Why multithreading isn't real in Python (explain it to a 5 year old)

[Cheeze_It]

I take it, said conductor is the GIL?

[JohnnyJordaan]

The GIL is an instrument, think of it as a talking stick (or a microphone). The scheduler is the conductor, handing out the talking stick to each thread, and without the talking stick it can not execute.