The Irrelevant Arabs

a topical podcast that puts Arabs in the moderator's seat when talking about the Middle East. Topics ranging from recent political events to social taboos and modern-day culture in the region are covered and openly debated.

Hosted by two Syrians, a refugee and an immigrant, we are two friends who find ourselves facing the challenges of adapting to a new culture. We are trying to articulate our opinions on current events back home only to find our voices muffled by the mainstream media and its versions of our stories. We battle daily to fight off stereotypes forced upon us, as if our opinion was irrelevant- hence our chosen name, "The Irrelevant Arabs." We have grown tired of being hosted by others talking about our culture and lives. Most discussions surrounding the Arab world and Middle Eastern affairs in the US are initiated by people, not from the region. In light of this, a two-way dialogue is needed. The Irrelevant Arabs are one of the many efforts to challenge current narratives by putting Arabs in the moderator's seat.

Diverging from the typical podcast/talk show, we are hoping to create a more interactive medium by allowing our audience to vote both on topics that they'd like to hear discussed and on invited guests. We want to create a dialogue that can help bridge the ill-founded gaps between Western and Arab thought. At the same time, we are fighting to clarify the lack of authenticity in the current era. From fake news to false, filtered, and blocked content, we hope to bring to our audience the realities of living through a revolution and to amplify the voices of the exiled.