Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Episode 59: National Pastimes: Mindless Militarism in American Sports
F-22 flyovers, 160-foot flags draped across the playing field, full color guards, camouflage uniforms, The Star-Spangled Banner, God Bless America, S…
7 years, 3 months ago
Episode 58: The Neoliberal Optimism Industry
We're told the world is getting better all the time. In January, The New York Times' Nick Kristof explained "Why 2017 Was the Best Year in Human Hist…
7 years, 4 months ago
News Brief: Consumer Society and the Curation of Culture
Focus groups have long-been derided by the left, right, and center for watering down culture and reducing creative and political endeavors to dull, s…
7 years, 4 months ago
Episode 57: A Matter of Survival - Trivializing Trans Rights as a Boutique "Identity" Issue
In the wake of the 2016 election, many conservatives, liberals, and - unfortunately - even some on the left pointed to Democrats' reliance on so-call…
7 years, 4 months ago
Episode 56: How The Media Learned to Worry About War Without Ever Opposing It
"Bush didn't send enough Troops."
"Trump needs authorization from Congress before launching a war."
"Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Pal…
7 years, 4 months ago
Episode 55: Jake Tapper and the Art of Faux-Adversarialism
Jake Tapper's career trajectory is an object lesson in how to succeed in corporate media. The formula generally goes like this: go after the fringes…
7 years, 5 months ago
Episode 54: Local 'Crime' Reporting as Police Stenography
"The suspect fled on foot, police said. Call this number if you have any information." "The incident took place at the 1200 block of Grove." "Police …
7 years, 5 months ago
Episode 53: The Increasingly Dull Edge of 'Hypocrisy' Takedowns
Trump says he opposed the war in Iraq, but in fact said he supported it in an obscure interview in 2004. McCain was for the tax cuts before he was ag…
7 years, 5 months ago
Episode 52: Attacks on Affirmative Action and the Commodification of Diversity
"Diversity" is a simultaneously important and buzzword-y term beloved by the media, corporations, real estate agents and elite universities. It's som…
7 years, 6 months ago
Episode 51: How 'The West Wing' Poisoned the Liberal Mind
Post-Cold War liberal chauvinism knew no better ideological conduit than the hit NBC series The West Wing. Foreign policy was imperial, staffers wer…
7 years, 6 months ago