Sunday, July 29, 2012

War, Language, and the Media

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 30 -- July 29, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #230, July 31, 2012

War, Language and the Media

In brief

This week we replay one of the earliest installments of New World Notes: #10, from April 2008. The title connects three of the series' ongoing concerns: war, language, and the media.

Language doesn't just reflect your understanding of reality: it shapes it. The Pentagon (and its pet, the State Department) knows this and creates language to mislead us about what it is actually doing. First I and then Michael Parenti--in a fine talk from the 1990s--expore how it works.

Of particular interest is Parenti's debunking of the "Gaddafi-is-a-menace" rhetoric, which was omnipresent around 1990. Remember?

Decades back, U.S. government propaganda (broadcast by the loyal corporate media) inflated Libya's Gaddafi into a major threat to America. Then, for whatever reasons, the government put its regime-change-in-Libya plans on the back burner, and the "threat" of Gaddafi wasn't mentioned again for the next 20 years. Then, around 2010 or 2011, Gaddafi suddenly became a menace again.

The Airliner bar/restaurant, Iowa City, Iowa. What's that got to do with the late Muammar Gaddafi (top, shown in 1986)? Each exemplifies how different compositions of words create different ways of understanding (and hence of acting). You'll just have to listen. . . .

Notes, credits, & links

Music added: John McCutcheon, "Let's Pretend"; David Rovics, "What If You Knew?"

Thanks to Sally Soriano and People's Video-Audio for the Parenti recording.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • July 24 -- American Sex and Sexuality
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Friday, July 20, 2012

Nothing New Under the Sun

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 29 -- July 20, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #229, July 24, 2012

Nothing New Under the Sun

In brief

History is taught so as to (1) instill patriotism and submission to the rulers and (2) make people hate the real study of history. Real history shows that events in the news are but the latest examples in a long pattern.

Noam Chomsky shows that "Arab Spring" pro-democracy rebellions have been occurring for 100 years (usually suppressed by dictators, with US backing). Chris Hedges shows how the 1% has waged war against the 99% for 200 years, with examples from the US, Russia, Germany, Yugoslavia, & elsewhere.

Above: Chris Hedges, manning the barricades in
Washington, D.C.  Below: Noam Chomsky.

Notes, credits, & links

Chomsky's remarks were recorded at the "Russell Tribunal" in March 2011.

Chris Hedges' remarks are from an interview with Mike McCormick on Mike's show, Mind Over Matters. 

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

On orders from General J.H. Smith, U.S. troops massacre the civilian inhabitants of the island of Samar during our war of conquest of the Philippines, 1902.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • July 24 -- Language, War, and the Media
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Friday, July 6, 2012

Ethos

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 27-28 -- July 6, 2012

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio program #227-228, July 10 & 17, 2012

Ethos
(in two parts)

In brief

A quirky and interesting film by Pete McGrain on the character of our time. Includes good commentary by Norman Solomon, Noam Chomsky, former MP Tony Benn, the late Chalmers Johnson, and others. And some comments by me too. Narrated by McGrain and Woody Harrelson.

It's about democracy, and national policies, and why the policies are so anti-democratic. It's about how politicians and corporate elites have declared war on democracy, and how they use the corporate news media as powerful weapons to control public opinion. And it's about how these people give us perpetual real warfare for the sake of its high profits.

Familiar points but (mostly) made well.

Above (l to r): Ethos director Pete McGrain, host Woody
Harrelson, co-executive producer Isabella Michelle Marles

Notes, credits, & links

Ethos was adapted to radio by Robin Upton and originally broadcast on Unwelcome Guests. The adaptation is available complete at http://unwelcomeguests.net/586. I have condensed this adaptation for broadcast on New World Notes. Many thanks to Robin and Unwelcome Guests.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • July 24 -- Nothing New Under the Sun
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Pink Slime, Meat Glue, Local Blueberries, and the Constitution

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 26 -- July 1, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #226, July 3, 2012

Pink Slime, Meat Glue,
Local Blueberries,
and the Constitution

In brief

Getting less out-of-touch with nature through local produce and Papua New Guinea coffee. Recent petty scandals in the meat industry (Pink Slime, "meat glue") get exposed in the corporate news media ... but not the industry's real crimes and scandals. New product at the supermarket: "water enhancer."

Summing it all up, Alexander Cockburn argues that our U.S. form of government is best described as "fascism."

Above: Meat glue. Below: Pink Slime.

Notes, credits, & links

Music added: from Leonard Cohen, "Democracy"

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Above: No comment.
Below: Shades of 1968: Chicago peace officers clubbing peaceful
protesters at the NATO summit meeting, May 30, 2012.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • July 10 & 17 -- Ethos: The Movie
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Food, Politics, and Whatnot

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 25 --June 24, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #225, June 26, 2012

Food, Politics, and Whatnot

In brief

Reflections on local agriculture, how Jimmy Carter destroyed the Democratic Party in the Midwest in order to punish the Russians, how Obama stopped TARP bailout funds from helping homeowners, and other odd tales. Includes a short essay by Paul Burkheit ("Five Facts That Put America to Shame"), music by David Rovics, and commentary by Jim Hightower and Glen Ford.

Notes, credits, & links

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

 
The Heart Attack Grill, Las Vegas

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • July 3 -- Pink Slime, Meat Glue, Local Blueberries, and the Constitution (More Food, Politics, and Whatnot)
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Be the First On Your Block to Reject Competition

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 24 --June 16, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #224, June 19, 2012

Be the First On Your Block
to Reject Competition

 
In brief

Psychology researcher and educational theorist Alfie Kohn is in fine form in this vintage talk (ca. 1989). Kohn says that the problem with our culture is not that it is "too competitive." Rather, the scientific research shows that all competition is harmful and counterproductive. It leads away from excellence, not towards it. And it's bad for the soul.

So why is competition emphasized in America? Kohn (briefly) discusses how it reinforces existing structures of power in our society.

Don't confuse competition with conflict, Kohn says. Unlike competition, conflict is inevitable and sometimes good. Martin Luther King was right to challenge institutional racism and the power structure behind it. By the same token, trying to eliminate competiton puts the social reformers--yet again--in conflict with our society's power elite and the system they control.

Alfie Kohn

Notes, credits, & links

I've condensed Kohn's talk. The full-length original is available here. Thanks to Xenophrenia for making it available.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

 

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • June 26 -- Politics, Food, and Whatnot
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Why Factory Farming Has Got to Go

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 22 --June 6, 2012

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #222-223, June 5 & 12, 2012

Why Factory Farming Has Got to Go

In brief

In an interesting, shrewd, and funny talk, Michael Pollan shows what is wrong with our globalized, corporate-controlled agriculture. And he shows why certain alternatives are sane, practical, and---on a small but growing scale--already in place.

This week, in Part 1, he explains six reasons why factory farming is not only bad but "unsustainable." And he shows why "Whole Foods"-type globalized, corporate organic farming is not much better.

 Below: Joel Salatin, of Polyface Farm

Notes, credits, & links

Pollan spoke at The Mondavi Center of the University of California, Davis, in November 2006. Adapted to radio in May 2012 by K.D.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • June 17 -- Competition is Bad, with Alfie Kohn
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, May 26, 2012

The Slippery Slope of Memorial Day

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 21 -- May 26, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #221, May29, 2012

The Slippery Slope
of Memorial Day

In brief

An anti-war, anti-militarism perspective on Memorial Day.

Features journalist Robert Fisk's antiwar reflections (there's no "Good War"--not after 1945--he concludes). Plus Howard Zinn's 1976 newspaper column on whom Memorial Day ought to honor (which got him fired from the Boston Globe) ... plus commentary by me and Steppenwolf's antiwar classic, "Monster."

This installment is a rerun of NWN #65 (May 2009).


A Zinn Personal Anecdote

After recording this installment in 2009, I sent an email "fan letter" to Howard Zinn expressing my admiration for his Memorial Day essay.

An old English major, I decribed the essay enough to show that I understood how it works. I thought its framing device was especially clever. The essay begins and ends by discussing highway smashups--an American Memorial Day tradition. But by the end, smashup doesn't mean just vehicular carnage. It becomes a metaphor for (you might say) the collision of American values, ethics, and government policy. A metaphor for where American militarism is leading us.

I told him that the essay was my favorite, of the many Zinn essays I had read. That's still true.

Within two hours, the eminent historian had written and sent me a gracious personal reply. He thanked me for my kind remarks and told me that, in fact, the Memorial Day essay was one of his favorites too.

Zinn died, four months after our exchange, in January 2010.

Howard Zinn in May, 2009

Notes, credits, & links

Fisk talk courtesy of tucradio.org. Zinn essay, "Whom Will We Honor Memorial Day?"--and much other good stuff--from The Zinn Reader (Seven Stories Press, 1997).

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.
Above: Graphic by Eric Drooker.
Below: "Spain, 1936" by Robert Capa.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • June 5 & 12 -- "Unsustainable": Michael Pollan on Factory Farming
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Eugene Jarecki: The Drug War

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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 20 -- May 19, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #220, May 22, 2012

Eugene Jarecki: The Drug War
In brief

Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's new documentary on the drug war, The House I Live In, just won a top award at Sundance. Now Jarecki talks about some things he learned while making the film.

Among them: 90% of crack arrestees--but only 13% of crack users--are Black. Drug laws, always a means of race control, are now also a means of class control, with poor whites increasingly targeted. And the original "War on Drugs"--launched by Nixon in 1971--devoted two-thirds of its budget to treatment programs (vs. almost nothing today).

Introductory & concluding remarks by K.D.
Notes, credits, & links

Jarecki's remarks are taken from an interview by Michael Slate, broadcast on The Michael Slate Show on KPFK, Los Angeles. The hour-long program is available here. Many thanks for permission to rebroadcast.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview:Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • May 29 -- The Slippery Slope of Memorial Day
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, May 12, 2012

Lawrence Lessig: Our Corrupt Congress


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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 19 -- May 12, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #219, May 15, 2012

Lawrence Lessig:
Our Corrupt Congress

In brief

Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig brilliantly discusses the many ways that our Congress is corrupt. Some of his examples surprised even me.

His October 2011 lecture in Seattle--based on his book Republic, Lost--combined an excellent discussion of the problem with (IMHO) a long-shot, pie-in-the-sky solution (a Constitutional Convention to establish campaign finance reform). Our condensed version of the talk focuses on the problem.


Notes, credits, & links

Our selections from Lessig's talk are taken from the hour-long recording broadcast by Mind Over Matters. Many thanks to that program and to producer Mike McCormick. The full recording is here.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • May 22 -- filmmaker Eugene Jarecki on the Drug War
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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