Larry Charles (Seinfeld, Borat, Curb Your Enthusiasm) stops by the trap to discuss his new docuseries,  "Dangerous World of Comedy".

Chapo Trap House

292 - Hats Off to Larry feat. Larry Charles (2/25/19)

We catch up on President Trump's recent cavalcade of triumphs and humiliations. We're then joined by CTU member Kenzo Shibata to discuss the Chicago teacher's strike, what the union is fighting for, and what they're up against. Finally, we finish with a little lesson from Eric Trump on Marcus Aurelius, and the meaning of "hypocrisy".

Please consider supporting & reading more on the teachers' strike:
Bread for Ed gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bread-for-ed
A piece Kenzo wrote on the context of the current strike: https://truthout.org/articles/teacher-strike-confronts-chicagos-long-history-of-racial-injustice/
A history of CORE and Karen Lewis: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/04/cores-coming-out-party
A thread on one of Lori's ghouls, if you're ready for some game theory https://twitter.com/KenzoShibata/status/1187455086093467648

362 - Wet Sauce feat. Kenzo Shibata (10/28/19)

“'Right-to-work' means freedom and choice,” a Boston Globe op-ed explains. “As housing costs rise, some people are choosing to live on the road instead,” a Fox Business headline states. “If your insurance company isn’t doing right by you, you should have another, better choice,” reads Joe Biden’s campaign platform. 
We’re told repeatedly that “freedom of choice” is essential to a robust economy and human happiness. Economists, executives, politicians, and pundits insist that, the same way consumers shop for TVs, workers can choose their healthcare plan, parents can choose their kids' school, and gig-economy workers can choose their own schedules and benefits. 

While this language is superficially appealing, it’s also profoundly deceitful. The notion of “choice” as a gateway to freedom and a sign of societal success isn’t a neutral call for people to exercise some abstract civic power; it’s free-market capitalist ideology manufactured by libertarian and neoliberal think tanks and their mercenary economists and media messaging nodes. Its purpose: to convince people that they have a choice while obscuring the economic factors that ensure they really don’t: People can’t “choose” to keep their employer-provided insurance if they’re fired from their jobs or “choose” to enroll their kids in private school if they can’t afford the tuition. 

In this episode, we examine the rise of “choice” rhetoric, how it cravenly appeals to our vanity, and how US media has uncritically adopted the framing--helping the right erode social services while atomizing us all into independent, self-interested collections of “choices.” 

We are joined by Jessica Stites, executive editor of In These Times.

Episode 95: The Hollow Vanity of Libertarian "Choice" Rhetoric

We celebrate Bernie's victory in the Iowa Caucus.

TOUR DATES:ALL TICKETS AVAILABLE AT: www.chapotraphouse.com/tour
Las Vegas, NV Feb 18, @ House of Blues
San Diego, CA, Feb 23, @ The Observatory North Park
Sacramento, CA Feb 28 @ Ace of Spades

UNLOCKED: 391 - Bernie Won (2/5/20)

“145 CEOs Call On Senate To Pass 'Common-sense, Bipartisan' Gun Laws,” NPR states. “Local Democrat pushes back on NY bail reform law: It's about 'common sense,' not politics,” a Fox News headline reads. “The Only Thing More Dangerous Than Trump’s Appeal to Common Sense Is His Dismissal of It,” The Nation warns. Everywhere we turn we are told by pundits and politicians that "common sense" demands we support their preferred policy prescription. 

It's a common appeal: a political issue—whether health-insurance, immigration, foreign policy, or gun violence—reaches a real or perceived extreme, and, in reaction, media pundits and political figures claim the most appropriate response must be ostensibly neutral, reasonable "common sense" reforms.

But these claims are insidious. While "common sense" may appear to be a constructive guiding principle, there is no meaningful definition of the concept and when it is evoked, it's almost always an appeal to status quo ideology. What’s sensible to a member of the Tea Party isn’t the same as what’s sensible to an activist seeking to end police violence. So, whose “common sense” is really being promoted when we hear these calls to action?

On this week's episode, we explore how appeals to “common sense” present politics as a matter of rationality rather than of morality; how these demands reinforce centrist and right-wing ideologies and how the Left can work to build an alternative common sense.

We are joined by cultural anthropologist Dr. Kate Crehan, Professor Emerita at College of Staten Island and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Episode 101: The False Universality of “Common Sense”

“According to the Bipartisan Policy Center," "a recent study by the Concord Coalition disagrees," "One review of your budget by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says." We’ve seen these seemingly benign Official Sounding sources hundreds of times—from presidential debates to 60 Minutes to countless articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times. 

But what the average person can’t reasonably know is that these organizations—Bipartisan Policy Center, the Concord Coalition, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and PR projects like “The Can Kicks Back” and “America Speaks”—are all veiled front groups for a single, far-right billionaire whose entire life mission was to privatize social security, medicare and other entitlement programs under the auspices of fighting a so-called “deficit timebomb.” For decades, a web of Pete Peterson-backed front groups—often funded in concert with other like minded billionaires—has used the faux neutrality of think tanks, institutes, and academia to launder "anti-deficit" messaging for American pundits, reporters, and politicians, entirely capturing the narrative around deficits and their alleged pending destruction of society as we know it.

This week, we explore the origins of Pete Peterson’s austerity propaganda machine, his web of influence, how he helped co-opt both conservative and liberal knowledge production, and how he and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to undermine what little liberal government the United States has left.

We are joined by David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.

Episode 104: The Pete Peterson Austerity Empire and the “How Will You Pay For It?” Lie

How can one achieve happiness? It’s the eternal question. From Aristotle to Al-Ghazali, Thomas Aquinas to Arthur Schopenhauer. The answer, we’re told, is to look within. These days, we’re told repeatedly by our modern philosophers, Oprah Winfrey, Srikumar Rao, Tony Robbins, Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra and other corporate happiness monitors that prosperity and fulfillment come through deep introspection and mindfulness—just pay for more inspiring books, videos, retreats, seminars, and classes!

These prescriptions, while ostensibly useful in the short term for answering personal questions or alleviating stress, all fall within the genre of self-help. The trouble is, on the whole, they’re not very helpful at all. The self-help industry is predicated on the ever-American and thoroughly capitalist concepts of rugged individualism and personal responsibility, arguing that if you have a problem, it’s invariably up to you, and only you, to fix it. Meanwhile, it imparts the appearance of virtue and legitimacy with hollow, cherry-picked references to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and psychology.

In recent years, there’s rightfully been a new crop of criticism leveled against the self-help industry, with books offering “anti-self-help” alternatives for improving one’s life, calling for people to relax and stop placing so much pressure on themselves. Still, many of these critiques embrace the same form of individualism as the media they decry, ignoring the reality that the best way to ‘help’ people is to ensure their material needs—like housing, food, and healthcare—are met. 

On this episode, we’ll chronicle the development of modern self-help culture, from its 19th-century protestant, capitalist roots to its modern ambassadors; analyze how self-help culture promotes the values of neoliberalism; examine the ways in which modern mainstream critiques of the self-help industry fall short, embracing the same reactionary principles they should be rebuking, and dissect the profound institutional incentives that compel us to prioritize solipsism over solidarity. 

Our guest is political economist and author William Davies.

Episode 109: Self-Help Culture and the Rise of Corporate Happiness Monitoring

“Obama lauds small business owners in his State of the Union,” announced The Washington Post. “I have always said that there is nothing more optimistic – perhaps maybe getting married – than starting a small business,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells us. “John Kerry would raise taxes on 900,000 small businesses,” insisted a reelection ad for George W. Bush.

Everywhere we turn we are centering the needs of and reminded of the glowing status of the “small business.” They are the bipartisan holiest of holies in our economy – the scrappy little guy that also props up the moral pillars of capitalism – evidence that with a little elbow grease and knowhow anyone can build a business in their image. Small businesses are one of two major vehicles for COVID-19 relief – a wholly uncontroversial good that both parties, all ideologies, everyone!, can agree are worth protecting and prioritizing. 

But what do pundits and politicians mean exactly when they say “small business”? How does our romantic vision of “small business” match up with reality, and how is their plight used as a messaging vanguard to strip away environmental and labor regulations, tort protections, taxes and a host of safeguards against corporate greed?

The rhetoric forces the evocation of a wholesome image of a Mom-and-Pop candy store in Appleton, Wisconsin, in order to push for laws that will ultimately benefit hedge funds, Dupont and Koch Industries, and a murderers row of polluters and worker abusers.

Our guests are Public Citizen's Lisa Gilbert and Street Fight Radio's Bryan Quinby.

Episode 111: How “Small Business” Rhetoric Is Used to Protect Corporate America

We are joined by Arthur and Donovan from Radio Free Tote Bag, the leftist relationship advice show! We talk about Kenosha, the RNC, and the ethics of pretending like you are someone's father during sexual intercourse.

RADIO FREE TOTE BAG
@RFTBPOD
Submit anonymous questions to RFTB HERE:
http://freesuggestionbox.com/pub/ohiwqnz 

PDA MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON FOR BONUS EPS
Patreon.com/PodDamnAmerica

DDLGRNC w/ Radio Free Tote Bag

Zero Books publishing manager Doug Lain talks to us about getting censored by the Youtube algorithm bot and how we grapple with free speech as leftists on the internet. We go on to talk about how this plays into the overall ideological movement of socialism, the end of history/end of ideology, and then someone brings up a twitter account that it is illegal to type out loud and we start yappin' about free speech and comics and crap. Enjoy

DOUG LAIN/ZERO BOOKS
https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyoQK-mZXr2ws4C0nXGCH1w
https://douglaslain.substack.com/p/why-did-youtube-censor-us
https://youtu.be/2c5_hVUHp5o
https://www.patreon.com/zerobooks

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON
Patreon.com/PODDAMNAMERICA

Howdy I'm the Sherrif of Youtube w/ Doug Lain

Alex Vitale, professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and Author of The End of Policing joins us to talk about COPS, the Capitol riot, and Bernie's mittens.

ALEX VITALE:
@AVitale
http://www.alex-vitale.info/
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing

OTHER SOURCES:
https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/

UNLOCKED -- AMAB w/ Alex Vitale

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.

Episode 101: The False Universality of “Common Sense”

Citations Needed Podcast