How to Ruin an Economy

New World Notes #687, 27:55  (May 4)
Broadcast quality MP3 (38 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB) 

Noam Chomsky concisely and brilliantly dissects the U.S. economic system. He shows that it operates exactly in accord with the principles of neoliberal capitalism. Its function is to increase the wealth and power of the plutocratic elite--"the Masters of Mankind," as Adam Smith called them--at the expense of everyone else. And he shows the role of the federal government in enabling and promoting the economic system's antidemocratic aims and results.

The U.S. economic system has changed scarcely at all in the past half-century. Hence this classic talk is every bit as timely, engaging, and important today as it was when Chomsky spoke (at Northeastern University, Boston, in February 2014).

Leigha Cohen produced and made available a video of Chomsky's talk. Many thanks. I have lightly edited the recorded audio.

Killing Us Softly

New World Notes #686, 27:42 (April 24)
Broadcast quality MP3 (38 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

A smart, funny, and important talk on advertising's image of women.

With wit and humor, Jean Kilbourne shows the preposterous body images, emotional styles, sexuality, and attitudes towards violence that consumer advertising presents to women (and men) as desirable and normal. Kilbourne's critique is far from radical, but it is very sound, very interesting, and in places very funny. Both men and women (and everyone else) will find this talk well worth a listen.

Based on the video (Edition 3, year 2000). Condensed and adapted to radio by KD. This video is available on The Internet Archive (www.archive.org).

This installment was previously broadcast, as NWN #144, in December 2010. MP3 files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #144.

Confronting the Authorities

New World Notes #685, 28:26  (April 20)
Broadcast quality MP3 (39 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB) 

Historian Jill Lepore

Two features connected by the belief that we need to organize, confront Authority, and radically change (not just "reform") the system.

First we'll hear Jordan Brown's short movie, Forget Shorter Showers. The film features a reading of a good essay by radical environmental activist Derek Jensen.

Then part 2 of Jill Lepore's article on the history of police forces, "The Long Blue Line." Lepore shows the police's roots in the control of Black slaves and in the military's imperial adventures abroad.

Environmental activist Derek Jensen

Jill Lepore is David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University. Her article "The Long Blue Line"  appears in The New Yorker magazine, July 20, 2020.

Part 1 of "The Long Blue Line" is read in NWN #683.

Jordan Brown's film Forget Shorter Showers was released in 2015.

Peasant of the Dawn

New World Notes #684, 28:58  (April 13)
Broadcast quality MP3 (40 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB) 

Excellent  audio collage by Virtual Renderings, slightly condensed by me. It's a meditation on class warfare, the ruling elite's dislike of democracy, American exceptionalism, economic inequality, mind control, and the prescience of George Orwell.

Voices heard belong to Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Noam Chomsky, historian Morris Berman, and Ken Nordine (himself a master of audio collage), among others. Includes dramatic readings from Orwell's 1984 and some good music.

A musical highlight: a mashup duet of Harry Shearer and then-President Barack Obama titled "Yes We Can ... But."

Previously broadcast by New World Notes in 2011 and (with a new introduction) 2017.

114 audio collages by Virtual Renderings can be downloaded without charge at radio4all,net.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "radar") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Police

New World Notes #683, 28:46 (April 6)
Broadcast quality MP3 (40 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB) 

(Click to enlarge)

Various perspectives--all of them critical--on the police. The show includes a comedy sketch by Marlon Wayans, a song by David Rovics, and two recordings, from the 1960s, of Malcolm X.

KD reads from historian Jill Lepore's recent article, "The Long Blue Line" and also tells of a recent killing (of Jose Soto) by police in his own town.

Chicago, 1968: When my own understanding
of police forces began to change

Jill Lepore's article, "The Long Blue Line: Inventing the Police," appears in The New Yorker magazine, July 20, 2020.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "inflexible deadlines") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.