filled by members of Al-Qaeda, blogging against extremism and receiving death threats as a teenager, escaping Iraq, and the ten year journey to becoming an America citizen. He discusses being taken in by a family in Virginia, why he thinks Americans are amazing people, his appreciation of the values America was founded upon – free speech, civil liberties, and freedom of religion – and the importance of the separation of powers. His is the founder of Ideas Beyond Borders, a non-profit that seeks to prevent extremism before it takes root by translating and creating content related to the values that make people less likely to be recruited by extremist organizations. And he shares stories of the heroes he works with across the Middle East who are risking their freedom and lives to help translate content covering controversial or banned ideas, from civil rights, to women’s rights, to evolution, and critical thinking. Full transcript available here: WiW57-FaisalSaeedAlMutar-Transcript

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for listening to this Podcast One production.
0:02.4	Now available on Apple Podcasts.
0:04.1	Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
0:08.3	This is Walk-In's Welcome with Bridget Petacy.
0:10.9	I'm Bridget Petacy, I'm Bridget Petacy and you are welcome. You know the drill.
0:25.0	the drill.
0:27.0	Please subscribe, rate, comment, share, reach out, tell your friends, send smoke signals, whatever.
0:32.0	We love your feedback and we want to hear from you.
0:34.4	I'm really excited this week. We have Faisal Saeed al-Mutar on the podcast.
0:40.1	Faisal is a friend of mine and an Iraqi-born award-winning counter-extremism advocate
0:45.8	satirist and speaker. He's an advocate for universal human rights,
0:50.4	enlightenment values, and the free market of ideas,
0:53.7	and is enthusiastic about the intersection of technology
0:56.8	and advocacy.
0:57.8	Phasil founded the organization Ideas Beyond Borders,
1:01.0	a nonprofit dedicated to preventing extremism by
1:03.9	empowering people across the globe with access to new ideas and fresh
1:07.6	perspectives. Phasel's story is insane and it's just so remarkable what a journey this young man has been on and it
1:16.9	really makes me appreciate everything that we have in the United States and
1:21.4	seeing all of this through the eyes of somebody else like
1:25.3	Faisal is really just quite extraordinary and I hope you guys enjoy. I'm gonna butcher
1:30.3	your name I'm worried.
	...

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