Tag: Freedom

Wilk is joined by Dr. Mahsa Hojat-Khoshniyat in DTH episode 159

When Your Country Is Hijacked By Real Religious Extremists… DTH Episode 159 with Dr. Mahsa Hojat-Khoshniyat

May 3, 2023 wilkwilkinson Uncategorized 0 Comments

๐–๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐‡๐ข๐ฃ๐š๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐‘๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐„๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ
You don’t have to look very far these days to find those that would rather run the United States of America down rather than be grateful for all that she has to offer. Have you ever wondered though why so many choose to emigrate from their home countries around the globe to the United States if we are so oppressive? The numbers coming versus those leaving are quite lopsided, and for good reason. I’m not here to discount peoples’ perceived grievances, but things become far more clear when you listen to those who’ve experience real oppression. Things become very different when your country is hijacked by real religious extremists.

๐–๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ƒ๐ซ. ๐Œ๐š๐ก๐ฌ๐š ๐‡๐จ๐ฃ๐š๐ญ-๐Š๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ก๐ง๐ข๐ฒ๐š๐ญ?
Dr. Mahsa Hojat-Khoshniyat was born in Iran and had the pleasure of growing up with cultural values of empathy, humility, being humble, hardworking, and caring. As a part of her cultural values, from very early on, she learned the importance of human value, dignity and respect despite race, culture, circumstances, socioeconomic status, or education. Mahsa learned the value of perseverance, believing in oneself, standing for what is right, and not giving up even when it gets hard.

Despite being raised with this incredible set of core values, Mahsa spent her early years living a duality of circumstances. The country in which she was born, and loved dearly, had been hijacked by religious extremists. Mahsa, as many do in the country of Iran, lived by one set of rules within the confines of her home and something totally different in public.

Mahsa and her family emigrated from Iran to the United States when she was 20 years old. Dr. Mahsaย completed her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Masters in Social Work at UCLA in 2008. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Social Work, with an emphasis on psychodynamic treatment in 2016. She has over 12 years of experience in the field of Mental Health, working with hard to reach populations, those struggling with histories of trauma depression anxiety, and relationship difficulties.
๐‘ณ๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’ ๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐‘ซ๐’“. ๐‘ด๐’‚๐’‰๐’”๐’‚ ๐‘ฏ๐’๐’‹๐’‚๐’•-๐‘ฒ๐’‰๐’๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’Š๐’š๐’‚๐’• ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐’„๐’‰๐’†๐’„๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’–๐’๐’ ๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’˜ ๐’๐’๐’•๐’†๐’” ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’†๐’‘๐’Š๐’”๐’๐’…๐’† ๐’‚๐’• ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐‘ฏ๐’‚๐’•๐’†.๐’„๐’๐’Ž.

Mohamed Ahmed joins Wilk on episode 150 of the Derate The Hate podcast to discuss his book: Average Mohamed Freedom Fighter

Average Mohamed Freedom Fighter… DTH Episode 150 with Mohamed Ahmed

March 1, 2023 wilkwilkinson Uncategorized 0 Comments

๐‘จ๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† ๐‘ด๐’๐’‰๐’‚๐’Ž๐’†๐’… ๐‘ญ๐’“๐’†๐’†๐’…๐’๐’Ž ๐‘ญ๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•๐’†๐’“ (๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ)
Those who have listened to the DTH podcast for awhile are probably familiar with my friend Mohamed Ahmed, a.k.a. Average Mohamed. I first had Mohamed on the podcast way back in episode 49 and that is when I first learned of his work battling extremism with an alternative narrative. Mohamed joined me again in episode 71 to discuss the 20 year anniversary of the attack on 9/11/2001. Mohamed Ahmed, my friend, works tirelessly in the battle against extremism of all kinds, and now he’s written a book to better tell his story and how it all began. The book is Average Mohamed: Freedom Fighter.

๐‘จ๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐‘จ๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† ๐‘ด๐’๐’‰๐’‚๐’Ž๐’†๐’… ๐‘ญ๐’“๐’†๐’†๐’…๐’๐’Ž ๐‘ญ๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•๐’†๐’“
Ideas make the world go round. So, imagine a world in which we championed ideas of freedom and equality for all? For author Mohamed Ahmed, promoting peace and human rights has become a mission. In Average Mohamed Freedom Fighter, Ahmed chronicles his journey from immigrant to activist. Constructing a safe space for difficult conversations on identity, race, religion, and sexuality, Ahmed recounts his experiences while traveling the globe to speak to thousands of young people with the goal of countering biases with tolerance and inclusion. Challenging our assumptions, Ahmed’s inspiring life story will empower future generations of freedom fighters. From freedom comes peace.

Wilk talking about MLK Day 2023 including I Have a Dream Speech

The Dream Isn’t That Far Away… DTH Episode 143 includes MLK “I Have a Dream” speech

January 11, 2023 wilkwilkinson Uncategorized 0 Comments

The Dream Isn’t That Far Away
There are many among us, who for the pursuit of money, power or attention, ( and some out of pure hate), would have you believe that the institutional racism of the 1960s is still present in the United States today. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many of these people would have you believe this, because they know the best way to benefit themselves is to keep everyone else divided. Our founders spoke of freedom and all men being created equal. Our country has not always lived up to those ideals. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic “I have a dream” speech as it came to be known. Some would say different, but I say, the dream isn’t that far away.

“I have a dream”
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., in front of thousands of cheering onlookers in Washington D.C., gave what would become one of the most historic speeches in the history of our great nation. Our country is not without it’s stained past, but MLK knew then what the nation was capable of because of faith and the words of our founders. The dream of which Dr. King spoke, is only hindered by 2 things, ignorance and those who benefit from keeping us divided. In my opinion, the dream isn’t that far away. If you have not listened to this historic speech in its entirety, please have a listen and share wherever possible. Happy MLK Day!!

Derate The Hate episode 123

What is Freedom if We Don’t Take the Time to Enjoy It? DTH Episode 123

August 24, 2022 wilkwilkinson Uncategorized 1 Comment

Friends, what is Freedom if you don’t take the time to enjoy it? In the past week it became very apparent to me that I’ve been neglecting one of the greatest gifts that I have been blessed to receive. That is freedom. As we, my wife and I, were preparing for an upcoming camping trip, I realized how little we do for fun these days. This became evident when I saw an unopened gift my wife had given me for my birthday last year.

It took a reality check for me personally this week to ask myself the question, what is freedom if I’m not taking the time to enjoy it? With that said, I am going to be taking some time off in the coming weeks. I will be pulling from the DTH archives some of the great conversations I’ve done thus far for your listening pleasure.

Wilk and Dr. Francis Collins continue their discussion on Truth and Trust that was lost during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Truth and Trust Project… Part 2 with Dr. Francis Collins

August 3, 2022 wilkwilkinson Uncategorized 0 Comments

Do you trust that our public health officials are telling you the truth? This question, for me, lead to the Truth and Trust Project. I for one find myself very skeptical these days. As many whoโ€™ve listened to the DTH podcast for long know, Iโ€™ve been highly critical of the governmentโ€™s response to the pandemic from the very beginning. How does someone like me have a conversation with someone who had direct influence on the governmentโ€™s response to the pandemic? Not so long ago, I would say that the conversation would never happen, because my attitude would not have allowed it.

The Truth and Trust Project may be one of the most important endeavors of my life. Several times over the past several months, I asked the question, โ€œif you could ask Dr. Francis Collins or Dr. Tony Fauci a question, what would that question be?โ€. For that question, I received nothing but negative responses. The most common response was some variation of, โ€œI wouldnโ€™t waste my time, they wouldnโ€™t listen anywayโ€โ€ฆ I asked the question because I am currently involved in a Braver Angels initiative called the โ€œTruth and Trust Projectโ€ with Dr. Francis Collins and myself as partners.

The only way we can expect as a country to rebuild Truth and Trust is to have conversations with those whom we disagree. The only way to get results from those conversations is to actually LISTEN to those with whom we disagree and look for the humility and humanity in their position. In this episode, Part 2 of 2, Francis and I continue our discussion on the loss of Truth and Trust during the age of the Covid-19 pandemic.