Darts and Letters

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Darts and Letters episodes

September 24, 2021EP34: Gord and Nora’s Infinite Liberal Minority (ft. Nora Loreto)
Canada’s federal election is over. And if you were expecting a boring, uninspired contest followed by a return to the status quo, you weren’t disappointed. Zombie politics shuffles along trailing dead ideas and dead dogmas.
On this episode, host Gordon Katic sits down with independent journalist, author, and podcaster Nora Loreto for a wide-ranging conversation about Canada’s status quo. Nora has been tirelessly documenting the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic under-reporting of deaths in long term care. Some academics have taken notice, but few journalists. We ask Nora about the early days of the pandemic and our blinds spots, what we have (and haven’t) learned, and prevailing COVID-19 myths.
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
Check out Nora’s books, including her upcoming volume, Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Listen to her podcast, co-hosted with Sandy Hudson, Sandy and Nora Talk Politics.
Read her co-authored research report for the Royal Society of Canada, Excess All-Cause Mortality During the Covid-19 Epidemic in Canada.
Check out her work in the Washington Post on Covid-19 hospital deaths, in Read Passage on profit before workers and public health, and in Maclean’s on disability and Covid infections that were ignored.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel featuring extended interviews with our guests. More to come! So subscribe today.
If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and was a research assistant.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.
This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us with a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
55 min
September 17, 2021EP33: Check Out My Gravel Pit (ft. Christo Aivalis, James Naylor, & Steven High)
Canada’s 44th general election was a mess from the start. From wondering why it was called in the first place, to culture war wedge politics, the rise of the extreme-right People’s Party, and along to literal stone throwing–or gravel throwing, anyway. You might want to call that a new low. It’s definitely low. But it’s not the first time Canadian elections have been nasty affairs, and it’s not even the first time rocks have been thrown. On this episode of Darts and Letters, we dive much deeper into the gravel pit. We look at past campaigns, examine the much wider political and intellectual history of Canada’s major parties, and show how all of them have sold out Canadian workers.
First, where did the NDP’s radical ambition go? James Naylor is a professor of history at Brandon University and the author of a handful of books including The Fate of Labour Socialism: The Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation and the Dream of a Working-Class Future. He takes a look at the NDP and their transition from the product of the prairie socialist Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation to an institutionalized and de-radicalized centre-left liberal party.
Then, we review the Trudeau years–no, not that one. The other Trudeau. Pierre Trudeau. Christo Aivalis is a historian, YouTuber, commentator, NDP supporter, and the author of The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left. He tells us that Trudeau was trained by a Marxist and many thought of him as a socialist, believe it or not. This meant he knew the left, and so he could capture the country’s progressive energy–then sell it out to Bay St. Sound like a familiar strategy?
Finally, the Conservatives are running a pseudo-populist right platform. Steven High from Concordia University is worried it might work. Steven is a historian of deindustrialization, and he’s seen – firsthand – working class communities flip from left to right. Could it happen this time? High says we can see lessons from the old Reform Party of the 90s and the right populism of that fractious 1993 election.
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
Visit James Naylor’s page at Brandon University and check out his publications, including The Fate of Labour Socialism: The Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation and the Dream of a Working-Class Future, “Not reform, but the replacing of capitalism’: The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in the 1930,” and “Whatever Happened to Labourism?” And be on the lookout for his forthcoming edited volume For a Better World: The Winnipeg General Strike and the Workers’ Revolt.
Pick up a copy of Christo Aivalis’s book The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left. Plus, check out his YouTube page, and his homepage, where you can find more of his work, including his latest for Canadian Dimension “Just watch him: Jagmeet Singh takes on the rich to build a better Canada.”
Have a look at Steven High’s academic homepage and his books Industrial Sunset: the Making of North America’s Rust Belt and the co-authored Corporate Wasteland: The Landscape and Memory of Deindustrialization.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel. Our first interview is with Dan Denvir of the Dig. More to come! So subscribe today.
If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn and our assistant producer this week was Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and was a research assistant.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.
This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
1 hr 21 min
September 11, 2021EP32: Academic Disaster Capitalism (w/Gary Rhoades)
School’s back. Alongside the usual challenges of managing college and university life comes sorting out how to keep people on campus safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Colleges and universities are trying to find their way forward after a rough 18 months, with more difficult times to come. But while the pandemic has affected higher education, it’s done so against the backdrop of “academic capitalism”–a form of neoliberal managerialism that pervades the academy. On this episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Gary Rhoades, professor at the College of Education at the University of Arizona and former general secretary of the American Association of University Professors about academic capitalism, rising resistance to it, and how the pandemic has changed the story. Or not.
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
Start by checking out Gary Rhoades’ book, co-written with Sheila Slaughter, Academic Capitalism and the New Economy.
Read this 2010 piece by him on what the American Association of University Professors stands for.
Visit his homepage at the University of Arizona to find more of his work, including his 1998 book Managed Professionals: Unionized Faculty and Restructuring Academic Labor.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. The producer for this episode is Ren Bangert. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and was a research assistant along with Franklynn Bartol.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.
This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
48 min
September 03, 2021Summer Bonus EP: Decolonizing Marxism (w/Boaventura de Sousa Santos)
Writing in 19th century Europe, Karl Marx was reflecting a time and place: Europe in the wake of the closing years of the Industrial Revolution. Marx himself, later in life, recognized that his crowning work, Das Kapital, had a limited scope, fitted for Europe but not for the rest of the world. In the 21st century, Marxism must speak to the experiences and context of contemporary colonialism and Indigenous politics if it is to remain current, internationalist, and anti-colonial. On this summer bonus episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Boaventura de Sousa Santos, a global Marxist thinker, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He argues for a contemporary, decolonial Marxism that operates on a deeper conception of power and oppression that includes analyses of colonialism, gender, and race across borders.
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
Take a look at Boaventura de Sousa’s books The End of Cognitive Empire, Decolonizing the University, and—a book we discuss in the interview—Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide.
Read his articles, including “Some Theses on Decolonizing History,” “Epistemologies of the South and the Future,” and “Public Sphere Epistemologies of the South.”
Check out his homepage, with more links to articles, book chapters, books, and plenty more.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
This week, Darts and Letters is co-hosted by Jay Cockburn, who is also our lead producer. The producer for this episode is Ren Bangert. Our editor, usual host, and co-host for this episode is Gordon Katic. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.
This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
44 min
August 27, 2021EP31: Moral Kombat (ft. Liana Kerzner, Cyril Lachel, & Henry Jenkins)
You can learn much about a media and political culture by examining when it panics, and who it panics about. And we’ve always panicked about video games, from the early arcades until this very day. Whether you are a prudish Christian conservative, or a concerned liberal-minded paternalist, demonizing video games has long been good politics.
On this episode: guest host and lead producer Jay Cockburn travels back to the 90s, and looks at the story of Mortal Kombat. The game was violent, gory, glorious. It was a youth rebellion in miniature. Parents rebelled against the rebellion, staging their own petulant counter-revolution, and politicians embraced it. It triggering a moral panic and even congressional hearings into violence in games. But why did it happen, who did it serve, and what does it tell us about our own culture?
First (@12:42), Liana Kerzner is a game developer and critic, YouTuber, and gamer. She takes us through her discovery of Mortal Kombat and the visceral attraction to…just how cool and groundbreaking the game was. Then, she looks at the moral panics around games today: panics about sex and nudity.
Then (@21:13), Cyril Lachel is a journalist and the editor in chief of Defunct Games. He explains the history and evolution of gaming in the 1990s as Sega tries to differentiate itself from Nintendo as an edgier system for its gamers as they enter their teenage years. Plus, he points out what parents and politicians got wrong about video games and how gaming media evolved around the time.
Finally (@37:55), Henry Jenkins is Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of South California. He tells us why moral panics keep coming back time after time, starting with comic books in the 1950s. Then he takes us through their generational politics and sociology. Plus, he takes us back to his appearance before the congressional hearings into video games.
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
Visit Liana Kerzner’s Patreon Page and her YouTube channel. Also, read some of her past blogging.
Have a look at Defunct Games’ YouTube channel to go back in time to look at games that are now, well, defunct. To listen to more with Cyril Lachel, hear him on Super Gamer Podcast.
Pull up Henry Jenkins’ website and peruse his academic and media work at USC. Plus, check out his latest books Comics and Stuff and his co-authored Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination.
——————-EVEN MORE FURTHER READING AND ACADEMIC SHOW SOURCES——————
Ferguson, C. J., & Colwell, J. (2017). Understanding why scholars hold different views on the influences of video games on public health. Journal of Communication, 67(3), 305-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12293
Ferguson, C. J. (2015). Do angry birds make for angry children? A meta-analysis of video game influences on children’s and adolescents’ aggression, mental health, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 646-666. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592234
Ferguson, C. J. (2014). Violent video games, mass shootings, and the supreme court: Lessons for the legal community in the wake of recent free speech cases and mass shootings. New Criminal Law Review, 17(4), 553-586. https://doi.org/10.1525/nclr.2014.17.4.553
Ferguson, C. J. (2007). Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature: A meta-analytic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 12(4), 470-482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2007.01.001
Kline, Stephen (n.d.). Moral panics and video games (source)
Markey, P. M., & Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Internet gaming addiction: Disorder or moral panic? The American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(3), 195-196. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16121341
Markey, P. M., & Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Teaching us to fear: The violent video game moral panic and the politics of game research. American Journal of Play, 10(1), 99-115.
Quandt, T., & Kowert, R. (Eds.). (2015). The Video Game Debate: Unravelling the Physical, Social, and Psychological Effects of Video Games (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315736495.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
This week, Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Jay Cockburn, who is also our lead producer. Our editor and usual host is Gordon Katic. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio.. David Moscrop wrote the show notes.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.
This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wide project about the emerging politics of video games housed at UBC with advice from Lennart E. Nacke at the University of Waterloo.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
1 hr 6 min
August 20, 2021Summer Bonus EP: Dan Denvir and The Dig
This week, Darts and Letters brings you a summer bonus episode with the host of one of our favourite podcasts, The Dig. Dan Denvir joins us to talk about his podcast, the place of academia and intellectuals on the left, radical media, ideas and political change, and more. Then, we air an extraordinary interview from Dan and The Dig with Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò on “Identity, Power, and Speech.”
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
First and foremost, check out The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine. You can follow the pod on Twitter.
Check out Dan Denvir’s writing in Jacobin, including his interview with Cornel West and another with Wendy Brown. You can also find him in The Guardian.
Visit Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s website and have a look at his research, including “Don’t Treat Climate Change as a National Security Risk” and “Who Gets to Feel Secure?”
Be sure to also check out more of Táíwò’s politics writing at Why Everything Costs Money.
—————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.
Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
This week, Darts and Letters was hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer was Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. For the Dig content, it Dan Denvir from The Dig hosted the interview with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, our marketing was done by Ian Sowden, and David Moscrop wrote the show notes.
This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
2 hr 5 min
August 13, 2021Summer Bonus EP: Ivy League elitism versus Black Power (w/ Stefan Bradley)
Universities and colleges are often caricatured as hotbeds of radicalism. In reality, they’re institutionally conservative and elitist — especially Ivy League schools. What happens when folks push back against that? What happens when Black scholars, activists, and others demand better? On this summer bonus episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Stefan Bradley, Professor of African American Studies and Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts Coordinator for Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at Loyola Marymount University, about his book Upending the Ivory Tower: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Ivy League. He takes us through the racialized history of higher education — a history that persists into and shapes the present.
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————
Visit Stefan Bradley’s faculty page and check out his work, especially his books Upending the Ivory Tower, Harlem vs. Columbia University, and Alpha Phi Alpha: A Legacy of Greatness, the Demands of Transcendence.
Read this Gonzaga interview with Bradley “On Race and Writing.”
—————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.
Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
This week, Darts and Letters was hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Jay Cockburn co-hosted and was our lead producer. Our producer was Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. The lead research assistant on this episode was Franklynn Bartoll.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.
This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Professor Spooner provided research support for this episode.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
47 min
August 05, 2021EP4: The Conquest of Bread [Rebroadcast]
Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites.
You know McKinsey and Co. They worked for a company that was fixing the price of bread in Canada. They helped on Trump’s immigration policies, but their ideas were too extreme even for ICE. More recently, they proposed that Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” their sales of OxyContin by offering $14,810 rebates for ODs. Yeah, that’s McKinsey.
We could go on and on. They have a long and sordid record as ‘capitalism’s willing executioners,’ to quote a Current Affairs article by an insider. Now, they’re coming onto our turf: higher education. So, we take a closer look. What is even is management consulting, and is there anything to the methods?
First, in his opening essay, host Gordon Katic reminds listeners of the infamous case of General Motors and the side saddle gas tank defect of the 1970s and 80s. This story takes us to the world of cost-benefit analysis; a cold, hard logic that puts profits above people.
Next (@9:43), Kate Jacobson is co-host of the podcast Alberta Advantage, a left-wing podcast in the heart of Canadian conservatism. She warns us that Premier Jason Kenney is using McKinsey as a pretext for his slash-and-burn approach to higher education.
Then, (@32:22) Matthew Stewart turned away from a potential career in academic philosophy to enter the world of management consulting. His tell-all book The Management Myth: Debunking the Modern Philosophy of Business takes us through his own time in consulting, and the broader intellectual history of management science—AKA the art of wringing every last ounce of labour from workers.
Finally (@55:02), Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa. His work asks the basic, core question “what is education for?” He thinks McKinsey does not know how to measure what really counts about education—because ‘not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’
—————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.
Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn. The lead research assistant on this episode was Franklynn Bartol, with support from our research coordinator David Moscrop.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.
This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Professor Spooner provided research consulting on this episode.
This show is produced by Cited Media, which makes other great shows like Cited Podcast and Crackdown.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
1 hr 19 min
July 29, 2021EP9: The Founding Grift [Rebroadcast]
Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites.
Lately, things have been a little too heavy on this show. Insurrections, fascism, proto-fascism, weird apocalyptic visions. That stuff is important, but let’s get serious. You don’t think the society we live is actually dominated by people who hold anything resembling strong, well-articulated ideological programs, do you?
Our society is dominated by grifters. Cheats, cons, frauds: people who don’t really believe what they tell you. They’re just what they need to do to get ahead or to sell you something. Isn’t that that really what capitalism is about? The grift!
Today on Darts and Letters, we have a little fun with grifts. Plus, Gordon asks: Is there a radical potential in the grift?
First (@4:30), Lyta Gold is a writer with Current Affairs. Each year, the magazine recognizes the most audacious grifts. This year, Lyta presented the 2020 “Griftie Awards.” She takes us into the world of the grift, the allure and the appeal, and runs down a big year for grifers: from Covid, to never Trumpers, and on to identity thieves. Plus, she reveals the 2020’s big winner and speculates about what the future might hold in 2021.
Then, (@26:56), Gordon’s friend, let’s call him “Bill Faulkner,” writes papers for hire. Undergraduate term papers, master’s papers, even PhD dissertations. He talks about what his scheme tells us about higher education—and how we ought to change it. As we might say, borrowing from Marx: ‘Thus far the grifter has only cheated the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.”
Finally, (@58:36) Catherine Liu is a professor of film and media studies at UC Irvine and the author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class. She takes the “professional managerial class”—or PMCs—to task for being disconnected from the working class and for failing to get to the root of our problems: capitalism.
——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————-
Abebe, Nitsuh. “Why Are We Suddenly Surrounded by Grift?” The New York Times Magazine. Dec. 4, 2018.
Dante, Ed. “The Shadow Scholar.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Nov. 12, 2010.
Gold, Lyta. “Presenting the 2020 ‘Griftie Awards’.” Current Affairs. Dec. 31, 2020.
Liu, Catherine. Virtue Hoarders. University of Minnesota Press, 2021.
Mishan, Logaya. “The Distinctly American Ethos of the Grifter.” The New York Times Style Magazine. Sept. 12, 2019.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
Darts and Letters’ lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. With research and support from David Moscrop.
Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.
This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
1 hr 17 min
July 23, 2021EP30: Summer in the City (ft. Sandra Fairbank & Daniel Aldana Cohen)
In late June, the Pacific Northwest experienced extreme weather by way of a heat dome that settled over the region, driving up temperatures, and setting heat records. In Portland, the temperature reached 112F (44C) while Lytton, B.C. broke Canada’s heat record three days in a row before burning to the ground on the fourth day. More common and extreme heat like this is an effect of climate change. This week, Darts and Letters talks about what that extreme weather means for some of the most marginalized among us — those experiencing homelessness — and digs into what is being done, and not done, to tackle the climate crisis.
First (@7:12), Sandra Fairbank is a community advocate, volunteer with Cultivate Initiatives, and a person experiencing homelessness. She runs a shower truck in Portland, Oregon that serves the homeless in her community. She talks about that service, what it means to people, and a day in her life during the heatwave.
Then (@25:27), Daniel Aldana Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley where he directs the Socio-Spatial Climate Collective. He discusses the impacts of extreme weather, the social costs of climate change, and why we need a Green New Deal
——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————-
Visit Cultivate Initiatives’ home page and, if you can, donate to them here electronically or by check.
If you’re looking to learn more about or support an organization in Canada, visit Vancouver’s Pivot and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
Check out Daniel Aldana Cohen’s website including his books (including his co-written latest A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal), articles, and media work. Then, dive into his podcast Hot & Bothered with Dissent.
—————————-CONTACT US————————-
To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.
—————————PRODUCTION UPDATE—————————
Now we are going to take a brief reprieve. Next week we’ve got a re-run. And then until September we’re moving to a lighter one-interview episode format. Still the same good stuff, just, not quite as ambitious from a production standpoint. We’ll be back with full, multi-interview episodes in September.
——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
—————————-CREDITS—————————-
Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.
This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens.
Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
51 min

About Darts and Letters

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This is about ‘arts and letters,’ but for the kind of people who might hack a dart. We cover public intellectualism and the politics of academia from a left perspective. Each week, we interview…