New Podcast Release: Tim Minchin
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
14 min read
Central to the Cardinal Pell controversy discussed in the interview - this Australian inquiry examined systemic child abuse in institutions including the Catholic Church, providing crucial context for why Pell's refusal to return was so controversial
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George Pell
16 min read
The subject of Minchin's most activist song discussed at length in the interview - understanding Pell's full history, his rise in the Catholic hierarchy, his role in abuse cover-ups, and his eventual conviction and acquittal provides essential context
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Hard determinism
12 min read
The interview discusses Minchin's views on determinism, luck, and how achievement begins outside our control - this philosophical position that free will is an illusion directly relates to his 'reality romantic' worldview mentioned in the conversation
In this episode of “Lives Well Lived”, Kasia de Lazari-Radek and I speak with Tim Minchin about the ideas and experiences that have shaped his work, from the slow, unexpected rise of White Wine in the Sun to the harder questions he has tackled in songs like Come Home, Cardinal Pell. We begin with the Christmas song that Australians know well.
Our conversation moves from there to his sense of how he has changed between nineteen, thirty-one, and fifty, and why becoming a parent marked the point at which he felt he had to grow up. We also explore what led him to write his most activist song, the frustration he felt with the privilege of church authority, and what happened when that song unexpectedly entered the mainstream.
Tim speaks about Storm and the empirical worldview that underpins much of his work, why he sees himself as someone who stays open to changing his mind, and why the poem still stands for him. He also explains what he means by a “reality romantic” worldview: the idea that looking directly at the truth of the universe, including our impermanence, can make it more rather than less beautiful.
We go on to discuss determinism, luck, and why he thinks the stories we tell ourselves about achievement can obscure how much of it begins outside our control. And toward the end of the conversation, Tim reflects on whether he has lived well, why he is happier at fifty than he has ever been, and how he has learned to let go of the idea that he can fix everything.
Below are highlights from our conversation. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.
White Wine in the Sun and the Universality of a Secular Christmas
PETER SINGER:
Tim, of all your songs, the two most memorable are both distinctly Australian. I’ll start with White Wine in the Sun about Christmas in Australia, which, of course, means Christmas in summer, and northern hemisphere types find that very strange. But for Australians like you and me, it’s normal.
You make the point that you can enjoy Christmas without being religious at all. And that’s also my situation and that of most of the people I know. I found that Australia is much less religious than the US is. But still, Australians all celebrate Christmas. And
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