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Referenced when discussing Admiral Byng's execution, with the famous quote about the English executing admirals 'pour encourager les autres' (to encourage the others).

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Discussed as Voltaire's famous satirical work published in 1759, four years after the Lisbon earthquake, which addressed the philosophical question of how a good God could permit such disasters. The hosts discuss the character Pangloss and the satire of philosophical optimism.

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Referenced metaphorically when discussing Western intervention in Muslim countries - 'let's go to Afghanistan, let's go to Iraq with our copies of Candide'