A social media mistake for the record books, and a quiet saint of Wikipedia. 

Reply All from Gimlet Media

#14 The Art of Making and Fixing Mistakes

With the rise of Trump, Sanders, Corbyn and Brexit, hundreds of pundits, reporters, and talking heads have been warning about the problems of "populism" and its alleged attack on democracy over the past three years.

“Populism and immigration pose major threat to global democracy,” the Gates Foundation insists. “The Dangerous Rise of Populism - Global Attacks on Human Rights Values,“ wrote Human Rights Watch in 2017. “Trump's Rise Proves How Dangerous Populism Is for Democracy” NBC says. “Populism is still a threat to Europe,” The European University Institute tells us.

But what exactly is populism? How is a term that allegedly applies to Hugo Chávez and Bernie Sanders also casually used to describe fascists and far-right forces?

Under the thin, ideology-flattening definition of populism, the term is more often than not used as a euphemism for demagogic cults of personality and fascism and as the ultimate horseshoe theory reduction to lump together movements for equity and justice on the Left with those of revanchism, nationalism and explicit racism on the Right.

We are joined on this episode by writer and historian Thomas Frank.

Episode 42: 'Populism' - The Media’s Favorite Catch-All Smear for the Left

Since the beginning of what’s generally called ‘RussiaGate’ three years ago, pundits, media outlets, even comedians have all become insta-experts on supposed Russian propaganda techniques. The most cunning of these tricks, we are told, is that of “whataboutism” – a devious Soviet tactic of deflecting criticism by pointing out the accusers’ hypocrisy and inconsistencies. The tu quoque - or, “you, also” - fallacy, but with a unique Slavic flavor of nihilism, used by Trump and leftists alike in an effort to change the subject and focus on the faults of the United States rather than the crimes of Official State Enemies. 

But what if "whataboutism" isn’t describing a propaganda technique, but in fact is one itself: a zombie phrase that’s seeped into everyday liberal discourse that – while perhaps useful in the abstract - has manifestly turned any appeal to moral consistency into a cunning Russian psyop. From its origins in the Cold War as a means of deflecting and apologizing for Jim Crow to its braindead contemporary usage as a way of not engaging any criticism of the United States as the supposed arbiter of human rights, the term "whataboutism" has become a term that - 100 percent of the time - is simply used to defend and legitimizing American empire’s moral narratives.

We are joined by Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept.

Episode 66: Whataboutism - The Media's Favorite Rhetorical Shield Against Criticism of US Policy

As COVID-19 continues to endanger the health of people throughout the world, it also magnifies a long-existent global humanitarian crisis: The use of sanctions by the United States and other powers as a weapon of war. In Iran, one of the countries most devastated by the contagion, sanctions have strangulated the supply of medical equipment crucial to testing the population and treating those who are infected, inspiring some members of the political establishment to call for sanctions to be eased.

While these pleas are necessary, they’re woefully inadequate and long overdue. Sanctions aren’t just a problem when there’s a pandemic. Iran had been subjected to U.S. and UN-imposed sanctions long before the appearance of the contagion—as had Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Iraq, and far too many other countries deemed Official Enemies of the United States and its allies, resulting in economic destabilization, vulnerability to U.S. militarism, starvation, illness, and mass deaths. 
Amid these life-or-death stakes, media and think tanks’ responses to sanctions range from mere handwringing to outright bloodlust. Rather than decisively condemning sanctions as ruthless acts of economic warfare, American media largely perpetuates the narrative that sanctions are a necessity, and often a force for good, in the effort to punish and “change the behavior” of some perceived “rogue” government. Meanwhile, little criticism is offered outside of tepid suggestions that those sanctions should be tweaked. 

On today’s show, we’ll examine how the U.S. levies sanctions to undermine countries opposed to U.S. hegemony, how sanctions are laundered as benign in the media, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the preexisting, decades-long barbarism of U.S. foreign policy. 

We are joined by guests Keyvan Shafiei and Hoda Katebi.

Episode 106: The Sanitization of Sanctions

A lot of you have some body pillows to throw away that's all I'm saying SMDH

Z 023 - The Claspers of Fate

Another Summer

This week, PJ looks into a theory circling the internet about who might be behind QAnon. The investigation takes him back to the beginning of the QAnon scam, and to the message board trolls who started it.

Reply All

#166 Country of Liars

This week, we're joined by David Dayen, executive editor at American Prospect, to discuss the COVID situation along with what a Biden administration could do even without Democratic control over the Senate. Don't let these excuses and malarky re: his powerlessness fool you! 

*** Become a supporter of this podcast here: HTTP://www.patreon.com/deadpundits ***

Find the Day One Agenda here: https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda

The essays discussed in the opening can be found here: 

-https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda/make-progress-on-all-fronts-a-response-to-jacobin/
-https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/12/executive-orders-supreme-court-law-college-debt

-https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/biden-canceling-student-debt-loans-schumer/

Biden Can Do a Lot (If He Wants to) w/ David Dayen

Z 044 - The Todd Glass Situation Out Now On Paperback For $62.74

a full table read / radio play of the Joker screenplay, if it was written by Wes Anderson

like this episode? want more like it? head to patreon.com/mistermovies

on top of getting the full 92 page screenplay this episode was performed with to download, you get project updates, you get to control the show through polls, and you get one bonus episode a week

if our financial goal is met, we will do another one of these, and leave it to the patrons to decide

thank you all, merry christmas

52 - JOKER as a Wes Anderson Movie

Welcome to the Nazbol Vortex, where Breadtubers, Boogaloo Boys, and Q-Anon battle it out for engagement. In this episode, we talk about streamers and podcasters, Twitter posters, pseudonyms, Jacobin's "irony" and the DSA/CIA activism trap. Honorable mention to Sam Seder and the Majority Report and their old friends at the Daily Kos. Thanks to Jason Selvig of The Good Liars for the intro!

Socialism Train Episode 003: The Nazbol Vortex (Part 1)

A show about the internet, hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman.  From Gimlet.