The Weekly Artifact

In this episode, we discuss the reparations, satanism, learning-by-doing, and proliferation of memes.

Endnotes:

1) 2:09 – Woods’s lawsuit was for $20,000, but the jury elected to award her only $2500, which would be the equivalent of $65,000 in 2019.

2) 4:21 – The first enslaved people were brought over in 1619, meaning slavery would have been going on for 259 years at this point in the trial

3) 8:38 – That is, "not only had it barely been that long since chattel slavery had been legally happening..."

4) 15:00 – The plan to provide the formerly enslaved with 40 acres of land and a mule was a real plan, however it was never implemented. For more, see Gates, Henry Louis Jr. “The Truth Behind ‘40 Acres and a Mule.’” PBS.

5) 17:38 – Grabianowski, Ed. “How Satanism Works,” How Stuff Works, 18 April 2017.

6) 26:52 – On 11/28/19, a Twitter user shared a tweet in which they tried to give advice for how to communicate bad news. The tweet became the source of much humor due to its general strangeness and seeming ineffectiveness at achieving its purported goals. For more, see: “Are You in the Right Headspace?” Know Your Meme.

7) 36:44 – Throughout this segment we discuss a lot of memes. I find Know Your Meme to be a useful resource for learning about memes I am unfamiliar with.

8) 39:11 – Zlatan. “Scopatumana,” Zanku, 2019.

Content Warnings: Enslavement, execution, sexual harassment, homicide.

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Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the Artifacts:

Bryant, Chuck and Josh Clark.  "How Satanism Works," Stuff You Should Know,  31 Aug. 2017, https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/how-satanism-works-29467653/

McDaniel, W. Caleb.  "In 1870, Henrietta Wood Sued for Reparations--and Won," Smithsonian Magazine,  Sept. 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/henrietta-wood-sued-reparations-won-180972845/

In this episode, we discuss the difficulty of changing someone's mind, Bong Joon Ho and the Oscars, speaking ill of the dead, and arguing with strangers online.

Endnotes:

22:35 – Between recording and publication, we both saw Parasite and it, of course, won the Oscar for Best Picture.

26:35 – of those 6 nominations, Parasite won 4 (Picture, Original Screenplay, Director, Foreign Language Film)

Content Warnings: Sexual references, death, ableist language.

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Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the Artifacts:

Jung, E. Alex.  "Bong Joon-ho’s Dystopia Is Already Here," Vulture,  7 Oct. 2019, https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/bong-joon-ho-parasite.html

Kolbert, Elizabeth.  "Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds," The New Yorker,  20 Feb. 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds

In this episode, we discuss being "contrarian," the whiteness of "LeftTube," bumper stickers, and UFOs.

Endnotes:

13:01 - A “TERF” is a “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist,” meaning an ostensible feminist who denies the validity of trans women as women (many have pointed out that such a fallacious denial would seem to imply that these people are neither feminist nor radical, but the term has stuck nonetheless).

31:57 – See ContraPoints's video if you are interested in what we were discussing behind the muzak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjMPJVmXxV8

45:22 – Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvnxF6Hwwmg 

Content Warnings: Racism, Transphobia, Vehicular assault.

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Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the Artifacts:

Lee III, Leslie and Jack Allison.  "Contrarian," Sound Cloud.  30 May 2019, https://soundcloud.com/strugglesesh/unlocked-94-contrarian

Watanabe, Marina.  "The Unbearable Whiteness of Leftist YouTube," Bitch Media.  5 Dec. 2019, https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/Unbearable-Whiteness-Leftist-YouTube-LeftTube

In this episode, we discuss comedy, writing from a perspective that's not your own, the use of "awkward," and embracing authentic emotion.

Endnotes:

12:58 – The someone is Nick Mullen

22:15 – The actress Claudia Kim plays Nagini in Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. According to the BBC, “Some have criticised the fact the only Asian actor in the cast plays a reptile that is a villain's slave.” “JK Rowling defends Nagini casting in Fantastic Beasts,” BBC, 27 Sept. 2018 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45666350

41:35 – Yes, literally. Also last decade.

Content Warnings: Racism, Spoilers for Snowpiercer

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Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the Artifacts:

Engstrom, Harrison.  "Comedy is Dead: A Measured Response," YouTube.  14 Oct. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqOKQ-0m6HE

Shapiro, Lila.  "Who Gave You the Right to Tell That Story?  Ten authors on the most divisive question in fiction, and the times they wrote outside their own identities," Vulture.  30 Oct. 2019, https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/who-gave-you-the-right-to-tell-that-story.html

In this episode, we discuss self-discovery, restorative justice, hunting versus factory farming, and unnecessarily long meetings.

Endnotes:

10:09 – That gay marriage is “completely accepted” is an overstatement since there are still plenty of individual people who oppose it and gay rights/liberation more broadly, but gay marriage is no longer an issue that gets brought up in the context of national politics and presidential debates; major national news networks and politicians no longer frame gay marriage as a controversial issue the way that they did just a few short years ago. To be clear, however, queer liberation is still a project that very much requires continued work.

19:20 – “stupid” https://twitter.com/PrideinScience/status/1147249034685341697; “naïve” https://twitter.com/mistercarpediem/status/1146465589185015808; “malevolent” https://twitter.com/Chaosfeminist/status/1146732181340876801; “bitch” https://twitter.com/Chaosfeminist/status/1146920772197216256

21:23 - According to the National Institute of Justice, 85-90% of college-aged female victims of sexual assault know their attacker prior to the assault https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/most-victims-know-their-attacker

26:50 - We are referring to hunting for food, not sport hunting.

31:47 - According to Daniel Pendick, Former Executive Editor of Harvard Men's Health Watch, the average American consumes 16% of their diet as protein when a lower 10% would be more appropriate. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-much-protein-do-you-need-every-day-201506188096

37:56 – This episode, in fact, came out in December.

Content Warnings: sexual assault, incarceration, rape, Jeffrey Epstein, PTSD, animal hunting, factory farming, and torture.

Follow us on Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/TheWeeklyArtifact/ 

Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the Artifacts:

Harrelson, Stefanie Mundhenk.  "I Was Sexually Assaulted. And I Believe Incarcerating Rapists Doesn’t Help Victims Like Me," The Appeal.  18 July 2019, https://theappeal.org/i-was-sexually-assaulted-and-i-believe-incarcerating-rapists-doesnt-help-victims-like-me/ 

Nilsen, Ingrid.  "How Do You Know You're Gay?" YouTube.  17 June 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wCKg4rzVbs 

In this episode we discuss the album Mannibalector, horror movies, the weird knocking sound Justin's been hearing every night, and Alex's missing teddy bear.

Endnotes: 1) 2:50 The Brotha Lynch Hung VladTV Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtyI-5uvHYQ 

2) 5:00 “Meat Cleaver” music video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITeHBbfqYwk 

3) 20:29 Between recording and publication Justin has also watched Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and The Descent.

Content Warnings: Homicide, Violence against women, Cannibalism, Torture

Links to Artifacts:

Brotha Lynch Hung.  Mannibalector.  Strange Music, 2013, https://open.spotify.com/album/28KzxdVOMdTW0T4bK8eDA5?si=FuJigwW8TXqfq3MkqqJsPw

CineFix.  "Top 5 Horror Movies of All Time."  YouTube.  24 Oct. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmE9rXL9ET0

In this episode we discuss toxic masculinity, white feminism, adoption, and cultural studies.

Endnotes: 1) In broad strokes, first wave feminism was mostly concerned with property rights and voting and occurred in the 19thand early 20th-centuries. Second wave feminism, occurring near the middle on the 20th-century focused on women gaining equality in the social sphere, and not being confined to roles inside the home as wives and mothers. Third wave feminism, beginning in the late 20th-century until the present, focuses on the failures of first and second wave feminism to consider the intersectional qualities of feminism—race, class, gender, etc (for more, see http://www.ohiohumanities.org/betty-friedan-the-three-waves-of-feminism/) However, my point is that to say that first/second wave feminism is white feminism is to neglect the work of pre-third wave feminists of color, such as Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964), Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), Audre Lorde (1934-1992), and many more (28:28).

2) One potential reason that adoption is a source of tension is the cost. Adopting from foster care generally costs virtually nothing, but other types of adoptions can cost up to $50,000. For me, see https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/s_costs.pdf (37:08)

3) “They” being the government (or any other institutional body with power over people) (46:39)

4) 2 of the last 4 Presidents have faced rape allegations, but none have been formally convicted of rape (51:48)

Content Warnings: domestic/sexual violence, terrorism, homicide, racism, rape, fertility issues, spoilers for the show Dead to Me, transphobia, and pedophilia

Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the artifacts:

Brown, Sherronda J. and Lara Witt.  "Fuck Lena Dunham and the White Feminist Horse She Rode in On."  Wear Your Voice.  6 Dec. 2018, https://wearyourvoicemag.com/race/fuck-lena-dunham-white-feminist

Johnson, Lacy M.  "Is Masculinity a Terrorist Ideology?"  Literary Hub.  15 May 2019, https://lithub.com/is-masculinity-a-terrorist-ideology/

In this episode we discuss transphobic remarks by Jon Stewart, Do Not Resuscitate orders, long movies, and the Notre Dame fire.

Content Warnings: transphobia, racism, sexism, death, terminal illness, anti-semitism, terrorism

Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the artifacts:

Chase, Suzi.  "Should We Forgive Jon Stewart?"  Susan's Place.  7 July 2015, https://www.susans.org/2015/07/07/forgive-jon-stewart/ 

Walsh, Bryan.  "Why Your Doctor Probably Has a 'Do Not Resuscitate' Order."  Time.  29 May 2014, https://time.com/131443/why-your-doctor-probably-has-a-do-not-resuscitate-order/ 

In this episode, we discuss "smartness," prison, nerd culture, and the fascist politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Endnotes: The television show Game of Thrones is made by HBO, which is owned by Warner Media (31:05)

Content Warning:  Slavery, Prison, Death Penalty, Rape, Murder, Pedophilia, Mass Shooting, Islamophobia, Bullying, Mental Health, Fascism, Spoilers for Black Panther, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Avengers: Infinity War 

Music by Nicholas Puzzuto

Links to the Artifacts:

Byhoff, Michael.  "How Norway Reinvented Prison."  Bloomberg, 22 June 2018.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb-gOS3p44U

Featherstone, Liza.   "Have You Heard? Pete Buttigieg Is Really Smart."  Jacobin, 1 Apr. 2019.  https://jacobinmag.com/2019/04/pete-buttigieg-president-democratic-primary

In this episode, we discuss nutrition labels, burial practices, bad driving, and the word "problematic."

Endnotes:  1) Water is more dense (as opposed to weighs more) than oil, to be precise (2:22)

Content Warning:  Death, Funerals, Burials/Alternative Burial Practices, Cancer, Dangerous Driving, Near Car Accidents, Racism, References to Nuclear Weapons

Links to the Artifacts:

Vihart.  "How Much is 'About 2' Really?"  YouTube, 25 July 2018.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxNPpte_6m4 

Vox.  " We Need to Change How We Bury The Dead."  24 Aug. 2017.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2dvXWX3Sdw