Last Past the Post

Right wing media routinely features conservatives who claim to have been censured and cancelled by the left wing twitter mobs. Does their claim have any validity, or are they simply a victim of the same social pressures that have stopped people from being bigoted for decades? How does this intersect with free speech and freedom of expression? This week, Christine and Alex discuss this more recent wave of cancel culture, and why it might actually be a shield for more nefarious intents.

The number of billionaires has skyrocketed in the past few decades, and they've only gotten richer during the pandemic. Are these people truly Ayn Rand's titans of the industry who are leading us to a better future? Are they instead leeches, holding society back from it's true potential? In this episode, Christine and Alex look at where exactly modern billionaires fit in that spectrum, and discuss the ethics of them existing in the first place.

Around election time, each party makes their case, promising all sorts of great things to win over the hearts of electors. Do they follow through with these promises? This week, Christine and Alex look at the track record of a few politicians, and discuss how certain promises are little more than lies meant to manipulate the public.

When the word conservative is said aloud, this is what most people think of. Social conservatives are the pushback to societal change, and they represent the third and final leg of the Neoconservative ideology. This week, Christine, Alex, and our guest Rachel finish exploring this ideology, and how it's morphed into the conservative movements we see in North America today. 

Libertarianism has never been very popular in North American elections, but many of it's core ideas and philosophies have been embraced by the most popular conservative politicians of the modern era. This week, Christine and Alex explore what the tenets of libertarianism were, which ones were grabbed, and which ones were left behind. This is the second episode of our trilogy on neoconservatism, and it explores the role of fiscal conservatives in the pulling apart of the three-legged foot stool that is conservative ideology.

Within the past five years, conservative politics have experienced a shift towards the alt-right, but what was it moving away from? The Bush and Harper governments were defined by Neoconservatism, and the three different branches that compose it: the National Security Conservatives, the Fiscal Conservatives and the Social Conservatives. This episode explores the first of these as part of a 3 episode series as Christine and Alex attempt to explain what made Neoconservatism work, and why it's now pulling itself apart.

In the wake of the Atlanta shooting, a spotlight has been cast on asian discrimination in the western world. They've often been praised as a model minority, but even positive connotations can have negative consequences. In this episode, Christine and Alex talk about how that can be the case, how we got here, and the role of racism in the tragic event that prompted this discussion all over America.

As a side note, the last episode did mention that this one was going to be about the housing crisis, but the topic was later changed. Don't fret, you haven't missed an episode somewhere!

https://theconversation.com/the-long-history-of-us-racism-against-asian-americans-from-yellow-peril-to-model-minority-to-the-chinese-virus-135793

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/29/the-real-reason-americans-stopped-spitting-on-asian-americans-and-started-praising-them/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/20/atlanta-spa-shooting-victims-highlight-struggles-asian-asian-american-immigrant-women-low-wage-jobs/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/29/the-real-reason-americans-stopped-spitting-on-asian-americans-and-started-praising-them/

https://time.com/5859206/anti-asian-racism-america/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/asian-american-community-battles-surge-in-hate-crimes-stirred-from-covid-19

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/reports-of-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-surging-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5351481

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2017/08/07/look-data-and-arguments-about-asian-americans-and-admissions-elite

The influx of vaccines could mean the end of the pandemic, but only if they're distributed and taken responsibly. In this episode, Alex and Christine discuss how corporations and nations are limiting access to the vaccines, how and why people might be afraid to take them, and the social responsibilities of getting vaccinated. 

Thank you again to Rachel E-F. for the Intro, outro and audio editing, as well as to the_sahebali for our logo.

Inspirations and further reading/watching:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/south-africa-paying-more-than-double-eu-price-for-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine

https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine-oxford-makes-a-deal-with-drugmaker/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-as-vaccine-supply-grows-scientists-debate-priority-ranking-for/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/covid-vaccine-profits-pharmaceutical-companies-pfizer-1.5812619