2023-01-Was I Thinking What

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Kokoro

Russia, as we all know, has sinister “oligarchs” whereas in the United States, we are told, we have “philanthropists,” “job creators,” and “titans of industry” who earn their wealth through hard work, moxie, and guile. Aside from a few cartoonishly evil billionaires – like the Walton family, Peter Thiel, and the Koch brothers – the average American has a warm and fuzzy feeling about the super wealthy. 

The most notable of these Benevolent Billionaires is Bill Gates, whose foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, operates the largest overseas “nonprofit” regime in the world, worth over 40 billion dollars–– twice that of the next biggest foundation. The Gates Foundation receives almost uniformly softball coverage from the media, many of whom receive funding from Gates through various investment and donor arrangements, both from his personal coffers and the foundation that bears his name.

In this two-part episode we ask how much this network of patronage effects Western media’s overwhelmingly positive and uncritical coverage of Gates. How can one can be critical of this type of massive outsized influence without devolving into paranoia? What is the nature of the capitalist ideology that informs Gates’ so-called philanthropy? And how do his programs often harm those they allegedly aim to help?

We are joined this week by Dr. Linsey J. McGoey, associate professor of sociology at the University of Essex and author of the book, “No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy.”

Episode 45: The Not-So-Benevolent Billionaire - Bill Gates and Western Media

CAPITALISM IS MADNESS
syndicalism is endin the sadness
stop killin the planet
for-profits who planned it
if you speak out then you vanish
books gettin bannished
so we translate em to spanish
gryffindors sword do I brandish
naomi klien im no brandish
see it rippin off your bandage
make more people take advantage
of all of the knowledge I avalanche
forget bout the 4th branch
the door jammed
its closed on the poor man
corporate say they for fam
leavin their workers starvin
community college kids livin in vans
dont give a damn bout their plans
holdin their hands

Our lives are a spectacle
Bush had kenedy in his redicle
 To everything I am Antithetical
smokin the medical
off of conspiracy theories my head is full
food for thought on edibles
i am that mr incredible
ours news is not even credible
you making statements that are regretabble
we knew this shit was inevitable

high in their ivory tower
the champagne it showers for hours
they know that people are sour
they say its cake we devour
cause the know we are cowards
because they hold all the power
police patrol every hour the hood that they roll through is ours
dont search a penthouse in towers
gun barrels are filled with the flowers
on students the bullets they shower

spreadin the knowledge
somehow wont find it at college
unjust laws should be abolished
what politics need polished
average problems not acknowledged
A TAX CUT FOR THE RICH SHOULD JUST SOLVE IT
For their problems with need government involvement, 
but how come we still havent solved FLINT??
 Our states going solvent
an Inefficient institution so we better dissolve it
wars get no resolvin
money keep the world revolvin
its not problem solvin
it's problem making and profit taking they planet rapin
theres no escapin our souls are vacant
thanks to our occupations
wont let you go on vacation greed is rotting the nation.
 The rich have forgotten the nation
oh my god im forsaken
I dont know when I'm waken
but I feel like im taken a way

Capitali$m and Schizophrenia Pt. 1 [Demo] Prod. Skel

The last two decades have seen the release of a number of explicitly Christian movies which tell stories of believers navigating the trials and tribulations - both literal and figurative - of a perceived non-Christian world. In this universe, followers of Christ are constantly under siege by secularists, swarthy Muslims, gay and trans agenda-pushers, feminists and a hostile, out-of control federal government. 

While the media usually lumps these movies into a generalized “faith” category they are best viewed not as earnest meditations on religion and “faith,” but a political project on behalf of the Republican party, with a distinct protestant flavor. 

Today, we are going to focus on the biggest and most influential players in the “Christian cinema” space: production company and distributor PureFlix and Affirm, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Worldwide. Pureflix and Affirm embody the core ideological tropes of the U.S. conservative base: a promotion of US militarism, anti-Muslim racism, pro-capitalist messaging, hostility to LGBTQ populations, anti-Semitic Zionism and a runaway contempt for women.

On this episode, we’ll discuss how the Christian cinema industry is not just low-budget schlocky propaganda that’s fun to dunk on (though it certainly is), but something more deliberate, sinister, and corrosive––a state-subsidized, far-right messaging machine for American reactionaries and imperial interests. 

We are joined by author, artist and filmmaker Frank Schaeffer.

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