Name: Media's Credulous "Labor Shortage" Reporting Helps Lay Groundwork For Repealing Child Labor Laws by Citations Needed Podcast
Duration: 26 min 26 s
Description: In this public News Brief, we detail how uncritical acceptance by centrist––and even liberal––media that the US is seeing an unprecedented "labor shortage" is helping justify repealing child labor protections in roughly a dozen states.

"Surrounded by children, DeSantis signs the 'Parental Rights in Education' bill," ABC13 reports.  "Biden partnered with organization which questioned parents' rights to be notified about their kids' transition" Fox News tells us. "Parental rights isn't a partisan issue. It's what's best for our children," an opinion column in The Washington Times warns. We've heard these cries for over a century from reactionary forces: we’re just a bunch of scrappy "parents" protecting our kids from sinister, secular forces of state control.

But what does "parents' rights" mean exactly? Which parents' rights are we talking about? Which "rights" are we centering, and who funds which parents to assert which set of rights that, we are told, are essential to these "parents"?

There is, of course, no essential "parents" cohort with a coherent ideology and view on education. But, as a term, it's a useful stalking horse for far right political projects targeting education, namely those opposing secularism, anti-racism, LGBTQ existence, labor, and teachers unions. A skeleton key for whatever reactionary cause doesn’t want to be presented as such. After all, who could oppose "parents' rights." Like the clever term "pro-life," the "parents' rights" label is similarly designed to put advocates of secularism and progress on the defensive, to erase parents who oppose a far-right agenda, and court sympathetic and whitewashing coverage from corporate media.

On this episode, we discuss the history of "parents' rights" as a popular right-wing slogan, from its uses in opposing child labor laws in the early 20th century to pushing religious indoctrination in public schools in the 1990s to today's attacks on trans people and teachers unions; how its evocation by the right––and acceptance by media outlets––obscures the darker motives and political forces at work; and why any media framing of what "parents" want or don't want is inherently mugging bullshit.

Our guest is Jennifer Berkshire.

Ep176: How the “Parental Rights” Rallying Cry Has Been a Rightwing Stalking Horse for Over 100 Years

What if the Super Bowl was invaded by aliens?

THEATER OF DELIGHTS KICKSTARTER
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theaterofdelights/theater-of-delights-season-5

JAKE LIVE SHOW
https://dice.fm/event/rwr75-windbreaker-a-comedy-show-hosted-by-emily-panic-claire-okane-26th-feb-union-pool-new-york-tickets?lng=en-US

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON
patreon.com/PodDamnAmerica

I Want To Believe

Hey Gumshoes! So excited to announce a new Patreon reward: podcast commentary tracks. Soon we’ll be offering a behind-the-scenes look at how all your favorites got made, from the people who made them.

To start us off, Brace, Liz, and Yung Chomsky go back to 2019 to walk through the recording of our every first episode, The Ep-Files. Enjoy, and as always, like and subscribe! 

patreon.com/TrueAnonPod

ANNOUNCEMENT: Investigator Tier

In this public News Brief, we break down Johnson's "surprise" win and how it upends every lazy media trope involving local Democratic politics pushed over the last two years.

News Brief: How Brandon Johnson's Win Upends US Media's Patronizing, Simplistic "Crime" Narratives

In this public News Brief, we detail how uncritical acceptance by centrist––and even liberal––media that the US is seeing an unprecedented "labor shortage" is helping justify repealing child labor protections in roughly a dozen states.

Media's Credulous "Labor Shortage" Reporting Helps Lay Groundwork For Repealing Child Labor Laws

This week it's a grab bag of allergy-fueled bits and news, followed by an op-ed from a friend at the NYTimes about the formula for making crime go up

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

Episode 287: Big Time Criminality

Our old friend David A. Banks is back to talk about the release of his new book, The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. We also discuss the complicated legacy of Richard Florida and the false prophets of the creative class. 

Buy the book here: bookshop.org/p/books/the-city-authentic-how-the-attention-economy-builds-urban-america/18908149

Check out David’s substack here: https://otherday.substack.com/

Episode 287: Creative Ass

This week we're discussing John Brown, as seen through the eyes of the late novelist, Russell Banks, in his novel Cloudsplitter. DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that Russell Banks's novel is a work of fiction, and is not meant to be read as a literal interpretation of history--and thus neither is our episode.

To help us work through it, we've enlisted the help of writer John Lingan, whose great book on Creedence Clearwater Revival is out now: https://www.amazon.com/Song-Everyone-Creedence-Clearwater-Revival/dp/0306846713

And please support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 288: Crazy White Boy University (w/ special guest John Lingan)

In this live streamed News Brief from 4/26/23, we discuss the recent firing of Tucker Carlson and the meta-discourse around whether or not "the left" should see any utility in petty, racist demagogues.

News Brief Live: Tucker Carlson's Transparent 'Contrarian Left' Co-Option Strategy

"I Was A Teenage Conspiracy Theorist," The Atlantic magazine playfully titled a 2020 essay. "Choose your reality: Trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise," reported The Associated Press in 2022. "Do You Know Someone Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories? We Want to Hear About It," wrote The New York Times last year.

Fears of "conspiracy theories" are a common trope in the U.S. media, a worry that's grown more acute with the rise of QAnon, anti-vaxx sentiment, anti-semitism and a host of other dangerous theories that unduly rot brains throughout the country. To a great extent, this understandable: Many ideas that meet the definition of "conspiracy theories" are, indeed, baseless and dangerous and can direct people's political energy and resources into wasteful, racist, and downright stupid rabbit holes.

But that fact shouldn't delegitimize or foreclose all skepticism of those in power, but too often the term "conspiracy theory" is used to do just that. Repeatedly, media lump together so-called conspiracy theories, regardless of their accuracy, rationale, and ideology: at once, UFO chasers, QAnon, and the Black Panther Party being subject to FBI disruption are somehow placed in the same category of paranoid kooks. At the same time, unproven, and often debunked ideas advanced by media that also meet the definition of "conspiracy theories" — such as Saddam Hussein being behind 9/11 or so-called Havana syndrome — are treated as unassailable, meriting ongoing investigation, limitless resources, and of course, utmost solemnity.

On this episode, we detail the double standards applied to conspiracy theories inside and outside of the realm of U.S. corporate media. We’ll examine the development of the concept of conspiracy theories and the media's selective invocations of the term to discredit real grievances directed at American power and the U.S. government, and moreover, how power-friendly conspiracies — namely those focused on Enemy States like the Havana Syndrome narrative — are permitted to fester and grow without pushback because their red yarn dot connecting implicates the right lists of Acceptable Bad Guys.

Our guest is Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic.

Episode 180: Havana Syndrome and the Power of Mainstream, Acceptable Conspiracy Theories

Bob Dylan goes to Deadwood, Thomas Friedman opens up some boxes, Cop City comes to West Virginia, Letcher County speaks its piece

Support striking WGA workers: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/the-snacklist-support-striking-workers

And support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 289: Work Smarter, Not Harder

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.

Media's Credulous "Labor Shortage" Reporting Helps Lay Groundwork For Repealing Child Labor Laws

Citations Needed Podcast

Related tracks