Any discourse that deviates from class, policy position, minority rights etc. must be ignored.

Chances are you’ve seen this storyline play out on either a big or small screen: An FBI agent investigates a prominent labor leader. Or maybe a union boss orders a hit on a recalcitrant member of the rank-and-file. Or perhaps a union president skims money off a pension fund to make an illegal loan.

Plotlines like these derive from one of Hollywood’s longstanding and most favored tropes: the corrupt, mobbed up union, and more specifically, the corrupt union boss. It lends itself to countless stories: The rise and fall of a Mafia-backed labor head, the rebellion of rank-and-file workers against their tyrannical leadership, the precarious union on the verge of implosion. Accordingly, over and over again, we’ve seen stories of labor unions entangled with extortion, bribery, blackmail, theft and murder.

But, even if union bosses can make compelling characters, why is it that they must all be corrupt mafiosi? Why is it that heroism in pop culture is overwhelmingly the domain of police, attorneys and doctors and hardly ever people fighting for labor rights and the collective power of their co-workers and communities? Why, instead of highlighting the courage of labor organizers and the life-changing protections won, must Hollywood repeatedly emphasize only unions’ historical ties to organized crime and a seamy underbelly of corruption, murder and intrigue?

On this show, part one of a two-part episode on labor depictions in Hollywood, we explore organized labor and unions in film and television, how these pop depictions inform broader public sentiment about unions. And next week, we’ll discuss some of the more positive portrayals of labor and unionism in film and television.

Our guest is writer and organizer Ken Margolies.

Ep 164: Labor Union Depictions in Hollywood (Part I): From Demonized to Ignored or Mafia Plot Cliche

Tarence and Tom preview the most important upcoming ballot race of this election season: Letcher County Judge Executive. Then we take a look at new developments with some old friends of ours', AppHarvest.

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 260: We're All Grit In The Long Run

"Education... is a great equalizer of conditions of men—the balance wheel of the social machinery," stated school reformer Horace Mann in 1848. "Math is the great equalizer," preached Jaime Escalante, Edward James Olmos’ character, in the 1988 film Stand and Deliver. "The best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education," announced Barack Obama during his 2010 State of the Union address.

This message is everywhere, pervading political speeches, Oscar-bait films, think-tank papers, and everything in between. The key to economic upward mobility—we’re endlessly told, is education—a societal building block that is, or at least should be, accessible to every child, no matter their race, gender, or income level. It's a seductive, seemingly unassailable conceit, suggesting that we live in a meritocracy where second chances and generational wealth-building are possible, even probable, with a few simple tools.

But is there any truth to this idea? There’s a growing body of evidence showing that education level does not, in fact, necessarily translate to higher wages. Which raises the questions: Why has the idea that education is the ultimate anti-poverty tool persisted? Whose interests are served in its continuation? And who, in turn, pays the price?

On this episode, the Season Six premiere of Citations Needed, we detail and debunk the widespread conventional wisdom that education is the rising tide that lifts all boats, looking at the ways it reinforces themes of individualism and personal responsibility; obscures systemic issues like racism and worker exploitation in the labor market; and ultimately keeps people entrenched in, rather than liberating them from, poverty and low-wage work.

Our guest is Lake Forest professor Cristina Viviana Groeger.

Episode 166: The Convenient Conventional Wisdom of "Education as Great Equalizer" Appeals

This week we get into a bit of melungeon and diet talk, and then turn to a new entry in the Getting The Goods segment

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 261: Internalized Misophonia

If you want to hear Bryan dive deep into the world of parody movies and movie remakes then you should check out our Patreon where you can get access to “Street Fight reviews the MCU” plus a slew of other series that are updated every week! - www.patreon.com/streetfightradio


Join the chat to talk to us while we record these episodes live every wednesday and sunday at 8pm on Twitch,Youtube & Facebook.


Street Fight Radio Twitch - www.twitch.tv/streetfightradio

Street Fight Radio Youtube - www.youtube.com/c/StreetFightWCRS

Street Fight Radio Facebook - www.facebook.com/StreetFightWCRS/


Every Sunday at 8pm we do a show where we take calls from y’all. If you want to call in you can reach us at - (614) 655-3887


We love getting free things from y’all!

Street Fight Mail - P.O Box 82306 Columbus, OH 43202

Ty Williams's Album

Street Fight With Matt Christman

Anders talks to labor writer Jonah Furman about the ongoing rail strike. But first, some good vibes.

JONAH FURMAN
@labornotes
jonah@labornotes.org
https://www.labornotes.org/author/5777/content

BOTANICAL COMEDY
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/botanical-comedy-tickets-419948706887

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON + DISCORD
patreon.com/PODDAMNAMERICA

Yeeeeaaaaahhh w/ Jonah Furman

"Why Are We Still Governed by Baby Boomers and the Remarkably Old?," inquires The New York Times. "Why Do Such Elderly People Run America?," The Atlantic wonders. "Gerontocracy Is Hurting Democracy," insists New York Magazine’s Intelligencer. "Too old to run again? Biden faces questions about his age as crises mount," The Guardian reports.

Though these headlines are framed as exploratory questions, news media seem to have their minds made up: the problem with Washington is that it’s chock full of geezers. In recent years, we’ve often heard that U.S. policymaking, helmed at the federal level by seventy- and eighty-somethings like Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Nancy Pelosi, and at the state level by the similarly aged Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Grassley and Pat Leahy, is simply growing too old and out of touch with the electorate.

There’s some credence to this, of course. It’s certainly true that those occupying the most powerful positions in U.S. government, on the whole, don’t legislate to the needs of the public – whether on healthcare, policing, education – the list goes on and on. But is that really because of legislators' age? Why does age have to be the focus in this analysis, rather than policy positions and, relatedly, class interests, which exist independent of age? Who does it serve to reduce the causes of U.S. austerity politics and violence to pat, Pepsi marketing-style "generation gap" discourse?

On this episode show, we detail how "generations" analysis is ineffectual and, more often than not, misses the mark. We'll discuss how fears of a "gerontocracy" can – if not in intent, in effect – malign old age itself, stigmatize the elderly and, above all, distract from what could be a substantive critical analysis of real, more profound vectors of oppression such as class, racism, sexism and anti-LGBTQ currents.

Our guest in Winslow Erik Wright.

Ep. 167: The Attractive Anti-Politics of 'Gerontocracy' Discourse

We cover a wide range of topics this week, and show off our vast knowledge of literature and gain of function research

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 262: The Voice vs. Joyce

Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
Topics: Part 4 of First Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship book club, lots of love

Grill Stream

226 - Shipping Up to Costin' 09.16.22

"Increasing Numbers of US Students Look for a ‘Real’ World," read a 1965 headline from the magazine Moderator. "Academics: Get Real!," the Harvard Business Review implored in 2009. "‘Defund the police’ runs into reality," the Washington Post warned in 2021. "As Latin America Shifts Left, Leaders Face a Short Honeymoon," the New York Times declared in 2022.  

We're often reminded that anyone who espouses some degree of left-wing politics – whether a student, activist, political leader, or anyone in between – is at odds with the "real world." Academics, especially those in the humanities, sit in their ivory towers. Organizers and demonstrators against state violence have their heads in the clouds. Elected leaders campaigning on elevating living standards don’t know what they're in for.

But who's in charge of determining what’s ‘realistic’? Or what "the real world" is exactly? Why is studying theory, fighting for better healthcare, or working toward poverty reduction any less ‘real’ than plugging away at a spreadsheet for a weapons manufacturer or venture capital firm? And how did this pat and folksy concept of the "real world" emerge as a go-to dunk on eggheads and activists?

On this episode, we seek to answer these questions, as we examine the canard that anyone to the left of a Goldman Sachs executive isn't living in or contributing to the "real world."

Our guest is Street Fight Radio's Bryan Quinby.

Ep168: How Faux Folksy "Real World" Advice is Employed to Limit Political Possibility and Punch Left

In this News Brief, we discuss the nominally progressive news network's lies and omissions when covering efforts to reduce the US's unprecedented jail and prison population.

News Brief: Young Turks' Misleading Anti-Bail Reform Demagoguery

Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.

Ep. 167: The Attractive Anti-Politics of 'Gerontocracy' Discourse

Citations Needed Podcast

Recent comments

Joshua Marx

Related tracks