Name: #55 The Line by Reply All in Queue
Duration: 35 min 11 s
Description: This week we have a story about a big group of people with the same questions. Difficult, complicated, heartbreaking ones. These people all have one thing in common -- they’re Mormons. Reporter Karen Duffin tells their story.

Queue

This week we have a story about a big group of people with the same questions. Difficult, complicated, heartbreaking ones. These people all have one thing in common -- they’re Mormons. Reporter Karen Duffin tells their story.

#55 The Line

this is an empty theatre version of the song, "alexander hamilton" written by lin-manuel miranda, and performed by the original broadway cast of hamilton. 
I have taken the original studio recording of this song from the hamilton album and edited to sound as if you were watching the show yourself.

alexander hamilton | empty theatre

ABU discusses the increasing role millennials are playing in the political landscape with our amazing interns Emily & Keaton. Who better to get at the heart of the millennial struggle in politics than two millennials deep in the trenches on a regular basis. They discuss stereotypes of their generation and the realities that millennials face socially and politically moving forward.

Millennials & Politics - The Real Silent Majority

The first episode of Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson's podcast, Citations Needed, tackles media hype surrounding the privatization of education.

Show notes can be found here:

2010 tax form for Participant Foundation used to fund Waiting for Superman (note: four donors-- Waltons, Eli Broad, Donald Fisher, Dave Einhorn): http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/261/261292762/261292762_201106_990PF.pdf
Gates $2 million contribution to film https://web.archive.org/web/20101016004049/https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Grants-2010/Pages/Participant-Media-LLC-OPP1019819.aspx

The economic, pro-Wall Street origins of charter schools: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/06/04/why-hedge-funds-love-charter-schools/

Guest Jennifer Berkshire’s blog: 
http://haveyouheardblog.com/
Guest Jennifer berkshire’s articles: 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/tips-391 
http://www.salon.com/writer/jennifer_berkshire/ 

Books mentioned by Berkshire: The One Percent Solution https://www.amazon.com/One-Percent-Solution-Corporations-Remaking/dp/1501703064

New Orleans graduation rate stats article from 2014 by Adam http://citationsneeded.com/2014/05/24/charter-schools-katrina-memory-hole/

Harlem Children Zone original board: 
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq8wM7cWgAAUfHN.jpg

Further reading:


http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/turnover-charter-school-plague-article-1.3272954

https://newrepublic.com/article/140319/charter-schools-good-bad-black-students

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/11/11/myth-charter-schools/

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/01/vote-no-charter-schools

https://www.counterpunch.org/2009/08/25/the-charter-school-hype-and-how-it-s-managed/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2009/08/26/the-future-of-charter-schools/

http://www.alternet.org/education/how-charter-schools-are-undermining-future-public-education

https://www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/10/i-was-a-charter-school-teacher/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdPACwRgw04

Episode 01 : The Charter School Scam

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

"The United States believes any Palestinian government must renounce violence,” a U.S. official told Ha'aretz. When it comes to nonviolence, writes Barbara Reynolds in The Washington Post, “Black Lives Matter seems intent on rejecting the proven methods." "Violence Is Never the Answer," New York Times columnist Charles Blow insists.

We are told endlessly that violence is inherently and unequivocally bad, something - when it comes to advocating for social justice or against military occupation and fascism - that’s always to be avoided, condemned and renounced. It must be rejected, our press and politicians declare, in favor of non-violence, so-called "peaceful protests" and the democratic process.

But in popular discourse, discussions of violence aren’t really about violence; rather, they’re about sanctioned versus unsanctioned violence. The routine violence of poverty, racist policing, militarism is never called "violence"–––it's just the way things are, a law of nature, the price of "stability". But unsanctioned violence, namely that carried out by activists, non or sub-state actors, and those generally distant from the halls of power, causes outrage without any coherent criteria for this indignation. 

On this episode, we discuss how what is and isn't deemed "violence" by our media is largely a function of proximity to power and whether those actions challenge or serve the interests of the status quo. 

We are joined by journalist and author Natasha Lennard.

Episode 74: Liberal Gandhi Fetishism and the Problem with Pop Notions of 'Violence'

Freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taking to Twitter to criticize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, we are told, “plays into the hands of Trump.” Russians are using Black Lives Matter and anti-fracking activists to “sow discord,” insists CNN. We must “be united” rather than “divided.”

Everywhere we turn we are told by high-status pundits that we shouldn’t air our criticisms of power at this particular moment with any reasonable degree of severity lest our mutual enemies exploit these divisions to empower themselves. 

We are told again and again that progressives criticizing party leaders is helping Trump. That fighting Trump’s racism is merely “playing into his hands,” that we shouldn’t attack other democrats in the primary too harshly lest it “give us four more years of Trump.”

But there’s a major problem with this: There’s no evidence that intra-party fighting loses elections or assists the "other side." In many ways, it may actually help engage voters and make them feel heard, rather than viewed as box-checkers for the already anointed.

We are joined by Maximillian Alvarez of the podcast Working People.

Episode 84: How Claims of “Sowing Discord” Are Used to Silence Criticism of Power

“Science and religion fight over Hawaii's highest point,” one CNN headline puts it, “Desecrating sacred land or finding new frontiers?” BBC asks.”Science, Interrupted: Mauna Kea Observatories ‘caught in the middle,’” Pacific Business News writes. 

When tensions arise between native communities and the so-called “pursuit of science”, more often than not Western media presents these points of conflict as a symmetrical and simplistic case of “science vs. superstition.” Science is framed as a morally and politically neutral quest for truth––an objective and innovative good that will unequivocally benefit humanity. 

But Western “science”––despite its rank-and-file advocates' often best intentions–– has historically been used as the public relations vanguard of colonialism and white supremacy. A Trojan Horse presented as ideologically neutral, followed by an outpouring of exploitation, industry and the erasure of native peoples––both culturally and physically. 

While everyone can agree scientific research and progress are good things, the institution of “science” as such––from North America to Australia to Africa to Palestine-–has a long history of serving on the front lines of white, capitalist expansionism. This week we are going to discuss this history, how anti-colonial scientists are pushing back against these forces, and how we can expand human knowledge and understanding without weaponizing the enterprise to serve the interest of power.

We're joined on this episode by Nick Estes, Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico.

                              

Ep. 90: How Western Media's False Binary Between "Science" & Indigenous Rights Erases Native People

“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"

“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”

"Economists' forecasts for GDP growth in 2020 vary widely," says The Economist. "Algeria's GDP growth falls to 0.8% in 2019," one Reuters headline reads. "GDP — the broadest measure of economic activity — grew at an annual rate of just 1.9% during the third quarter," NPR warns. Everywhere we turn for economic news, the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is held up as the key proxy for prosperity and sound fiscal policy. 

Since its codification as the new gold standard for measuring prosperity at the Bretton Wood conference in 1944, the GDP has been the most popular metric used by American and British media when measure a nation’s prosperity. The GDP, and its close cousin, the Gross National Product, have not been without its critics for decades, but prying it from its top position as The Most Important Policy Goal has been an impossible task. Despite many labor activists, environmentalists and economists leveling critiques at its myopic, capitalist ideology, the metric has remained central to how the media and lawmakers determine fiscal policy. 

But what is the GDP exactly? How did it become the go-to proxy for prosperity in Western media? What are its ideological inputs, and how did post-war notions of colonialism and extractivism helps cement its place in our collective mindset? And what, more importantly, do activists argue we should replace it with? On this episode of Citations Needed we will explore these questions and examine how centralizing Gross Domestic Product––by its very design––obscures climate crisis, labor abuses, racism, drudgery, and a whole host of society's ills. 

We welcome economic anthropologist Dr. Jason Hickel back to the show.

Episode 108: How GDP Fetishism Drives Climate Crisis and Inequality

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

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

Grill Stream

116 - See the TURTLE of enormous mirth! 11.25.20

Andres Duany speaking with James Howard Kunstler regarding his impressions of Salt Lake City and Mormon community building.

Andres Duany on SLC and Mormon community building

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

#55 The Line

Reply All

Related tracks