Joe Biden has decided Kamala Harris is to be his pick as vice president based on the fact she is an African-American woman. Should identity politics have a place in the presidential campaign, or should people of power be chosen rather on merit? (3:27-25:20). Dan Tehan has announced a review into Robert French’s freedom of speech on campus model. Should we be concerned about the issue of free speech rights on Australian campuses and should we be pushing further for a more in-depth review of this issue? (25:38-47:19). JK Rowling has been long under pressure to give in to the woke left whose failure to deal with the lessons of the Harry Potter Books and has subsequently faced the wrath of cancel culture. Does Harry Potter belong in the ‘woke left basket’ and are identity politics being taken too far by the cancel culture mob? (47:20-1:00:35). This week’s culture picks include Netflix’ series The Umbrella Academy, 2008 Australian movie Lake Mungo and 2019 film The Lighthouse (1:00:40-1:14:07)

Show Notes:

How Kamala Harris or Tammy Duckworth as VP could impact the Asian American and Pacific Islander vote: Deepa Shivaram

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/two-women-biden-s-vp-list-have-little-known-advantage-n1236073

Biden picks Kamala Harris as VP nominee: Christopher Cadelago and Caitlin Oprysko

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/11/joe-biden-vp-pick-kamala-harris-393768

Kamala Harris Got So High Smoking Weed in College She Thought She Was Listening To Snoop Dogg and Tupac: Nick Gillespie

https://reason.com/2019/02/12/kamala-harris-got-so-high-smoking-weed-i/

The Real Reason Cancel Culture is Rejecting “Harry Potter”: Renee Gorman

https://areomagazine.com/2020/08/07/the-real-reason-cancel-culture-is-rejecting-harry-potter/

Culture Picks:

The Lighthouse (2019)

the 2008 Australian film Lake Mungo.

the Umbrella Academy on Netflix

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Umbrella_Academy_(TV_series)