Name: #14 The Art of Making and Fixing Mistakes by Reply All in Features
Duration: 26 min 29 s
Description: A social media mistake for the record books, and a quiet saint of Wikipedia.

Features

Matt went onto the Solidarity Policy Center's podcast to debate Oren Cass on the question of providing cash child benefits to all kids (including the very poor!). I'm cross-posting the whole thing here in case you are a big enough sicko to do 103 minutes of this.

Please subscribe to patreon.com/thebruenigs to get all our episodes.

Matt Debates Oren Cass About Child Benefits

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

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#14 The Art of Making and Fixing Mistakes

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

“Building a wall won't save America's crumbling middle class,” Elizabeth Warren tells us. “Sanders healthcare will raise taxes on the middle class,” a CNN headline reads. “There’ war on the middle class,” a Boston Globe editorial laments.   

The term “middle class” is used so much by pundits and politicians, it could easily be the Free Space in any political rhetoric Bingo card. After all, who’s opposed to strengthening, widening, and protecting the “middle class”? Like “democracy,” “freedom,” and “human rights”, “middle class” is an unimpeachable, unassailable label that evokes warm feelings and a sense of collective morality.

But the term itself, always slippery and changing based on context, has evolved from a vague aspiration marked by safety, a nice home, and a white picket fence into something more sinister, racially-coded, and deliberately obscuring. The middle class isn’t about concrete, material positive rights of good housing and economic security––it’s a capitalist carrot hovering over our heads telling us such things are possible if we Only Work Harder. More than anything, it's a way for politicians to gesture towards populism without the messiness of mentioning––much less centering––the poor and poverty.

This week we are joined by Jane McAlevey, a union organizer, scholar and Senior Policy Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center.

Episode 91: It's Time to Retire the Term "Middle Class"

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

The Historical Quest for a Black Nation
Thanks to the New African Independence Movement of the 1970s, today’s Democratic politicians are discussing reparations for Black Americans, said Edward Onaci, a professor of history at Ursinus College. Onaci is author of the book, “Free the Land: The Republic of New Africa and the Pursuit of a Black Nation-State.”
Move 9 are Free – Mumia is Next
Born in prison to Move organization members incarcerated in the death of a Philadelphia cop in 1978, Mike Africa Jr. has waited and worked for four decades to see his surviving family members in freedom. Now his mission is to free political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal “so that he can be with his family, the way that my father is with his family now.”
Maroons As Movement Role Models
The contemporary Black struggle should draw on the experience and example of maroons, the escaped slaves that formed communities of freedom beyond the reach of the slave masters, said Willie Jamaal Wright, a professor of Geography and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. Wright wrote a recent article on “The Morphology of Marronage.” Maroon communities “served as models of cooperative economics, of cooperative living,” and “a model of sacrifice” that is needed today, said Wright.
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.

Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 20, 2020

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.

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#166 Country of Liars

Alex Goldman tackles his newest job: prophet of doom.

#170 A Song of Impotent Rage

We conclude our discussion on the Adam Curtis essay film series and review part 4: "Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering."

#130 - Century of the Self: The Meaning of Tony Blair

Matt goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse

Topics: Q&A, Squibs, Uncut Gems America

Grill Stream

145 - Friday Vibestream: Alpha Sanction 02.05.21

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

#14 The Art of Making and Fixing Mistakes

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