165 Responses to “Pitch a Show: November 2006”

1. jdyer Says:
   November 15th, 2006 at 9:09 pm

   What happened to the shows pitched on the October thread?

   Is this just a pro-forma exercise to make us believe that our input matters?

2. victory234 Says:
   November 15th, 2006 at 9:52 pm

   Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP, now pitching her book “Tough Choices”, is available until she is appointed Secretary of Defense. She wants to be a public servant, and David Packard was deputy secretary. Michael Beerman, professor emeritus of Harvard Business School, would be able to counter her arguments on her tough choices, making for a better understanding of her own toughness. She has an exceptional clarity of expression in response to questions.

3. Sutter Says:
   November 15th, 2006 at 10:11 pm

   Two unrelated show proposals:

   1. “The YouTube Election”: There’s a decent case to be made that YouTube and similar outlets played a defining role in the election of 2006. George Allen’s “Macaca Moment” – which may well have shifted the balance in the Senate – was posted online and found its way around the world, over and over and over. Ditto his bizarre response to a question about his Jewish roots, in which he suggested that to even suggest such roots was to cast aspersions. And it wasn’t just Allen: The web was full of amusing (or frightening) debate clips, catchy (or reprehensible) ads, and various assorted gaffes (Conrad Burns’ odd suggestion during one debate that the President had a “secret” plan to win in Iraq jumps to mind). Just a few years ago, these clips would have aired once, twice, or ten times on television, but would have received far, far less play than they did this online year. How did Internet video shape the 2006 races? Was it a democratizing shift of power away from the “media elites” and toward the people? An unfair way to put our public figures under an unflattering, 24-hour microscope? Something else entirely? And what will happen next cycle?

   2. “Whither the ‘Market Consensus’?” (You can come up with a less pretentious title!): Just years ago, there was much talk of the “Washington Consensus” in development policy, which favored widespread privatization of industry and elimination of public debt in the third world. Just years ago, the Republican party championed limited government spending. Just years ago, there was rough agreement in the “establishment” wings of both American parties (challenged, to be sure, both internally and externally) favoring NAFTA and similar trade-liberalization agreements. But all that, it seems, has fallen apart. The Washington Consensus has been met by the rise of populist leftism in South America and new development models in Asia that question the import-led approach presumed by the Bretton Woods organizations (World Bank, IMF, etc.). The Republican party has been seduced by spending – and deficits. And it appears that the era of free trade may, to paraphrase President Clinton, be over. What has happened to the market consensus? Is it dead? Or just resting? And in either case, what will take its place?

4. Brighton Says:
   November 15th, 2006 at 10:23 pm

   Three suggestions:

   1. Weimar

   In an interview in Ha’aretz (December 2004) Amos Elon (author of the excellent “Pity of It All“) said to the interviewer Ari Shavit: “If it hadn’t ended so horribly, today we’d be singing the praises of Weimar culture. We’d be comparing it to the Italian renaissance. What happened there in the fields of literature, psychology, painting and architecture didn’t happen anywhere else. There hadn’t been anything like it since the Renaissance.” A couple of months ago two guests (Sean Wilenz and Simon Schama), if I heard them correctly, were singing the praises of American culture even as they conceded its politics are in the toilet. Look into the assertion more carefully. Invite them back. (They don’t just write – they know stuff.) I must be missing something because all I see at the level of popular culture (say, television) is the clearest expression of the culture of death. For example, every crime show has become a gratuitous anatomy lesson. (If Weimar had television, would the Germans have been watching what we watch?) In any event, what made Weimar Weimar and how does American culture in all its aspects, including “literature, psychology, painting and architecture,” measure up?

   2. Black Athena Redux

   Coming this month after a 10 years hiatus the brilliant Martin Bernal is about to publish the third volume of his badly named Black Athena series. Despite being pummeled by the likes of Mary Lefkowitz and her ilk, Bernal soldiers on as he attempts to deflate a great Western conceit, namely, an isolated Greece as the origins of classical civilization. It was a nasty affair when the first two books were published. My favorite example of academic baseness was Lefkowitz’s publishing in her “Black Athena Revisited” collection an essay that she revised based on a Bernal response in the New Republic that she refused to publish in her book. If Lefkowitz didn’t have a tenured position, that kind of crap might be grounds for dismissal. To be fair, all the articles written for and against Bernal are fascinating and have tremendous value. Attention should be paid by Roxbury Latin boy Lydon.

   3. The Officer Corps

   What’s in the minds of the officer corps of the American armed forces? One of the better imperial analogies applied to America is the late Roman Republic where competing oligarchs vie for control and use huge armies to impose their will. Surely, it makes sense to try to gain a sense of what political thoughts (if any) course through the heads of the American officer corp. (The issue of religious freedom at the Air Force Academy suggests that there may be some scary characters, like General Boykin, running through the halls of the Pentagon. That the officers in Iraq could allow blatant torture of Iraqi detainees is revealing and disturbing. ) A huge military apparatus supplemented by a not inconsequential number of civilian mercenaries sits atop a shaky economic and political base that’s led it into a disastrous war. The assumption that the military will sit idly by forever and blindly obey whatever an incompetent civilian leadership decides could be mistaken. What happens if the military budget, which some estimate to be $800 billion a year, is ever rolled back to more reasonable levels? Will the hundreds of thousands of troops and their commanders (who by some accounts live a better life overseas than they could at home) meekly pack their bags if hundreds of overseas bases are closed? The thoughts and dreams of officer corps is an empirical question, not subject to simple speculation.

5. Samnang Says:
   November 16th, 2006 at 11:26 am

   Apperently the war in Iraq just passed a landmark. We’ve been there as long as we were in World War II. To me this is a crap comparison. If we’re going to make a comparison we have to compare the occupations as well. We’ve been in Germany and Japan for about 60 years now.

   In any event, I think it is time someone was talking about what we learned from prior occupations. Many people point to the abundant U.S. aide flowing after the war, but in truth Germany got a comparitively small piece of the U.S. aide pie, yet had the biggest economic miracle.

   What did we learn from the occupations of Japan and Germany? What worked? What didn’t. Why didn’t we see massive insergencies in Germany and Japan? Why didn’t the German army go underground and keep fighting? Were did their German and Japanese economic miracles come from?

   What makes Iraq different from Germany and Japan? Can we replicate their ecconomic mericles in any way? Were the Germans and the Japanese just in the right places at the right times to experience massive economic growth and stable democratization -or- was there some policy, some enabler, some decision, that U.S., British, Iraqi and Afghani policy makers could reproduce.

6. thecatspajamas Says:
   November 16th, 2006 at 12:38 pm

   A discussion on the American diet, whether or not it is dysfunctional, and what is at the root of the way we eat would be interesting…

   When I was at my company’s holiday party, someone brought up the situation in New York where trans-fats are being banned. A few months ago, foie-gras was banned in Chicago, causing a bizarre foie-gras binge of sorts where pizza joints prepared pizzas with it as a topping so people could get their ‘fill’ before the ban.

   Why not do a show on what we eat, how we eat, food production, how the food we consume gets from point A to point B, is Organic food really better than other foods available, etc. ???

   Some books:
   ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma,’ by Michael Pollan
   ‘The United States of Arugula,’ by David Kamp

   Healthcare costs are affected by all the junk that we have been eating over the past few decades… (corn, corn, and more corn).

7. Scarequotes Says:
   November 16th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

   They came late in the October thread and haven’t received a response, so I’ll point out a couple of pitches I made: Are we doomed to drown in plastic? and The unique perils of serial narrative.

   And though I didn’t link to it in my original pitch thread, Matt Zoller Seitz and his compadres at The House Next Door would be great candidates for discussing serial narrative — they’ve done clear-eyed, intelligent reviews of shows considered masterpieces of the genre (The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, and the problematic Lost. Why yes, this pitch may just be a sneaky way for me to plug a television show — though I think comics and serial novels (Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, etc.) add an extra dimension.)

   thecatspajamas: You should check out The Children of the Corn Subsidies, an interesting show from April that had Pollan on.

8. hurley Says:
   November 16th, 2006 at 3:03 pm

   I think you could make good radio from all the shows suggested on this thread so far, but I was particularly struck by Brighton’s first two ideas. Wither Weimar, indeed. Also Black Athena. Whether Bernal is right or wrong, his ideas — and the reaction to them — set so many important ideas in motion worth hearing about. In the event, I suggest two guests: Perry Anderson (among other things, one of the great English stylists of the age), who wrote an interesting review of the first volume back in the day; and Thomas McEvilley, who devotes an appendix to Black Athena in his recent, similarly ground-breaking, The Shape of Ancient Thought.

9. Old Nick Says:
   November 16th, 2006 at 3:18 pm

   Yup. What hurley said. Both those ideas from Brighton are (metaphorically) mouth-watering.

10. emmettoconnell Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 4:32 pm

    The 50 State Strategy vs. whatever the once loved James Carville would prefer. I could see this as a gateway into a “what are political parties are good for?” discussion.

    Guests could include Don Fowler (who has defended Howard Dean), someone from Involve.org, who wrote a great paper called “Post Party Politics,” and someone from Blue Tiger Democrats, who have a very civic engagement centered vision for the Democratic Party.

11. inkgod Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

    The show with Edna O’Brien was brilliant and I’d love to hear more shows inspired by literature. Gore Vidal’s new memoir “Point to Point Navigation” has been released, and an hour with him would be fascinating indeed.

    A show on poetry would also be a breath of fresh air; perhaps with W.S. Merwin or Billy Collins.

12. Old Nick Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 6:57 pm

    Having recently recognized the power and pervasiveness of exceptionalism in all manner of human organizations, from families to nations, corporations to religions, and, especially, in social classes, I’ve been trying to figure out an angle to suggest it as a show topic. Well, I’ve failed.

    But then, like manna from heaven, I heard about Senator-elect Jim Webb’s opinion piece on the growing class divide in American society.
    Now, I don’t know if it’s feasible to try examining the role of exceptionalism in this context. Dan Qualye’s infamous “Why punish the best people?” complaint about progressive taxation-rates smacks to me of class-exceptionalism, in that it equates obscene levels of wealth with a person’s virtue, of all things. But exceptionalism isn’t (yet) a commonly understood concept, which might render premature any attempt to use it alone as the lens for a survey of the wider truth represented by the James Webb piece. Nevertheless, a look at the Webb piece that combines class-exceptionalism with a historical lens might offer a great hour of cutting-edge radio.
    It might manifest as something like this:

    Show segment #1: a few minutes with Jim Webb.
    Show segment #2: 18 minutes with a historian of, say, the American Gilded Age. (I don’t know whom to suggest; but you folks in MA must have access to a zillion professors – or perhaps someone reading this now can suggest someone appropriate).
    Show segment #3: 19 minutes with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ehrenreich“>Barbara Ehrenreich, to bring the discussion of the class-divide into the present.

    I wish this suggestion were better articulated, but I’m only just beginning to reexamine our human world through the exceptionalism-lens. Which means I’m requesting this show in part to improve my own comprehension of the as-yet foggy and yet startlingly clear images I’m beginning to perceive through the new conceptual lens.
    Thank you (as always).

13. Old Nick Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 7:00 pm

    Oops. I meant, of course, Barbara Ehrenreich.

14. Greta Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 7:41 pm

    Hi jdyer —

    I should have said that to find the previous thread to check up on your old pitches, you can follow any of the links at the top of this new thread, or you can follow this one:

    http://www.radioopensource.org/pitch-a-show-late-october-2006/

    We’re still playing catch-up on the last few pitches. We’ll post our responses to those last ones in both threads.

15. OpenVortex Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 8:05 pm

    I don’t know how far in advance you plan these, but some time in the next six months it would be good to revisit the housing bubble. Causes, consequences, crooks and cons, contributions of bloggers (Patrick, Housing Panic, …), caught in the flow (Casey Serin), can we tell how bad it is going to get?

    If the show were soon it could take a look at what, if anything, could the Dems do to head off trouble. Or maybe it would be better in the spring once we can see the numbers for how retail did over the holidays, and what the housing market looks like.

16. Brighton Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 10:30 pm

    One more suggestion:

    Imagine a new Constitution

    Robert Dahl in “How Democratic Is the American Constitution?” points out the US Constitution was flawed from the start, a necessary compromise cobbled together to keep slaveholders and small blackmailing states in the Union. The American Constitution and the resulting power wielded by small states in the Senate is and has been an impediment to economic and social progress. Arguing about what party should rule or what policy a candidate should pursue however worthy or progressive misses the point when the underlying structure may be seriously if not fatally flawed. The argument is not new and did not originate with Dahl. (See also Hendrik Hertzberg’s review of Dahl’s book in the New Yorker [July25, 2002].) William Lloyd Garrison wrote in 1832 “that the people of the North should not be intimidated into silence by veneration of a document ‘dripping as it is with human blood’” (Henry Mayer, “All On Fire, William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery,” p.143.) From the get-go the “three-fifths” clause sent the American train heading in the wrong direction. (See David Brion Davis, “Inhuman Bondage.”)

    Reforming the constitutional system may be impossible. As Dahl notes, “The likelihood of reducing the extreme inequality of representation in the Senate is virtually zero.” Even more problematic is the outcome of a constitutional convention if that were the mechanism of reform. There’s no guarantee that the good guys would prevail. On the contrary, the outcome could be disastrous (for example, the curtailment or revocation of the Bill of Rights). Even so, the issues that Dahl and others raise must be discussed because no matter what the ultimate outcome of this election or the next, the Property Party with its two big business-friendly variants will prevail. A state like Montana will not suddenly rediscover its radical past because it elected a Democrat. On the contrary, the smaller the state, the easier (cheaper) it is that its Senators and Representatives can be bought off.

    The commitment to the rule of law is waning. Witness the attempted impeachment of Clinton, the 2000 election, the Patriot Act, Texas redistricting, and on and on. The Constitution is being re-written by the right. Witness the prominence of Torquemada poster boys like Posner and Dershowitz who prove that you don’t have to be either Spanish or Catholic to be willing to auto-de-fe a sacred old piece of paper.

    It’s time to focus on the rule making itself so imagine what a better Constitution might look like. For example, why not the turn the Senate into a toothless House of Lords. Lord Kennedy or Lord McCain has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

17. manning120 Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 11:20 pm

    The October 17, 2006 NYT had a fascinating article by Jeff Stein, “Can you tell a Sunni from a Shiite?” He starts with the premise that government officials responsible for U.S. counterterrorism ought to know the difference so that they can “recognize opportunities for pitting these rivals against each other.” That I find not just fatuous, but dangerous. Clearly morality demands that we attempt to reduce the horror, not stoke it. However, the article makes a positive contribution by explaining something that has left me both puzzled and amazed, namely, that none of the U.S. policy makers anticipated the disaster unleashing the two factions within Iraq would cause. The explanation: most intelligence and law-enforcement officials, and members of Congress, had, and apparently still have, no idea of the differences between the two groups. (I would also question the level of understanding at the presidential level, something Stein doesn’t address in his article.) Stein recounts discussing the matter with Terry Everett, vice chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence. After Stein offered a short explanation, Everett said, “Now that you’ve explained it to me, what occurs to me is that it makes what we’re doing over there extremely difficult, not only in Iraq but that whole area.”

    Since all else seems to have failed, perhaps attempting to actually understand the people we thought would greet us as liberators and adopt democratic ideals would be a step forward.

18. Hans Weise Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 1:08 pm

    I love the show and listen to nearly every one as a podcast, but I’m suffering from news & politics fatigue — particularly after this election. I miss the passion shows. Or the slightly more anachronistic topics. How about these:

    1) Ron Rosenbaum on the Shakespeare Wars
    2) Alain de Botton on Architecture
    3) A passion for graphic design (I often ride the Maryland MARC train into DC, and the signage is appalling — particularly compared to European transit design. Why? How does good design define a space, an idea, an urban setting, a mood, a system?)
    4) What would Augustus say to the Democrats about waging war? Anthony Everitt has a new biography out. Let’s ask him.
    5) Science fiction. Let’s take it seriously and see what it has to say about us in the 21st century. How have we lived up to the expections of the great 20th century scifi writers, and how have we not?

19. plnelson Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 2:09 pm

    “so that they can “recognize opportunities for pitting these rivals against each other.” That I find not just fatuous, but dangerous. Clearly morality demands that we attempt to reduce the horror, not stoke it.”

    I don’t think morality demands any such thing. I think morality demands that we come up with a policy that WORKS so that Iraq or whatever future states it is broken up into, are stable and peaceful and we are OUT of there. If pitting Shia and Sunni agains each other achieves that then why is it immoral? (Of course if it DOESN’T achieve it, it’s immoral because it creates human suffering with no benefit).

    So with this exchange in mind, I suggest a show on moral values or moral persuasion. Are there objective moral systems? How do we test competing systems of morality for “rightness”? How do we compare different degrees of good and bad, i.e., is it ever OK to commit one BIG bad act to prevent lots and lots of LITTLE bad acts? Is it OK to tell a lie to prevent a murder? How about a million lies? Is it OK to torture an innocent person to prevent a thousands deaths? A million deaths? What if you just THINK you’re preventing deaths?

    Given that moral systems lie at the basis of most of the debates we have here a show (or several because we’ve already had one) on moral systems would be illuminating.

20. plnelson Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 2:21 pm

    ALSO could we PLEASE have more shows that are NOT about current events? You can’t open a car door without knocking over a pundit who has an opinion and a blog to match about the Mideast, Islam, US politics or global warming. So we don’t NEED so much of that!

    How about some shows on poetry, art, literature, etc? I suggest a show about ekphratic poetry (poetry about art) or a show on French sensualist writers such as Apollinaire, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, etc. It would allow us to discuss poetry, food, the pleasures of the flesh and music without once mentioning car bombings and drowning polar bears.

21. poncho Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 5:31 pm

    Here’s the Pitch-

    Politics Imitates Blogs (or Elections 2007)

    Last night, Segolene Royal became the first woman to be nominated as the Presidental candidate of the PS, one of France’s two main political parties.

    As Julio Godoy writes at http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35516 -

    “Royal has a blog, “Désirs d’avenir” (“Wishes for the future”), which allows party members and sympathisers to express their views via the Internet. The blog is actually a book in progress, and is to serve as a basis for her policy proposals.

    While the candidate calls this method “participative democracy”, her approach has led her opponents to criticise her as “populist.” Former Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin, who until late September aspired to be the party’s presidential candidate for 2007, said her style was “illegitimate.”

    Some of the thread topics include,
    “How to achieve the republican promise of equal education”
    “Building tomorrow’s social safety net”
    “France and Immigration”
    “France in the World”
    “Downloading : How to reconcile artistic remuneration with internet freedom.”

    Is this the beginning of governance by blog? The first pull democracy?

    And if Royal, the wife of Francois Hollande (head of her party, the PS) can suceed in taking the title “Madame President”, in the Latin culture of France, will that put some wind in the sails of Hillary Clinton?

    As I guest, I would suggest Bernard Chazelle if he’s available. He is masterful at explaining France and his fellow Frenchmen to his fellow Americans.

22. anmar Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 7:04 pm

    First since I’ve been living in Mexico(I’m from the US), it seems about time you did a show about our neighbors to the South. Many interesting political and cultural changes occurring here. Immigration from the Mexican point of view would be interesting too.

    Also after hearing the show about homosexuality and the church, I thought you could do a show about “hipster” fundementalists churches. Seattle has one led by a rabidly misogynist pastor, seems to hate women even more than gays. Its the largest church in Seattle now, pews filled with tattooed, asymetrical haired congregants who can’t wait to repopulate Seattle with conservative Christians. The alternative paper the Stranger’s staff/archives would be place to start researching.

23. manning120 Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 10:40 pm

    Referring to plnelson’s post today: pitting antagonists against each other so that they harm each other is morally equivalent to harming the antagonists yourself. If innocents are hurt in the process, you become responsible for that, too.

    You say, “If pitting Shia and Sunni against each other achieves that then why is it immoral? (Of course if it DOESN’T achieve it, it’s immoral because it creates human suffering with no benefit).” Results in a single instance don’t determine the moral value of an action. Maybe, especially considering your excellent questions later in your post, you were trying to say that in some circumstances, such as when self defense is the issue, pitting antagonists against each other could be morally justified. I don’t think, though, that the present circumstances would justify the U.S. in escalating the already tragic situation by using deceptions that play upon religious beliefs to amplify the violence and hatred between Shiites and Sunnis.

    A program on how increased knowledge of the thinking of these groups (we might as well include the Kurds) could be used to help them live peacefully together in a free Iraq – THAT would grab my attention.

24. ChelseaM Says:
    November 18th, 2006 at 12:08 am

    Samnag: As we approached Election Day we decided that our next project would be to focus on Iraq. You offer a very interesting way in which we should be looking at the US occupation. We’ll do some research to see if there are some good talkers who could turn this into an engaging hour of radio.

    Thecatspajamas: The Following shows have addressed, if somewhat tangentially, the American diet and where our food comes from:

    The Children of the Corn Subsidies
    We Say Potato
    The End of Free Will

    Scarequotes: The idea that we may drown in plastic interests me tremendously. I’ll see if I can get the rest of the Open Source staff enthusiastic about making this into a show. Stay tuned.

    Inkgod: Chris ordered two copies of Point to Point Navigation this week. They came in the mail yesterday and we’ll be reading them over Thanksgiving.

    OpenVortex: Last year we did a show on the housing bubble: The Beginning of the End of the Bubble. If you have any suggestions as to how we can look at the housing bubble afresh we’d love to know.

    Old Nick: The idea of doing a show on exceptionalism is interesting and one worth exploring though Webb’s editorial isn’t quite the right peg. Do you think this could be the next installment in our Race and Class series?

25. Samnang Says:
    November 18th, 2006 at 7:35 pm

    To TheCatsPajamas: The american diet is always popular on the show Science friday. They like to talk about:

    The way government policy effects what is grown and where.
    How far food travels to get to your table.
    What happens to the environment because of the way our food is grown and fertalized.
    Eating locally.
    The corn economy and its political backers.
    The effect of Biofuels on the food industry.
    GM foods and plants.
    Organic foods and farming.

26. JohnS Says:
    November 18th, 2006 at 11:54 pm

    You ask what is new about Muhammad Yunus and Grameen style microcredit.
    But you did not say specifically from what date. Since your site search function yields no results for “microcredit” “microfinance” “Yunus” or “Grameen” the only idea I have of a date would be the show Chris did on The Connection. I vaguely remember this being 5, 6 or 7 years ago.

    Since that date there is much that is new. Beginning perhaps with the increasing internationalization of the work, the multiplying of the groups making loans to poor people and groups supporting those making loans.

    Government involvement has much changed. Sometimes for the better with regulations that have allowed Grameen and others to operate more like regular banks so they have access to more capital and can offer more services. India requires banks to do some lending to the poor. Some of this is done by (something like) subcontracting to microcredit agencies.

    Sometimes governments have acted for the worse. I forget where I heard that a local government somewhere in India nearly or perhaps entirely shut down the operations of one or perhaps all of the microcredit organizations in its area.

    Also there is the expansion of services from microcredit to microfinance (particularly savings and insurance).

    The Grameen Bank has had many changes. The entire structure of lending and repayments has been changed. The most significant perhaps being how defaults, particularly after disasters like flooding, are handled. They now make loans to beggars.

    Grameen continues to add companies similar to (but I suspect nothing as spectacular as) Grameen Phone. Mobile phone operations are being spread to other countries.

    The Grameen Foundation has a technology center in Washington State developing back office software for microcredit agencies and technology useful to borrowers. http://www.grameenfoundation.org/what_we_do/technology_programs/
    And the software is being developed as open source software.

27. Willfro Says:
    November 19th, 2006 at 5:38 am

    Pitch a show:

    I’m a devoted fan of Chris’ arts coverage, so I thought a piece to contrast the “Pain of Borat” might be something like “The Joy of Horror”. Right now, the world is exploding with actual atrocity. What makes fictional terror so compelling that I have to read the back of every cheap DVD in the horror section? (I vividly remember mentioning to my psychiatrist that the best version of Dracula ever made was Silence of the Lambs. He got so excited, we spent the next two sessions discussing it…)

    Horror often gets one of two treatments in the press- either the nostalgic Karloff/Lugosi tribute or the psychoanalytic final girl analysis – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl . Final girl theory is interesting (Alien is a very pure “final girl” film), but horror responds to a much broader range of inquiry, and American work stands at the center of the genre.

    Michel Houellebecq’s book, new to English, H.P. Lovecraft, Against the World, Against Life, lays out a case for Lovecraft’s writing as an existential push against the impersonal terror of a godless universe scaled far beyond human comprehension. Which, frankly, is not an original thought on Houellebecq’s part, being something Lovecraft himself said in his letters. Having not yet read the book, I can’t say what else he adds to the thesis, but he’s getting a lot of critical attention for it.

    Houellebecq apparently speaks English, so you could get him on the show, and Stephen King wrote a critical introduction to the book, so he’s another good one, although I’m not a huge fan of his work.

    Besides Lovecraft, there are all sorts of interesting works and authors out there to investigate. Shirley Jackson’s work sits comfortably in the horror category- The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in a Castle, The Lottery – although her prose is leaps and bounds beyond Lovecraft. http://www.salon.com/jan97/jackson2970106.html

    Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chainsaw Massacre stands as one of the great Surrealist documents of the past century. In my opinion, he’s never come close to matching it, but that’s hardly important. As a statement about family, sexuality and America, it stands happily next to Hill House, and is as exquisitely crafted as any of Jackson’s novels.

    Another great American film would be the original Night of the Living Dead. George Romero is pretty explicit about the political parable in his work, but there’s something about brain eating zombies that caught the public’s attention in the last couple years that goes beyond his original metaphor.

    I could go on- the weird, weird work of Japanese cartoonist Junji Ito- http://www.amazon.com/Uzumaki-Vol-1-Junji-Ito/dp/1569317143 gets called “Lovecraftian”, but is it’s own inspired nonsense. The ideas are inane- town is cursed by “a spiral”, fish grow legs, but the images and implications are fascinating and powerful.

    (Hey, Linda Davis just came out with a new biography of Charles Addams, http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Addams-Cartoonists-Linda-Davis/dp/0679463259, speaking of cartoonists and horror.)

    Anyway, I just wanted to seed the idea…

28. plnelson Says:
    November 19th, 2006 at 1:59 pm

    “A program on how increased knowledge of the thinking of these groups (we might as well include the Kurds) could be used to help them live peacefully together in a free Iraq – THAT would grab my attention.”

    That assumes that such increased knowledge would have that effect. Maybe it would have the opposite effect – ever heard the expression, “familiarity breeds contempt?”. 10 years ago I had barely HEARD of Shiites and Sunni’s. But in recent years we’ve seen HUNDREDS of terrorist attacks against innocent civilians carried out by both groups, and not just in Iraq! We’ve seen reliable polls and studies showing widespread popular support in both communities for acts and organizations that are plainly violent and terrorist. We’ve seen a run on electric drills and acid as members of both communities put their talents toward finding ever more creative ways of torturing their prisoners.

    I’m sure they love their children and cook fascinating traditional food and play haunting beautiful music, etc, etc, but I don’t see how knowing that will help. The fact that WGBH has added an extra hour of news programming to their morning schedule has already caused me to reduce the size of my donation, because that’s one more hour I have to hear about Sunnis and Shiites blowing each other up when I could be listening to classical music.

    As I said above, I would like to have LESS current events programming on ROS.

29. patsyb Says:
    November 19th, 2006 at 3:41 pm

    Poet Adrienne Rich has just been awarded the US National Book Foundation 2006 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (not the first lifetime achievement award). Let’s bring her in, to hear her reflect on the role of poetry, anti-war acticism, the state of “compulsory heterosexuality,” and other women writers, including Emily Dickinson. A bio of her can be found at: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rich/bio.htm. To my mind, Rich is still the 20th century’s most insufficiently heralded American “legislator of the world.”

    I also further endorse suggestions made above about discussing Martin Bernal.

30. Old Nick Says:
    November 19th, 2006 at 4:47 pm

    1. Chelsea, it seems to me that any peg for ripping the lid off of exceptionalism would be better than none. And if the covert, nearly unrecognized ideology of “White Privilege” isn’t a good starting point, I don’t what is!

    2. It seems about a year since ROS last offered an hour on women and/or feminism. It’s been so long, in fact, that the topic of the times is now called ‘post-post-feminism’…

    Are women still “ Prisoners of Men’s Dreams ”, as Suzanne Gordon put in her 1991 feminist bestseller?
    Ariel Levy might agree. In her Female Chauvinist Pigs, Levy “argues that the term ‘sexy’ is defined by a pervasive raunch culture wherein women make sex objects of other women and of ourselves…
    …(this dynamic) has usurped the keywords of the women’s movement (liberation, empowerment) to serve as buzzwords for a female sexuality that denies passion (in all its forms) and embraces consumerism. To understand how this happened, Levy examines the women’s movement, identifying the residue of divisive, unresolved issues about women’s relationship to men and sex. The resulting raunch feminism, she writes, is a garbled attempt at continuing the work of the women’s movement and asks, how is resurrecting every stereotype of female sexuality that feminism endeavored to banish good for women?”

    Laura Kipnis tackles much the same psycho/philosophical terrain in her new The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability, whose Powell’s blurb declares,
    “Kipnis now offers a fresh and provocative assessment of the female condition in the post-post-feminist world of the twenty-first century. For every advance toward sexual equality on the part of women in recent years, she argues, some new impediment just ‘seems’ to appear. Ironically, feminism ran up against an unanticipated opponent: the inner woman…
    “An ambitious and original reassessment of feminism and women’s ambivalence about it, The Female Thing brims with bracing and funny social observations informed by psychological acuity… Feminism is bedeviled by the same impasses and contradictions it seeks to rectify. But rather than blaming the usual suspects — men, the media — Kipnis takes a hard look at culprits closer to home, namely women themselves and their complicity in upholding male privilege, even as they resent men deeply for it…”

    I’ve a strong suspicion that an hour pairing Levy with Kipnis would be far from sterile and dull.
    And two isn’t enough: for yet one more potential counterpoint, Elizabeth Wurtzel might make a fascinating third guest.

31. Old Nick Says:
    November 19th, 2006 at 4:54 pm

    Oops. That final sentence was meant to begin, “And if two isn’t enough…”

32. emmettoconnell Says:
    November 20th, 2006 at 2:01 am

    Some more stuff for my pitch for “Political Parties 2.0″ idea.

    Blue Tiger Democrats get a friend in Michigan to fully implement their program (at the Association of State Party Chairs meeting this weekend), and a great talk by Bill Samuels earlier this month (google video).

33. Old Nick Says:
    November 20th, 2006 at 2:17 am

    Lo and behold! Tonight brought probably the perfect ‘peg’ to combine exceptionalism with the ROS Race and Class Series: Walter Ben Michaels’s new book, The Trouble With Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality.
    Walter Ben Michaels was the guest on Tavis Smiley’s show this weekend: http://www.tavistalks.com/TTcom/TSradio/WalterBennMichaels111706.html
    The segment is but a few minutes long. In it, Michaels makes the case that, numerically, most poor people aren’t black; yet blacks are disproportionately represented among the poor. This disproportional representation obscures the fundamental problem, class. Because even if you can manage to redress the overrepresentation of blacks among the teeming poor, you’ll still not have addressed the fundamental social flaw that we Americans never want to discuss: inequity by class, reinforced not merely by ‘supply-side’ economics, but by the occluded yet real conceits of classism. We should be thinking, Michaels says, about altering the basic economic structure of the society, not the skin colors of the advantaged and the disadvantaged.

    How this pertains to exceptionalism: Michaels answers a question from Tavis Smiley regarding how to make the issue a socially acceptable topic by saying, “If you think about the structures of our elections, and what those elections are fought about, what they’re almost never fought about is the question of economic inequality… In order to be a conservative in this country you ought to have to defend economic inequality. You ought to be able to say, ‘Look, I get that it’s unequal, but it’s right for it to be unequal, and here’s why…’”

    That, I contend, is a demand that class-based exceptionalism be hauled out from the shadows it lurks within to become exposed, ugly warts and all, to the bright light of a national debate. Who better than ROS to take a lead in it?

    Give the Smiley segment a listen. And check out the reviews of Michaels’s book here.

34. Old Nick Says:
    November 20th, 2006 at 12:51 pm

    My last suggestion until this thread turns over. Promise.

    metin recently asked whether the USA is democracy or a republic. It’s the latter, but why?
    Meanwhile, Brighton asks us to Consider a New Constitution. Others of us have asked for a show examining that same issue.
    Is the 1787 Constitution adequate for modern democracy?
    People are beginning to grumble.
    In Friday’s Boston Globe, no less a luminary than Bill Maher has joined the muttering We-The-People grumbler chorus:

    “There’s no out-of-the-box thinking in this country. If we were really looking for a new direction, we’d not just change Congress, we’d have another Constitutional Convention, as (Thomas) Jefferson suggested we do. Jefferson said: ‘Let us provide in our Constitution for its revision. . . every 19 or 20 years. . . so that it may be handed on, with periodical repairs, from generation to generation.’ He himself was saying, ‘I’m a bright guy, but even I can’t foresee the iPod.’ Or the assault rifle.

    “But that’s Jefferson’s phrase: periodical repairs. This thing needs periodical repairs, but it hasn’t been in the shop for 219 years. Of course it’s belching oil. Literally. And that’s because one of the glaring flaws a Constitutional Convention might correct is something called corporate personhood, which means somewhere along the way, stupid or corrupted courts gave corporations all the rights of individuals, with none of the liability. If some person defecates on your lawn, we throw him in jail, but if a corporation does it, they get a tax break. Somehow ‘we the people’ got to be defined as Halliburton. This thing needs to go in the shop!”
    http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1117-32.htm
    He’s right. In several billion-a-week different ways. For 300 million different damn good reasons.

    Sanford Levinson articulates the same case in Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It). It’s time—high time—for a new Constitutional Convention, as Levinson proposes in his easy to read, hard to refute argument.

    Is there a show here?
    A short list of prospective guests: Sanford Levinson, Bill Maher, Daniel Lazare, Thom Hartmann, and heck, maybe even Bernie Sanders.
    (I regret I couldn’t think off the top of my head of any female constitutional dissidents. Apologies, therefore, to the 51% of the population I’ve unimaginatively neglected.)
    Thanks.

35. hurley Says:
    November 20th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

    Good idea, Old Nick. In the event, Gore Vidal has been calling for a new Constitutional Convention for longer than I’ve been alive.
    On a related matter, I’d also like to see a show about impeachement, but I’ll flesh that out another time.

36. Katherine Says:
    November 20th, 2006 at 3:02 pm

    Hans Weise and plnelson: We hear you on the non-news-and-politics front. It’s always hard, with just one show a day, to find the right balance — and only more so during election season. But stay tuned the end of this week and much of next week for some different kinds of shows.

    poncho: Open source politics — a good pitch. It could translate to a show if something actually comes of Royal’s opening up her policymaking on her blog. Please prod us again down the line on this one.

    anmar: A post-election show on immigration from the Mexican perspective — could be a good way to revisit Central America. We’ll talk about it in a story meeting.

    manning120: Trying to understand what Sunnis and Shiites want in raq and how they see the world differently might be interesting — especially now that our approach to Iraq may be changing.

37. anmar Says:
    November 20th, 2006 at 6:24 pm

    Also with a Mexico immigration show, some posssible points to discuss that will affect how many immigrants will come in the next couple years 1)December there will be a new president and his suspiciously close election(not unlike the US) is still contested by many 2)the popular uprising in Oaxaca and leftist guerilla groups are more active in the south 3)Narcotraffic organizations are becoming more active emboldened by the political uncertainty and arrests of top cartel leaders.

38. Kate Logan Says:
    November 21st, 2006 at 2:36 pm

    I want to hear a show about civics. Not a show about why civics is important to
    our country, but a show about nuts and bolts civics. It is not taught in schools
    any longer and hasn’t been for some time. I graduated from HS ten years ago and
    I got a spattering during one semester of government class.
    Richard Dreyfuss just talked about this on Real Time w/ Bill Maher here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4GLrFkfVS4
    We often hear complaints about voting against a candidate instead of voting
    for a candidate. Voter turn out is very low, voter apathy is incredibly high.
    We need to know the following (at a minimum):
    a. how our Democracy is structured
    b. what the specific jobs are of different government positions and branches
    c. exactly how government is funded and how specific branches, departments,
    and projects are funded
    d. what responsibilities, government in general and specific elected officials,
    have to the citizenry
    d. the structure of state and local governments
    e. how state and local governments work with/against the federal government
    f. what responsibilities the CITIZENRY has in the proper functioning of government
    Some "civics" blogs and websites…
    http://jonozaksut.blogspot.com/
    http://takeaction.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/we-must-teach-more-better-civics-in-the-us/
    http://www.closeup.org/civic-ed.htm

39. plnelson Says:
    November 21st, 2006 at 7:49 pm

    ‘Look, I get that it’s unequal, but it’s right for it to be unequal, and here’s why…’”

    That, I contend, is a demand that class-based exceptionalism be hauled out from the shadows it lurks within to become exposed, ugly warts and all, to the bright light of a national debate.

    If you think so you should take a look at the Letters section of today’ Wall Street Journal. LOTS of writers all basically taking the same “Look, I get that it’s unequal, but it’s right for it to be unequal, and here’s why…” but not based on CLASS exceptionalism, but INDIVIDUAL exceptionalism. (I ferget what set them all off)

    Within the conservative movement there’s a strong sector that argues that the wealthy class is not a ‘class’ at all, but just a group of talented, creative, hard-working individuals. They point to lots of people in it who started with nothing and no special advantages but who became wealthy and powerful.

40. jdyer Says:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 12:41 am

    A show about Gore Vidal?

    Bah, humbug.

    Though I am sure that given the fake’s views on Israel he and Lydon have a lot in common.

    Btw: Watch for the Sunday Times Book Review of Vidal’s latest narcissistic cri de coeur.

    There will also be a front page review of Pynchon’s latest fantastic voyage into nowhere.

41. jdyer Says:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 12:44 am

    I doubt the Demos will call for impeaching Bush. They know that they will lose in 08 if they do and many of their newly elected pols will like to keep their seats.

    Those on the left who are agitating for impeachment are people who would like to see the Demos lose in a couple of years.

42. Greta Says:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 1:06 pm

    Kate Logan: I don’t think Chris would go for a civics lesson (it sounds more like a semester’s worth of poli sci than an hour-long radio show). Luckily, there are tons of professors out there who are podcasting their lectures now; here’s a series of Intro to American Government and Politics podcasts that should be a good start: http://podcast.ics.uiuc.edu/blog/ps101/

    Some catch up:

    willfro: Well pitched, well argued, hard sell. I’ll see if anyone takes to it in the meeting. Lovecraft will always have a space in Robin’s heart, Providencer as she is. I’ll let you know.

    patsyb: I know Adrienne Rich’s essays better than I know her poetry but I love what little I’ve read. I’ll run the idea by everyone in the meeting.

43. Sutter Says:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 1:12 am

    Old Nick (and Brighton),
    I’m part of a group that gathers twice yearly to discuss variants on the “new constitution” issue. The last meeting was on precisely the topic Brighton suggests, and one of the best speakers — who would make a fantastic guest — was former Stanford Law School Dean, current Stanford Law School professor, and possible future Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Sullivan. Also fabulous (but much less female) was Geoffrey Stone, law professor at Chicago, whom I found charming and fascinating. Both of these folks would contribute to a very interesting show. (And of course there’s Levinson’s recent book, which Nick mentions, and Cass Sunstein’s New Republic reply, which I mentioned in another thread.)

44. David Cowhig Says:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 11:54 am

    Brighton’s suggestion about a show on the US military officer corps is fascinating. Care would have to take to balance it — many serving US officer detest Donald Rumsfeld — so as not to tie the officer corps to a particular administration.

    Some bright spots — you want to talk about the fight the JAG corps had with the DoD leadership standing up against torture and violation of the Geneva Convention — there was a talk on CSPAN by a professor at an Army law school absolutely roasting the administration on torture. There have been articles in the NYT and elsewhere about the JAGs vs. torture. The Atlantic did a long article in 1997 “The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society”; then there are group biographies of military officers — I heard David Lipsky of Absolutely American on CSPAN talking about a West Point class he followed through four years — he also spoke of where they went afterwards. An earlier book by another author followed the West Point class of 1965.

    I suggest you try finding Charles Dunlap who as a student at the National War College wrote “The Origins of the Coup of 2012″ . Part of the essay is online at http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/research_pubs/p087.pdf

    As far as guests, if you are supremely lucky, you would get Colin Powell. Other possibilities would be Gen. Wesley Clark; get someone to talk about the JAGs vs. torture; and perhaps some faculty officers (or ask them to suggest someone recently retired ) from one of the War Colleges — Army at Carlisle Barracks, PA, Air Force at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Al. and Navy at Newport, RI and National War College in Washington, D.C.

45. iiicalypso Says:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 11:04 pm

    How about a show on the unofficial diplomats who represent the US abroad? I am thinking primarily about ESL teachers, since they have a fairly significant presence in all regions of the globe, and they interract regularly with both current decision makers (often businessmen and leaders of industry) as well as with the future leaders of the world (the amount of money spent in Korea alone on supplemental English instruction is staggering).

    I think this is relevant and timely, since so much emphasis is given to “official” diplomacy, but little attention is paid to the influence that everyday Americans have. It is a crucial issue, because, at least in Asia, the United States is losing the public relations war. Where it was once assumed that the path to success ran through American universities, more and more people see China as a viable and accessible option. American policy, or at least the view on the ground, has done much to harm the American reputation, but the folks who live and work abroad have at least as much impact, positive and negative, in shaping the opinions of the people.

    I have had a number of fascinating conversations with Koreans, Taiwanese, and Chinese, and found it remarkable the bredth of misconception that surrounds America. No, we don’t all own guns, worship McDonalds and hate foreigners. It is high time for a discussion about international relations beyond the think tanks and Dupont Circle.

46. Rendfest Says:
    November 24th, 2006 at 9:30 pm

    Right so here’s my pitch.

    Where will minority america go next?

    I think its common knowledge that in the coming years the racial statistics in the US are changing. White people (myself included) will begin to enter a minority of their own. As this happens what will our political landscape start to look like? Some of the popular references to this would probably be Barrak Obama, or the essay that seems to be making the rounds of several right wing publications.
    “The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American n-word.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/the-manifesto-of-ascendan_b_33774.html

    A google search of the title should bring up a lot of information about the article.

47. jdyer Says:
    November 24th, 2006 at 10:42 pm

    Paris Saint Germain fan shot dead by policeman in Paris
    Fri Nov 24, 2006 11:18 AM EST

    By Thierry Leveque

    “PARIS (Reuters) – French politicians urged soccer authorities to clean up their sport on Friday after a policeman killed one man and injured another while under attack from fans shouting racist comments.

    Witnesses said the black policeman opened fire late Thursday on a mob of fans from the French first division side Paris Saint Germain who were chasing a Jewish supporter of the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv.

    “It seems like quite serious racist insults were used. ‘Dirty nigger’ and ‘dirty Jew’,” Paris Prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told reporters.

    Politicians of all colors denounced the violence and urged soccer authorities to rid their sport of racism.

    “Soccer isn’t about hatred, it can’t be a war,” said Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. “It is unacceptable that a fan from one club was chased and called a filthy Jew.”

    The Hapoel supporter was being pursued by around 100 PSG fans when plainclothes policeman Antoine Granomort intervened, according to the police.

    At first he let off a tear gas canister to try to disperse the assailants, but then himself came under attack, and was kicked to the ground by the mob, police said.

    Witnesses said he shouted “police, police” before opening fire, killing 25-year-old Julien Quemener and injuring Mounir Bouchaer, 26.

    “The most likely assumption is that the same bullet injured Bouchaer, passing through his lung, before hitting Quemener in the heart,” Marin said.

    Police said the PSG fans appeared to be far-right sympathizers and were chanting “France for the French” as they confronted the Hapoel supporter.

    PSG has struggled for years to control a hard core group of hooligans, with far-right tendencies.” Continued …

    http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyID=uri:2006-11-24T161810Z_01_L24283462_RTRIDST_0_SPORTS-SOCCER-FRANCE-FAN-COL.XML&pageNumber=0&summit=

    Here is how a British leftist web site glossed this incident:

    “‘Dirty nigger’ and ‘dirty Jew’”

    Posted by Gene

    “An ugly reminder that not all the ethnic violence in France can be blamed on the usual suspects: Islam, immigration, etc.

    French politicians urged soccer authorities to clean up their sport on Friday after a policeman killed one man and injured another while under attack from fans shouting racist comments.

    Witnesses said the black policeman opened fire late Thursday on a mob of fans from the French first division side Paris Saint Germain who were chasing a Jewish supporter of the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv.

    In an apparent shocker, Hapoel had just defeated PSG 4-2 in a UEFA cup match.

    “It seems like quite serious racist insults were used. ‘Dirty nigger’ and ‘dirty Jew’,” Paris Prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told reporters.

    Police said the PSG fans appeared to be far-right sympathizers and were chanting “France for the French” as they confronted the Hapoel supporter.

    PSG has struggled for years to control a hard core group of hooligans, with far-right tendencies.

    So a black policeman acted to rescue a Jew from a mob of white thugs. It’s not the standard narrative these days, but in a way it’s reassuring. I hope it turns out that the cop is a Muslim.

    Update: According to commenter chuck, the policeman is from Martinique, which means he’s probably Catholic….”

    http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/

    How about a show on the real meaning of anti-Zionism.

48. jdyer Says:
    November 25th, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    More on Euro antisemtism and racism. This from the BBC.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6182414.stm

    Chirac condemns football violence

    “French President Jacques Chirac has condemned violence that led to the shooting of a French football fan by a plain-clothes police officer.
    The policeman fired into the crowd after he was physically attacked while seeking to protect a fan from anti-Semitic abuse, officials say.

    The violence broke out after Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv beat Paris Saint Germain (PSG) 4-2 in a European match.

    Mr Chirac said he was horrified by the reports of racism and anti-Semitism.

    The BBC’s Caroline Wyatt in Paris says the incident has shocked France and raised questions over racism, anti-Semitism and violence among football fans.

    A hard core of PSG supporters are connected to the far right, she adds, with several fans banned from the club’s matches after previous violent incidents….”

    Read the rest.

    There is an interesting history to this BBC story which is told by this blogger.

    “The famed objectivity of the BBC”

    http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1402

49. jdyer Says:
    November 25th, 2006 at 12:39 pm

    I hope Melanie Phillips will be invited on any show about Eurpean antisemitism.

50. adorno Says:
    November 25th, 2006 at 11:19 pm

    i’d like to see you do a show devoted to walter benjamin. why do his writings seem to speak so directly to our particular historical moment? harvard up recently finished publishing a series of his selected works in english. his work has gained a lot of currency in academic circles these days and inspired the work of the italian philosopher giorgio agamben who recently wrote a book on the state of exception, which explicitly addresses the legal and philosophical consquences of the bush adminstration’s expansion of executative power. i think michael hardt or martin jay might make excellent guest commentators.

51. jdyer Says:
    November 25th, 2006 at 11:46 pm

    Interesting that “adorno” should want a show on Walter Benajmin and not on Theodore Adorno.

    I am also intrigued by his reference to Agamben who seems to be equally in love with Benjamin as with the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt.

    But then many Euro intellectuals seem pretty confused these days.

    I suggest “adorno” should read an impressive series of articles published by the journal Telos a few years ago on Schmitt.

    Still, a show on Benjamin would be most welcome. Too bad Hannah Arendt isn’t around to talk about him. To my mind were Benjmain alive today he would have some pretty harsh things to say about both Bush with its illusions about spreading democracy to the Arab world and the far left with its embrace of Islamic fascism.

52. Katherine Says:
    November 26th, 2006 at 6:59 pm

    Rendfest: Robin’s been thinking about a demographics show for some time, but we didn’t end up producing it in the run-up to the November elections, so we’ll probably sit on the idea for a while longer until another good moment comes along.

53. David Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am

    Adorno: We’ll order the newly published selection of Benjamin’s works and see if a show suggests itself. The real trick, I think, would be figuring out a way to craft a general interest show out of something — and someone — that, as you say, is gaining “a lot of currency in academic circles.” The question is: how to broaden that circle?

54. hurley Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 12:28 pm

    Adorno: An interesting idea. One place to begin might be The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction, available here:
    http://bid.berkeley.edu/bidclass/readings/benjamin.html
    How do his ideas in that regard square with the Digital Age, etc.
    Speaking of Adorno, Theodor, a while back I suggested a show about the rise of the authoritarian personaliity, of which we see alarming evidence far and near (and here). Tracing that back, I came across the ever-eminently quotable (see the Minima Moralia or The Stars Down to Earth) T. W. Adorno’s remark:
    “Intolerance of ambiguity is the mantile of an authoritarian personality.”
    Sound familiar?
    Lewis Lapham and Sidney Blumenthal have both recently written on the subject. (I don’t have the links. I’ll try and hunt them down if you’re interested.) If nothing else, a good excuse to have Lapham on the program. I imagine he and Chris getting on well.
    About Agamben: He might be a good guest should you do the proposed show on exceptionalism. He now refuses to travel to the US, but he probably wouldn’t object to picking up the phone…

55. hurley Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

    Apropos Lapham, back in February he wrote a stirring case for the impeachment of Bush (another of my hasty show suggestions), a condensed version of which is here:
    http://www.harpers.org/TheCaseForImpeachment.html
    Blumenthal has been making similar noises. Time for a road-show.

56. jdyer Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 5:58 pm

    “About Agamben: He might be a good guest should you do the proposed show on exceptionalism. He now refuses to travel to the US, but he probably wouldn’t object to picking up the phone… ”

    Ha, ha, he prefers ot stay in Europe were Jews are attacked daily by his leftist cohorts.

57. Greta Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 6:22 pm

    Catching up on the pitches that came in on the 20th:

    Thanks everyone for the updates to previous pitches.

    To metin, Brighton, and Old Nick, all clamoring for a high concept “our constitution and the democracy/republic we’ve got” show, we hear you, and we’ll talk over the pitch in tomorrow’s story meeting. Actually, we’ve had a slight back-up with the holiday, and we’ll also be pitching Adrienne Rich, Lovecraft, Mexico, manning 120′s sunnis/shiites idea, and more.

58. jdyer Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 7:33 pm

    I doubt Getchen and the crew @ Closed Source will consider any show idea of mine.

    However, it would still do this show credit if they had a program on contemporary antisemitism in Europe with a special focus on England and France.

    There are many speakers who can describe the plight of Jews in those countries”

    Pierre-Andre Taguieff and Andre Glucksmann (these two are well known contemporary French thinkers. )

    http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/debenoist/alain3.html

    and Shalom Lappin Professor of Computational Linguistics, for England.

    Here is link to his professional publications. However, it is his work in social theory, especially his critic of leftist antisemitism that would of interest here.

    http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2005/04/why_i_resigned_.html

    As I said I dount this program is interested in balanced programing. Still I thought I would try one more time.

59. jdyer Says:
    November 27th, 2006 at 9:12 pm

    The last sentence should read,

    “As I said I doubt this radio show is interested in balanced programing. Still I thought I would try one more time.”

60. Hushd Says:
    November 28th, 2006 at 9:02 pm

    I hope I am not too late to pitch a show.

    How about “waiting for the next Ali” ….will he be moving through the lane with a basketball? Politics in basketball or perhaps sports as a whole. Look at why NOW this issue is huge.

    Much like the Vietnam War provided the backdrop for Muhammad Ali, this war is on the mind of professionl athletes (I think basketball mostly – perhaps in coordination with hip hop).

    Look at the recent University of Florida (defending champs) star Joakim Noah who objected to the request for the team to travel to the Whitehouse and meet President Bush…http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/sec/2006-10-26-florida-cover_x.htm

    Think about last year’s Gonzaga U star Adam Morrison who now plays for the Charlotte Bobcats…Morrison was reading Marx on the bus traveling to games and sparred with his coach when the coach was pushing prayer (I believe he wrote on the coaches board “Religion is the Opiate of the masses” -Karl Marx, to counter the coaches religious commentary.

    Or how about Washington Wizards basketball star Etan Thomas who sparred earlier this year with the Washington Times newspaper who criticized him for his position in Iraq. Dave Zirin (www.edgeofsports.com), who covers politics in sport and would be a great guest, covered Thomas for commondreams…http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0924-12.htm

    Zirin also covers (much media have) the recent release of a new affordable (around 15 bucks) sneaker line by Stephon Marbury who will play the season in them. This is a political statement and also brings up political questions (think sweatshop labor).
    http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-09-24-200/index.html

    The recent NBA crackdown by league commissioner David Stern is also at the front end of politics in basketball. He has set a dress code for players, routinely punishes players for behavior off the court, has told the players to leave their guns at home, and essentially acts as an individual ruling over serfs. The players are unhappy with the crackdown and so are the fans. It is a fascinating time to examine this fascinating issue within the true American game. I see Dave Zirin and Etan Thomas as guests…you get them and you could follow with other players but you probably don’t need too.

    Good stuff.

    Hush D

61. Ben Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 8:25 pm

    Heard during Massachusetts v. EPA case earlier today …
    “Troposphere, Whatever. I told you before, I’m not a scientist. That’s why I don’t want to have to deal with global warming, to tell you the truth.” Justice Scalia said, drawing laughter.

    This reminded me of the feature what does it take to care about global warming? Here is a starter idea that maybe someone can run with further than I can. Ask Dr. David Suzuki of the David Suzuki Fundation. (http://www.davidsuzuki.org/) I recently heard him on Seattle NPR station KUOW and was about as eloquent and radical as I’ve heard in recent history. Former ASU Climatology Director Robert C. Balling Jr. (http://www.tcsdaily.com/Authors.aspx?id=242) could be an opposite right ballast to Suzuki and the two might provide quite an interesting dialogue. Ross Gelbspan would be good to hear from again as well.

    What does it take to bring it to the attention of lawmakers and industry? Perhaps also hearing from Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) or someone from the Apollo Alliance, interact with someone from the office of Jim Connaughton, the White House CEQ Chairman to address working with the new congress on upcoming energy and environmental legislation? Are there any new year’s resolutions in the works?

62. allison Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 2:06 am

    So, there is all this talk about how we have a ‘good’ economy. I’d like a discussion about what that means. Since World War II we’ve measured the economy with a tool called the Gross Domestic Product. How many people know that this was created to measure the quantity of production to support the war effort? It was a PR tool to motivate those at home to work hard while they worried about their loved ones across the oceans in the battlefields. (This is also why pubs in England closed from 2-5 until a few years ago. To get people to return to work!)

    The GDP is skewed to make the economy look good when we’re engaged in a war. So, how much of any economic growth since invading Iraq is related to war profiteering?

    Then, how much of the economic growth is in the hands of a few?

    Can we have a show or a series of shows looking at how we determine the value of an economy? Is it only about how many $ are generated by companies? Or does it matter how those dollars were generated? (As in, is it okay to have a booming economy if all we’re producing is nuclear weapons?) Does quality of life for all matter? Or is it a booming economy if only .1 per cent of the people are reaping the benefit? Is it all about how much we produce? Or do we care if our health is steadily declining due to an obsession with production?

    People have been working for decades on new economic indicators that include quality of life measures- Hazel Henderson (I briefly worked with her via the Calvert Fund), and Redefining Progress are two that I came name off the top of my head – but we’re no closer to replacing the out-dated, ethic-less indicators we’ve been using since encouraging people to build bombs for WWII. That’s a political problem, not a technical one. (Redefining Progress has had been measuring with these kinds of indicators for at least 10 years now.

    Changing the indicators could be a key to a massive cultural shift where the pursuit of money is really about the pursuit of a quality life for all. The people who control most of the resources now wouldn’t want us to be able to measure the damage we live with so that they can continue to accumulate more.

    Can we talk about it?

63. Timon Braun Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 11:34 am

    2 ideas:

    1. Retirement abroad. A small handful of countries are competing for American retirees and I’ve seen a few of the takers and am fascinated.

    2. Zoning laws. You have Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko in town; zoning is the single biggest component of housing costs in blue states, which are in turn the biggest burden on working and young people. It is astonishing how little discussed this is.

64. Robin Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 1:14 pm

    Hi Ben –

    That Scalia quote is terrifying. But we did a show very similar to the one you’re suggesting last January. Here’s the link. Katherine’s question for the hour was: “How do you think we can get people’s attention about the severity & immediacy of this problem? And who have you heard of who’s working on new approaches?”

    Katherine says that she’s not familiar with Balling, Inslee or Connaughton, so we”ll start there to see if they make sense in another Global Warming show.

65. nother Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 2:44 pm

    Octogenarians and beyond. When I think about all the talking heads on TV and radio I’m struck by the lack of 80 and 90 year olds. I’m sure that is a consequence of them talking slower or simply looking older, but it seems counter-intuitive to me considering their experience. Why are we not tapping into their knowledge, and as the baby boomers age, will that change? Where are these people making contributions in our society right now? One place is blogs:

    “THESE ARE THE MUSINGS OF A RETIRED JOURNALIST WHO RECENTLY TURNED 80SINCE I NO LONGER HAVE A CONVENTIONAL OUTLET FOR MY VIEWS AND SO-CALLED CREATIVE WRITINGS, I TURN TO THE PHENOMENON OF THE BLOG TO HAVE MY SAY.”
    http://octogenarian.blogspot.com/

    http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/

    A great guest would be Donald Murray; I’m a big fan of his “Now and Then” column in the Boston Globe.

    http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/10/24/depressions_darkness_comes_and_goes_without_warning/

66. Scarequotes Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 8:03 pm

    Film criticism in the shadow of Roger Ebert.

    Two recent articles in the AV Club blog got me thinking about the future of film criticisim. One was Scott Tobias’ advice to someone looking to become a professional film critic — basically, don’t bother:
    

    Film criticism is a dying field: In an effort to cut costs due to dwindling subscriptions and circulation numbers, smaller newspapers and alternative weeklies have decided that locally based critics aren’t terribly important. The newspapers have surrendered their entertainment sections to wire reviews from prominent writers like Roger Ebert. And the recent buyout of Village Voice Media by the New Times syndicate has had a sweeping, devastating effect on film critics: Once-vital local film sections like those in the Voice, City Pages in Minneapolis, the Nashville Scene, and others have been funneled into a “syndication pool,” meaning that a review by one critic will run in every VV/New Times paper across the country.

    The other was Tobias again, talking about the show Ebert & Roeper now that Ebert’s on sick leave:
    

    TV film criticism dies with Ebert. (And again, we hope that that doesn’t happen for many years to come.) There’s really no interest out there in making a movie-review show that’s more intelligent and more substantive than what we’re used to seeing, and the relatively high standard that Ebert has set has not been duplicated by the competition or even his own show during this long absence.

    Ebert’s the guy who defines “film critic” so far as the public is concerned. On the one hand, his shows treat movies seriously; on the other, what people remember is the snap “thumbs up/down” judgement.

    As the web explodes, more and more people inspired by Ebert are writing about movies, but fewer and fewer people are turning those into paying gigs. Is that good or bad? Does the public value film criticism at all, or are film critics those guys that try to sell 4-hour long foreign films to a Jerry Bruckheimer-obsessed public?

    Tobias would be a good person to talk to, of course. Maybe some practicing younger critics — Stephanie Zacharek from Salon, David Edelstein from New York, Mike D’Angelo from Esquire and his long-running website. Or the critically obsessed people at Cinemarati. And of course Ebert himself would be a great interviewee.

    I think there is a widespread sense of crisis — or at least concern — in the film criticism field, and a show on the topic and whether it’s justified could be fascinating.

67. Nick Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 8:19 pm

    I know the thread hasn’t turned over yet, so I’m breaking my oath above. It might be worth the trangression though, because it pertains to your pre-recorded holiday week shows.

    I. The Bach Chaconne show will greatly please me, but how many others of us? Early music – baroque, the Style galant, the Viennese classics, and Romantic – please many ears on casual hearing, but aren’t widely popular.
    Why?
    Ignorance, mostly.

    It’s a world seemingly isolated and inhabited by apparent snobs. This is a terrible shame, since the music is so special and sublime, and the performers hardly rich, hardly elite, but only seemingly elite. (The patrons of the music act like snobbish gatekeepers whose attitudes turn many potential appreciators away. But that might not be a good angle for a show!)
    ‘Classical’ musicians make peanuts; their recording rarely earn repeat printings. They create beauty that most people miss out on.
    And only because we don’t understand the world of early music.

    Most ROS listeners will know the approximate differences between a violin and a viola. But how many of us can articulate what distinguishes a concerto from a symphony? An allegro from an andante? A cantata from a sonata, or an aria from a recitative?

    SO: How about a primer on early music?
    It could even be a series:
    1. Renaissance and baroque.
    2. Rococo and the Style galant.
    3. The galant’s flowering into the Viennese Classical style (whose composers are in truth limited to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and, perhaps, Schubert).
    4. The Romantics.

    How do these styles differ? Which famous composers belong to which style and era? How many folk-tunes informed the melodies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven? (Lots!)
    What’s a menuet? (And why should we be asked to endure them? )

    My love of this music cost me more than the prices of the many CD’s in my collection. I’m no elite, I live on the poverty line, and have for most of my life – but that couldn’t prevent me from investing in books, written for non-musicians, explaining ‘classical’ music. And lemme tell you: I can appreciate the music exponentially better because of my books – but how many others will do the same without good reason? Reason like a ROS hour or series spent making the rarified world of ‘The Classics’ accessible to all and sundry.
    Screw those snobs. Let’s popularize!

    You could record the installments whenever convenient and play them on your vacation days!

    II. This is a development of the idea above:
    At the risk of bursting some bubbles of preconceptions, I, nontheist Nick, adore masses. Yup. Masses. Yup; me: Nick loves church music. Because you needn’t be a believer to appreciate great art dedicated to the characters peopling faith.

    You’ve got a Christmas week coming up. Masses are an appropriate topic, I should think, especially because I’d like to know why the heck I love the music so much. I’m not talking about the religion informing the Latin, I’m talking about the architecture of the music.
    What makes a masterpiece in this musical form? Why are Mozart’s c minor and JS Bach’s b minor masses so freaking beautiful? Or Schutz’s Polychoral Concertos? Brahms’s Ein deutsches requiem? Or Haydn’s and Beethoven’s respective C majors?
    (This list could go on and on.)

    Even if you can’t get to this topic now, what about as Easter nears?
    And, best of all, if anyone complains that you’re pushing Christianity, just tell ‘em that I requested the show!

68. samuel Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 2:20 am

    Ben on the 28th is on to something, David Suzuki on Weekday on KUOW was impressive, and in light of Scalia’s comments. To Scalia, I would say, I don’t care what you know right now, but you have a job to do and to use Larry the Cable Guy “Getter DONE!”

    Also in conversations about Iraq and pulling out somebody should check out the recently unclassified Kremlin records of Gorbachov and its dealing with Babrak Karmal in Afghanistan. It could be us in Iraq.

    That all cool, but Open Source needs to talk about the viral video on Google right now, “Conspiracy of Silence”. It is a story that only you guys can get started again. You have to watch. The most frightening thing is the woman, Alicia Owens, who gets 9-27 years for perjury when Lawrence King gets 10-15 years.

    Please let me know if any of this helps.—Sam

69. hurley Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 7:07 am

    Molly Ivins and John Nichols, among others, have suggested that Bill Moyers be drafted as the Democratic candidate for President in 2008. Sounds good to me. How about a show exploring the possibility?
    Here’s a link to a speech he recently gave at West Point:
    http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-21.htm
    Hard to imagine having such an intelligent, humane, articulate, and informed person as President, but why don’t we try, for an hour at least?

70. hurley Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 7:27 am

    Further to Bill Moyers for President:
    Molly Ivins (great guest):
    http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060724_molly_ivins_bill_moyers/
    http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1023-27.htm
    http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=105621
    Ralph Nader:
    http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1028-24.htm
    And so forth. There’s a lot more out there.

71. huff Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 9:55 am

    love these shows about music (BAch’s Chaconne coming up), but how about a show on the legendary Glenn Gould, Canada’s foremost concertn pianist.

    There is plenty to talk about with gould, his rabid fans, his asexuality, and especially his incredibly odd behaviour, which borders on full-blown OCD.

72. mynocturama Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 11:25 am

    I’ll second Scarequotes’ pitch,

    http://www.radioopensource.org/pitch-a-show-november-2006/#comment-36881

    I’ve hoped for a show on film for some time now. To be honest, the endangered state of film criticism is kind of news to me, but worth exploring for sure. Some of the best prose writing I’ve come across has been about film. Pauline Kael, an obvious example, however much I may virulently disagree with her, and the relatively lesser known Manny Farber. There are Sontag’s film essays, and I remember a few years ago poring over Jonathan Rosenbaum’s “Movies as Politics.” I believe he still writes for the Chicago Reader.

    I mainly read the NYT and New Yorker critics now. I ought to branch out more, but I’m pretty content with this bunch. Maybe that itself is a sign of a dwindling state of affairs.

    I’d single out Manohla Dargis. I’ve been a big fan of hers since her work at the LA Weekly. I’d love to hear her on the show.

73. mynocturama Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 11:29 am

    Oh – and try to tap some of the good people at Film Comment.

    And the question of the place of cinema, by which I mean good movies at the theater, amidst all this internet video available now. Or something along those lines…

74. mynocturama Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 11:38 am

    And one more thing…

    Robert Kolker’s “A Cinema of Loneliness” was a first for me, opening my eyes to how good and serious film criticism could be.

    Just thought I’d throw that out there…

75. emmettoconnell Says:
    December 1st, 2006 at 12:32 pm

    I’ll second Nick’s mass music idea above. Advent and Christmas would be a perfect time to talk about mass music, and religious music, in general.

76. manning120 Says:
    December 3rd, 2006 at 10:54 pm

    (Old) Nick laments on November 30, 2006 that most Americans have little contact with, not to mention knowledge of, the type of music that means so much to him. I’ll bet the vast majority of non-ROS listeners have virtually no formal exposure to classical music. Or, to put it more broadly, classical art, defined as art that demands some degree of intelligence to be fully appreciated; the same intelligence that allows distinguishing great art from mediocre art.

    As I said in my July 10 and June 23, 2006 posts in “The Good Death” thread, “positive emotions” give meaning to existence, which includes life and death. These emotions are evoked by events like winning, loving (all kinds), success, becoming or being a parent, learning or discovering profound truth, and overcoming suffering and death. For many of us, most of the time, such emotions occur rarely and briefly, and are often overwhelmed by their polar opposite, depression. Yet we have ready access to these positive emotions through art, which both evokes the emotions and amplifies them, like the musical score to a movie, when combined with events that tend to evoke them. The greater the art, the more effectively the evocation and amplification of the emotions.

    In my experience, religion, to which the masses turn to make sense (meaning) of their lives, doesn’t come close to the power of art. In fact, religion owes whatever power it has to the art that it has embodied, such as the religious music Nick mentions, and related ceremony, as opposed to religious doctrine.

    So I would expand Nick’s suggestion somewhat. If my theory of esthetics (or one of similar import) is valid, then great art, including the music Nick mentions, is necessary to the enjoyment of life. A free society owes its citizens both education to allow them to appreciate art, and universal exposure to great art. The U.S. currently lags in both, and seems to be falling farther and farther behind. I don’t mean to disparage the effort of the many fine artists and patrons (some perhaps a bit snobbish) who are trying to make great art more widely available, but they seem to be losing the battle. What should be done? More federal funding for public radio? A federal Department of the Arts, or state counterparts? Help from Bill and Melinda?

77. David Says:
    December 4th, 2006 at 12:07 pm

    Manning120: As the major proponent of the Chaconne show (which is complete except for the first minute, and will be available as a podcast and stream later this week), along with a lot of other music shows of the last year and a half, I’m all for your expanisve definition of the benefits of music. But I think that this idea is best illlusrated by just doing the music (and art and culture and sports, etc) shows that we’re all eager to do — as opposed to an overt discussion about the exalting powers of the arts. I’d rather show by example.

78. Katherine Says:
    December 4th, 2006 at 12:25 pm

    samuel: It’s encouraging to hear votes for more global warming shows. We’ll put on our thinking caps.

    huff: We all like Glenn Gould, but his story is fairly familiar, so is there a compelling reason to revisit him right now?

    mynocturama: Film criticism may not make it onto the board, but we may do a different kind of film show soon: Robin’s been looking into Slavoj Zizek’s new collaboration with documentary filmmaker Sophie Fiennes called The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema — about film and psychoanalysis.

    emmettoconnell: Masses are beautiful to listen to, but what would the show be? What’s the original angle or insight here that would sustain an hour of radio we haven’t heard before?

79. ChelseaM Says:
    December 4th, 2006 at 3:23 pm

    Allison: we can’t promise a series but we’ll look into ways in which can do some more shows on the economy. But if we were to do a series what is the first show that you would want to hear? Who would your dream guests be? I’m reading a paper about the economics of happiness, which does bear on quality of life issues, we’ll see if that becomes a show…

    Nother: whenever we talk about guests for a show. Chris always asks “What about the adults,” meaning those wise, no-nonsense elders. Doing a show on and with octogenarians isn’t something we would do–it best to try to get people like William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal as guests on our shows, which we have tried many times in the past. We’ll keep trying.

    Nick: a seminar series on the basics of classical music is not the best fit for our format — it would also be quite a trick to not sound hopelessly didactic. We have more fun exploring one musician, or composer for an hour. Plus, plenty of qualified folks are producing classical music podcasts, such as The Concert .

    Scarequotes: this doesn’t sound like a show but perhaps a good web feature could be a movie critic blogger roundup. Maybe the blogosphere will be the next place to get our film criticism.

80. EdgarR Says:
    December 4th, 2006 at 4:13 pm

    OPEN SOURCE – PITCH-A-SHOW
    General arena: IRAQ
    Sub-arena: Getting the US out
    Option/discussion: Arm the citizens of Iraq
    Invitation: A high-ranking US general recently asked for new ideas – any ideas – regarding the US involvement in Iraq.
    Why now? Congress is changing, new secretary of Defense, new “direction” in the white house (maybe), and an ever-increasing need, within our country, to get traction.
    Why “Open Source”? What makes this a difficult concept to even consider is just what ought to make it good radio – controversy.

    More detail – including my preliminary opinions:
    Iraq is a mess. In many views, we’re doing more harm than good. But a quick US exit, graceful or not, would (most believe) lead to catastrophic bloodshed among the factions. We want to encourage democracy. Yet most believe that “Handing out democracy” doesn’t work. Citizens have to earn it, they have to want it. To do so, they have to see (for themselves) that it is better than the alternatives.
    Learning isn’t easy. Some lessons are especially hard. We sometimes leave the right track because it doesn’t work right away. In order to see why something (such as democracy) might work, it may be helpful (though painful) to learn why alternatives – such as anarchy – don’t work. (Presumably, most Iraqis already know enough about dictatorship – whatever their present opinion on it.)
    Anarchy with armed militias – and with the rest of the citizenry unarmed – is an invitation to wholesale murder, rape, and robbery.
    Arming citizens does have serious drawbacks. To extend the old bumpersticker:
    Guns kill people
    Guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people
    People who don’t know how to use guns can kill even more people
    Such an operation would certainly create a new level of havoc. Iraquis would be settling old scores and creating more trouble than before. But militias would be far less willing to apprehend and execute citizens knowing that 10% of them were armed.
    But the biggest drawback to this scheme is here in the US. Many of our citizens see firearms as pure evil. They suffer from the delusion (my opinion) that eradicating handguns would seriously reduce violent crime. (I believe that murder, rape and robbery, were invented long before gunpowder.)
    Historical: Our own Wild West was a time when many men openly carried hand guns. The law was far away and generally ineffectual. (Judge Roy Bean – the law west of the Pecos – was legendary, though not always for good reasons.) During that time, guns were used in good ways and bad. (OK Corral, Oxbow incident, for instance.) Even though major western cities of the time usually “Had their man for breakfast,” the carnage was mostly in the single digits.

    But I am cognizant of my limitations:
    I’m no expert on life in the Wild West.
    Regional implications would have to be considered.
    Could this be done on a small scale at first? – an experiment?
    Could we develop a non-reloadable handgun that had a short accuracy range but where the projectile would quickly decelerate after that range, reducing harm from ‘stray bullets.’
    Would such a program be better instituted by the US government, NATO, UN or some citizens’ group?
    These and other questions should make the hour’s discussion provocative.

    Ask for participation from reporters in Iraq, Iraqui refugees, the high-ranking general, Wild West historians, NRA representatives. Encourage them all to suspend judgment until after all sides have spoken.

    Not much obvious opportunity for levity, here.

    Relevant quotes:
    “Democracy is absolutely the worst form of government ever invented – except for all the rest.”
    “When guns are outlawed only the army will have guns.” Edward Abby.
    “Play for more than you can afford to lose and you will learn the game.”

81. Michael A. Tout Says:
    December 5th, 2006 at 3:21 am

    Health care, healthcare, health care….Most of the arguments against a single payer system involves money. Do you realise that in the state of california alone the workers compensation insurance debacle cost us over 3 billion dollars, and that was data from the nineties…If that, and every states current medical budget for work comp, etc were just rolled into the new national health care, and the lawyers and the judges were allowed to do legal cases, in other words they were only involved when a law was broken, and we put doctors and other trained care providers back in charge of medical care, there would be a huge portion of the cost covered right there. The biggest problem with workcomp in California, is that the lawyers are only paid if they get a cash settlement for the injured worker and the insurance companies spend more, two to one, on administration and fighting treatment than on medical care for the injured. Treatment of injuries, returning an injured worker to a functional productive occupation is the last thing the system resolves. If one wants a good example of a bad design for health care look at workers comp. Then do the opposit. Of course there will have to be medical review at times, but if there is a clean process of randomly selected providers who are qualified in the subject in question, and there are at least five who are selected to examine a contested treatment plan or proceedure or test etc, then fraud or incompetence will be discovered by those most qualified to find it. The process must be based on logic. You wouldn’t want a doctor to review the data on a legal question. Then why does it occur that lawyers, judges, and worst of all insurance companies decide the efficacy of medical opinion. It is madness… We need health care in this country and if the leaders wont do it then the people will have to. There is a lot of work to do and it won’t stop when the system is activated. Those who have an interest in the failure of national health care will be diligent in undermining it just as they did with every other social program since the new deal. My sugesstion is that we keep the dialog running on the topic and we invite Senators and Congress persons and Presidential candidates to tell us what they are doing to make it happen and be specific. I would bet that you will get lots of people to comment on this. Thanks for this oportunity.

82. Brendan Says:
    December 5th, 2006 at 11:17 am

    EdgarR: We’re working on a show right now about Iraq’s Third Act, so the prospect of arming all Iraqis and letting them have at it will most likely be folded in there. But frankly it seems like they already have armed themselves with the wealth of Hussein-era conventional weapons cached around the country.

    There is a question here of selective arming; during the Yugoslavian wars a UN arms embargo gave the Serbs a significant advantage, since most of the Yugoslavian army had been based in Serbia. A Bosnian muslim bartender in New York once told me that the war only started to end when the Bosnians were allowed to arm themselves and fight back. But he also kept a bottle of home-made grapa underneath the bar for himself, so take that however you like.

83. manning120 Says:
    December 5th, 2006 at 11:44 pm

    The “Today” show had a segment today on the ignorance of our anti-terrorism leaders about Islamic terrorists. That might provide a little more general interest in the topic, which I suggested on November 16 would be a good one for a radio show. The “Today” presentation was of course very cursory and completely failed to examine ramifications the way, for example, PBS would. So in leaving a lot of unanswered questions in the minds of a wide audience, NBC provided an incentive to go deeper.

    I also think we ought to look at the general subject of whether Islam is, indeed, a “religion of peace.” One of the more interesting sites I found is http://www.whatthewestneedstoknow.com/.

    One of the greatest inventions in history, right up there with the wheel and fire, is separation of church and state. It’s really just the other side of the freedom of religion coin. That invention would no longer function if a religion whose free exercise it protects succeeded in destroying it. If Islam, or any religion, isn’t a “religion of peace,” that can only mean it wants to impose itself on others by force.

    P.S. Brendan, Beeville is doing fine. The only thing hotter than the weather is the politics.

84. suzannenagel Says:
    December 6th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

    IF YOU DO NOT ADDRESS THE CONTROLLED DEMOLITION OF THE TRADE CENTER WHICH PROVIDED THE FIG LEAF FOR THE WAR ON TERROR AND IN IRAQ, FOR ALL YOUR GOOD WORK, YOU ARE ALLOWING THESE CRIMINALS TO RULE AMERICA.

85. emmettoconnell Says:
    December 6th, 2006 at 1:23 pm

    I was going to wait for a new December thread, but I think I’m running out of time for this idea. It is high time that ROS did a baseball show. And, the one I think you guys should do is a Japan/US baseball show.

    The Red Sox (#$&%*!… groan) are in the middle of negotiations with the highest priced player ever to come out of Japan. Ichiro is now considered to be a veteran of the American Leagues and no longer a new thing, but he’s still a mystery. And, its been almost a year after the “Team of the Rising Sun” won the world baseball classic.

    Two possible guests come to mind:

    Robert Whiting, who wrote the classic You Gotta Have Wa and the Meaning of Ichiro.

    Will Lingo or John Manuel, who do the great Baseball America Podcast, and would be able to talk about how Japan has influenced the American game as a whole (from minors up).

    And, a third, who is more of a hometown favorite than anything. Jeff Shaw, who blogs at USS Mariner, and for the time being, is living in Okinawa.

    Here are a couple more quick links I’ve come across:
    http://www.matsuzaka.blogspot.com/
    http://baseballjapan.blogspot.com/

86. nihilist Says:
    December 6th, 2006 at 4:32 pm

    How about the libertarian liberal nexus?

    http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6800

87. Greta Says:
    December 7th, 2006 at 12:00 pm

    To Michael A. Tout: We’re dying to do healthcare shows. We thought about it yesterday, and we haven’t really done one since our bird flu virus hunters show. We’d like to do a series of these– covering your policy discussions, but also bioterror preparadness, maybe autism, maybe childhood obesity. Keep the health care pitches coming.

88. Sir Otto Says:
    December 7th, 2006 at 12:41 pm

    Saudi Arabia. 16 of 19 hijackers came from the country and yet no mention from this administration to include them in the “war on terror”. In fact, they are embraced. Dick Cheney’s recent trip there for I don’t know what was barely covered by the media. The oil is obvious. What about the deep connections with the Bush family? W holding hands with the crown prince in Michael Moore’s movie. The fact that 2 planeloads of Saudis were allowed to fly home Sept 12 2001 when all other air traffic was grounded, and we had no idea who was behind it all. Or did they? The extremist form of Islam they practice, Harabi, Wasabi, Hamabi, whatever it’s called, I don’t know much about it, but I know It’s brutal and does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. I’m not sure, but I think it advocates the violent overthrow of secular mid-east governments. The repression of women, not unique to that country, is ingrained. There’s a lot of show here. Let’s get the facts.

89. EdgarR Says:
    December 7th, 2006 at 5:57 pm

    Hi Brenden,
    Thanks for your comments. I would interpret your “Letting them have at it,” as shorthand for the exercise of learning how to handle lethal force responsibily by doing it for themselves.

    I have no idea how much of the population is armed. But I would suspect that the large number of refugees are predominantly unarmed. I would also suspect that all these execution killings I hear about most mornings are (a) of people who were not armed and (b) the executioners were confident of this going in.

    Yes, the proposal is to blindly arm some random portion of the population. “Leafletting of handguns” might be a way to describe it. Men, women, even children of any persuasion ought to have equal chance of access.

    There would be terrible lessons but they would come from within instead of – for instance – from us. They would then be strongly motivated to assure that it doesn’t come to that again. Sort of like our own Civil War, which we learned to avoid repeating for 150 years.
    -EdgarR

90. joek Says:
    December 7th, 2006 at 8:32 pm

    I don’t know quite how to phrase the pitch… it revolves around the idea that the president missed a major opportunity after 911. He says he is christian, to my mind if he had told the world he was turning the other cheek he would have then and there disarmed all enemies. The idea of a leader saying they are speaking to god etc and yet don’t actually follow the precepts of the major player (Jesus n this case) of their religion. So maybe a show on what it is to be true to a religion… thou shalt not kill etc. The precept of that idea is that it wouldbe better for a person’s soul to die rather than that they kill… hard core and hard line… what would the world view of the US be if we had spent the money on actually helping the people in need instead of bringing them war…

91. Thakkus Says:
    December 8th, 2006 at 1:39 am

    In a single acronym…MMA. MMA is the fastest growing professional sport in the world, with a huge following developing in the past few years here in the U.S. MMA stands for mixed martial arts. This is not, I repeat, THIS IS NOT WWF or big time wrestling. Nothing is scripted. This is real professional martial arts combat/fighting. The events are sanctioned, safe, and absolutely fascinating. MMA is attracting all sorts, including the educated. I am a jiu jitsu (submission wrestling) practitioner with two college degrees (BA in English, MA in Education). Jiu Jitsu is a big part of MMA competition, although MMA also involves striking, which includes kicking and punching, which I don’t do. So it isn’t a sport of thugs. A great link to see the best known MMA company in the U.S. is http://www.ufc.com. The UFC is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As I said earlier, this really is the sport of the future. From the Roman Gladiator days to today, handto-hand sport fighting has always fascinated the human animal. Societies young and old have always prized the fighter and held him (and now her) in high regard. I say Open Source should do a show on this quickly spreading craze. There is a part of everyone of us that loves a good fight. Thanks for a great show.

    Chad near Seattle

92. Chelsea Says:
    December 8th, 2006 at 3:44 pm

    Sir Otto: We are researching a show on Saudi Arabia, which was inspired by this op-ed.

    Joek: Your pitch is somewhat vague. Is there a specific show that you can pitch re: religion and America’s global identity? Are there any books, blogs or articles that we should read? Do you have any guests in mind who you would like to hear on this topic?

93. Potter Says:
    December 9th, 2006 at 10:42 am

    In the name of fiscal responsibility (ahem!) and modernizing apparently this administration has decided to close the E.P.A. libraries, a repository of valuable scientific information about the environment. This is part of the administration’s more general attack on science. I do not suggest a show on the general attack on science, but one that focuses on this particular crime.

    see the NYTimes editorial: Keep the E.P.A. Libraries Open

    Leslie Burger would be a good guest.

    Also read EPA Library Web site to Make Reports Unavailable

    Washington, DC – In defiance of Congressional requests to immediately halt closures of library collections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is purging records from its library websites, making them unavailable to both agency scientists and outside researchers, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA is taking steps to prevent the re-opening of its shuttered libraries, including the hurried auctioning off of expensive bookcases, cabinets, microfiche readers and other equipment for less than a penny on the dollar.

    That part of the linked bulliten from PEER – Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility ( which also see)

    A related topic for discussion and a blast from a past suggestion is a program on libraries. I guess I will have to find that suggestion and perhaps flesh it out more. In the meantime the PEER/NYT SOS on the EPA needs attention IMO

94. hurley Says:
    December 9th, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    Potter: I very much like your suggestion for a show about libraries. The American library system is (was?) one of the great contributions to both American and global culture. I’ve never seen anything like it abroad, anywhere. I’ve had more library cards than I can count, from the most humble one-room regional libraries to some of the grandest university libraries in the country (not forgetting the Library of Congress: Can one still simply walk in the door, sit down, ask for a book? That one of the closest things to a transcendental patriotic experience I’ve ever had.).
    In my experience, local libraries were the places people went not only to read, but also to reinvent themselves (vocational training, etc.), and in some dire instances to save themselves. I remember those terrifying loose-leaf folders with titles like Cancer, Alcoholism, Diabetes, and the troubled people consulting them. I imagine these books were life-lines to some, death-warrants to others.
    And then there was the curiously maligned figure of the librarian herself (in most instances), who in many instances was in a position to make a difference. The internet has probably usurped some of the old library’s purpose, but what has been lost as a result? A great deal, I suspect.
    Thanks again, Potter. I’ll keep an eye on this idea, contribute what I can.

95. hurley Says:
    December 10th, 2006 at 12:16 pm

    Further to IMPEACHMENT:
    http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1209-23.htm
    The web abuzz with articles and opinions on the subject, and I gather there are impeachment rallies across the US this weekend.

96. johnnyrock Says:
    December 10th, 2006 at 4:10 pm

    There is a group of military thinkers in this country, most notably a guy named William S Lind, who have, since 1989 been describing What they call “Fourth Generation Warfare” or “4GW”.

    In a nutshell, 4GW adherents do not see see the emergence of non-state actors in warfare as something new. Rather, it is a return to what war was like before nation-states organized war with military rules and structure.

    We are losing in Iraq most of all because we are using Third Generation tactics in a Fourth Generation War.

    Lind has an article (http://antiwar.com/lind/index.php?articleid=1702) from 2004 around the time that Saddam was caught that is eerily prescient of the situation we are in now. Even more eerie is that copies of the Seminal article from 1989 that defined 4GW were found by our soldiers in the caves of Tora Bora.

    In other words, Al Queda has a better understanding of the fight we are in than our own Military and Political leaders do.

    There are an awful lot of smart people trying to figure out the “What now?” question in Iraq, and despite the hope placed in the Iraq Study Group, it seems like the “fruit salad” of recommendations they offered to GWB are going to fall on deaf ears, because Bush and the neo-cons reject anything that that doesn’t include a plan for “victory”, and we are just so far beyond anything so simplistic and ideal at this point.

    Its incredibly frustrating that smart people in and around the military in this country had a framework for understanding *exactly* what the negative consequences of toppling the State in Iraq would be since at least 1989, and we went ahead and did it anyway, and in the worst possible way.

    If you can get Mr. Lind or any of the people on his working group on the show, I think there is a good chance that we will actually, finally, hear a rational, logical explanation of what is happening and why, and maybe (just maybe) some ideas that could help us move forward in a constructive way.

97. Rob Healey Says:
    December 10th, 2006 at 11:29 pm

    Heard an interview with Jennifer Senior, contributing editor at New York Magazine
    (she has written on burnout) She mentioned that studies indicate we have 5 more hours of leisure time a week than we had in 1960. I think it would make a good show. . . Not old enough to have worked in 1960 . . . but where are the extra 5 hours. . .

98. David Says:
    December 11th, 2006 at 9:57 am

    Potter: I read about the proposed EPA library closings. They’re interesting, if not meaty enough for a full hour. But they could be helpful as political background and conext for tonight’s show about global warming before the Supreme Court.

    Your and Hurley’s idea for a larger libraries show, though still a bit amorphous, is very intriguing. Chris and I made a little pilgrimage to the new Seattle library last year when we were in town for a conference, and it was an astounding place. Library culture was robust and thriving, it seemed. But what about the rest of the country? Let’s let this idea develop, and think as a community about the most interesting angles.

    Johnnyrock: We’re planning a show right now — that could air as soon as tomorrow — that we’re imagining as a sort of miltary inquest into the war. We’ll add Lind to the list of possible guests, and think more generally to 4GW.

    Rob Healey: I think that, for some people, many of those five hours are in evidence on our threads! This reminds me — even tangentially — about a show idea we were kicking around more than a year ago about our seemingly ADD-addled lives and culture, something Wallace Shawn had been discussing. Maybe there’s a way to tie these ideas together. I’ll mention it at our story meeting today.

99. emmettoconnell Says:
    December 11th, 2006 at 3:58 pm

    A couple of interesting library readings:

    Can Libraries Save Democracy

    To inform Democracy

    Ironically, I’m having a meeting this afternoon with the chair of my local library friends group to talk about an evening auxiliary to get more people involved in the library. The current Friends group meets mid morning on Tuesdays.

    Any thoughts on my baseball pitch? I thought you guys would be all over that one.

100. Katherine Says:
     December 11th, 2006 at 6:39 pm

     Thakkus: Mixed martial arts might be a bit of a stretch for us…but a former super-intern just told us about her favorite professor who just happens to teach a course on Roman games. So I’ll bring this up in the meeting tomorrow.

101. hurley Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 6:49 am

     LIBRARIES: yet more proof that great minds think alike, ho, ho:
     http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1969979,00.html

102. hurley Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 6:51 am

     LIBRARIES: It just occurred to me that Nicholson Baker (The Double Fold) might be an appropriate guest…

103. hurley Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 12:55 pm

     IMPEACHMENT:
     http://www.glumbert.com/media/roleplay
     WARNING: FUNNY, TO THE POINT, MIGHT OFFEND PG SENSIBILITIES (though that’s not my point). Just to add another expression of a growing mood. I hope you find a way to address it.

104. emmettoconnell Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 1:45 pm

     Re: my baseball idea.

     I started reading “The Meaning of Ichiro” last night and a few things popped up.

     1. Baseball is the most American of the games we play, at least emotionally. It is the game we Americans most connect with our national personae. At the same time, it is the most international of our major sports, in terms of participation by foreign born players.

     2. Baseball in Japan dates back to the 1870s and 1900s in Korea. High school baseball in Japan is more important than high school football in Texas, if you know what I mean. It wasn’t until after WWII that professional baseball in Japan became important.

     3. Ichiro’s father bought him his first baseball glove not to teach him a game, but rather: “It’s a tool to teach him the value of things” in the Buddhist sense of the “value of things.”

     Also, this is the last week (down to practically two days) for the hated Red Sox to get Matsuzaka into the fold.

105. Tom B Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 3:23 pm

     As the cameras panned across the attendees at the Tehran conference on The Holocaust, out jumped the striking image of some Satmar Hassidic rabbis… Although David Duke got the quotes, the rabbis were more photogenically interesting. What about a show about this controversial sect? Kiryas Joel, their rural New York community was involved in a fascinating court case (Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet) in 1994. The Satmars make for a scenically compelling drive through their Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NYC, NY) neighborhood. The Satmars are and have been violently opposed to the State of Israel (for theological reasons). In short an examination of this community of 120,000 haredi would make for a really interesting show!

106. Tom B Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 3:27 pm

     Reference libraries… Madrid’s subway system has recently instituted a library loan system — in the stations. One can go to a booth, check out a book to read on the subway (or whereever) and then return it, also in a subway system. Is this unique, or am I just behind the times (since I live in a city without subways)?

107. jazzman Says:
     December 12th, 2006 at 8:12 pm

     Hurley,

     I second the motion for Nicholson Baker on libraries – He’s one of my favorite writers not nearly prolific enough for my taste.

108. David Weinstein Says:
     December 13th, 2006 at 7:19 am

     Well leaving behind politics for a change, I’d like to suggest a show about the hugely charismatic and popular ninteenth century American preacher, Henry Ward Beecher. The likes of Sam Clemens, Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman sat in the pews of the Brooklen Plymouth church as this spellbinding speaker spoke about how redemption was for the asking, that love among God’s creatures was the good news, countering the stern Calvanism of his day, declaring “man was made for enjoyment.”

     Henry Ward Beecher was perhaps the father of the Chrisitain moral left, something we hear little about these days, supporting women’s sufferage and the abolition of slavery from his pulpit. I think a line of inquiry might be if Henry Ward Beecher was the beginning or at least an early flowering of a certain American optimism in religion, letters and politics, of a certain sunny, expansive, American spirit and industry that cross-polinated with Emerson and Thoreau, the idealism of the Brookfarm that has echoes in Dr. Spock’s philosophy, the human potenatial movement, JFK’s New Frontier, Reverend Sloan coffin’s actvism and opposition to the Vietnam war, Woodstock and so on.

     And there is scandal in his life blown up as only the nineteenth centry printed press could accomplish. Beyond that, what he represented and eloquently expressed is a fascinating contrast to the puritanical, Southern Baptist strain in American Christianity, literally a debate over the emphasis of heaven or hell at the very heart of American civilization.

     Dorothy Applegate has written a compelling biogrphy of Henry Ward Beecher that was recently published. She would make a fine guest.

109. hurley Says:
     December 13th, 2006 at 1:50 pm

     EXTINCTION, anyone?
     Makes you want to cry:
     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061213/ap_on_sc/china_dolphin_extinction

110. Greta Says:
     December 13th, 2006 at 6:17 pm

     emmettoconnell: your Japanese baseball pitch is great. It’s up on our Show Ideas board, which means we’re just waiting for the right time. With Matsuzaka winging his way to Boston as we speak, seems like the time is…soon. Here’s hoping somebody on the show can teach me to throw a gyroball.

     Tom B: I don’t see an hour-long show here, but perhaps a feature. I’ll ask around and see if anyone wants to pick it up.

     And thanks everyone for the library help that David asked for. We’re not convinced yet that it’s a show, but we’ll let you know if it makes it onto the board.

111. emmettoconnell Says:
     December 13th, 2006 at 6:27 pm

     Greta: on the show idea, Thanks! On Matzuzaka landing in Boston: @*#$… grumblegrumblegrumble.

112. Barbara Castleman Says:
     December 14th, 2006 at 11:06 am

     Story Pitch: Today, 12/14, at the UN, ministers from 132 developing countries will consider championing a global initiative to establish a UN Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare. More than 350,000 people have already signed the Declaration that would help achieve global recognition of animals as sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain and suffering. Over 1 billion people depend on animals for their livelihood. Better care for animals can result in better lives for humans worldwide. Leah Garces, Dir. of Programs for The World Society for the Protection of Animals, is at the UN briefing today and in NYC through Sunday. She is an eloquent, passionate spokesperson and would be a great guest on Open Source now or in the future. For more info, visit: http://www.wspa-usa.org Thanks for considering it! Barbara, WSPA USA

113. blackoars Says:
     December 14th, 2006 at 11:59 am

     Hi Chris,
     I’ve been listening on XM in California, so I believe I’m a bit time shifted from your show’s actual performance. On to the meat. Iraq.
     First: Iraq was a bad idea. That is the country was a bad idea. The only reason the Brits are in this with us is that it was their idea. Cobbling together a country of three disparate groups two of which have been fighting for thirteen hundred years was pretty flaky colonial thinking. It takes someone as bad as Sadaam to keep the place together and we’re not up to the job. This is the first thing that needs to be admitted to be able to make progress.
     Second: Trillion Dollar Vendetta. Sadaam tryed to whack Bush’s daddy in ’93 when 41 was making a victory tour of Kuwait. These Texans take their vendettas seriously. That’s why in Sept of 01 43′s first question was, “how can be blame this on Sadaam?” This vendetta may have been the only reason for the Bush drive for the presidency, let alone the war. But here’s the rub. Sadaam is still alive. True, we killed his kids, but he is still alive. We’re not leaving until the job is done. When Sadaam is dead, then Bush will start pulling out. You think I’m kidding, don’t you? No kidding. Just as a “majority” was hoodwinked about the war, so is the same majority hoodwinked about why we are there.
     Third: Diplomacy in the middle east? These people are true believers in mutually antagonistic beliefs. And that’s just the Muslims. They all believe they should kill the apostates on the other side of the Sunni-Shia divide. What makes anyone think that they are actually listening to a bunch of idolators and infidels? How are folks that are true believers in a still different religion going to come to any agreement with them? They will do what is in their interest, but will lie to infidels in the mean time.
     Fourth: To get out. Split it up. Let the Iranians have the Shia areas, maybe to have it become a country later. Let the Syrians and Jordanians have the Sunni areas, perhaps to become a country someday. The Kurds have been running their own show for a decade and a half anyway. Let them alone. How to do this with the Sunnis and Shia? Simple. Pull back 10 klicks. Tell the Iranians, Syrians, and Jordanians to come in and keep order, or they get to deal with the refugees. At the 10 klick line, turn the refugees back to the other border. When each ribbon is occupied by their co-religionists, pull back another 10 clicks. Don’t worry about the borders of these territories. Don’t impose borders. They really can figure that out for themselves. Keep doing that and fly the troops home as we back out. The neighbors will keep the blood baths to a minimum because they already have enough refugees.
     [Rant mode off]
     Regards,
     Fox sends.

114. Robin Says:
     December 14th, 2006 at 3:23 pm

     That dolphin story is sad, hurley. We’re actually thinking of doing a show we’re calling “Green China” in our meetings right now, about the numerous environmental problems China is having as a result of “unbridled economic growth” (to quote the article). I think this would be a good example to bring up in that show. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Hopefully we’ll have a post up about that idea before too long.

     David Weinstein,I don’t hear the specific time-sensative peg in your Henry Ward Beecher pitch, but I know that Chris is into Beecher and his ilk in a big way. Given we’ve done shows on Emerson, William Llyod Garrison, and the Peabody Sisters, it’s conceivable we’d do an hour on Beecher. But I’ll have to see whether this sticks in a story meeting.

115. faithandreason Says:
     December 14th, 2006 at 5:24 pm

     Story idea: public financing of roadways, its defenders, and the critics who claim it has brought us urban sprawl, air pollution, energy problems, obesity, and community dissolution.

     For good background:
     http://www.jhsph.edu/RiskSciences/Research/TrafficProximity.html

     Copied from my post on the global warming/SCOTUS show:
     “Eisenhower’s Secretary of Defense, Charles Erwin Wilson, who claimed that national defense requires highways to enable rapid troop movements, etc., happens to be the man hired from General Motors, where he served as CEO. This man is the same man who said the famous quote: “What’s good for GM is good for America.” The GM of the 1950s was also instrumental in ensuring that the Highway Trust Fund was only used to build more highways, not transit, which GM helped to sink in the pre-WW2 years. The PBS P.O.V. documentary “Taken for a Ride” – featuring the voice of NPR’s Renee Montagne – outlines this history well.”

     The infrastructure we see today is unprecedented in human history. We’re told that roads are built to support demand for driving, which is an outgrowth of economic and population growth. Yet academics like Robert Noland in the UK have estimated that new roadway capacity alone explains roughly 25% of all of the historical growth in vehicle miles traveled.

     In my part of the world, land development has grown at triple the rate of population growth since 1990. A 2003 study found that 20% of the land in the United States is within 127 meters of a road, where other researchers have found substantially increased air pollution like soot, carbon monoxide, and road dust.

     New studies are showing that people living near major roads die at about 1.5-2.0 times the rate of other people from heart and lung problems. European studies have shown a 3-fold risk in heart attacks for an hour spent in traffic. Studies in New York have shown that babies born to mothers in the top 25% of exposure to combustion-related air pollution during pregnancy are born smaller, and go on to develop asthma and neurocognitive impairment at higher rates. And studies all over the world have found that living near a major road increases the prevalence of wheezing, phlegm, and other respirator problems. A California study of children seems to indicate that living near a major road may be causing new asthma in some kids.

     The Federal Highway Administration’s “Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality” environmental improvement program has billions of dollars a year, which has gone to bike lanes, highway widening, and traffic flow improvments.

     My show idea: a discussion of historians, urban planning academics, public health researchers, and policy wonks on the costs and benefits of publicly-financed roads.

     Potential guest ideas:

     -John Pucher, Professor of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers

     -Fred Salvucci, Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Associate, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics

     -John C. Horsely, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials

     -Ron White, Associate Scientist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

     -Anthony Downs, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

     -Elizabeth Deakin, Professor, U-California Berkeley, School of Architechture and Center for Environmental Design

     -Michael Replogle, Director of Transportation, Enviornmental Defence, Washington D.C.

     -Norm Mineta, Former Secretary of Transportation

     -Greg Cohen, President & CEO, American Highway Users Alliance

     -Robert Noland, Reader in Transport and Environmental Policy, Imperial College London (UK)

     -Robert Yuhnke, Attorney, Boulder Colorado

     -John Froines, Professor, UCLA School of Public Health and Southern California Particle Center and Supersite.

116. Chelsea Says:
     December 15th, 2006 at 2:24 pm

     Faithandreason:

     Over the summer we had several conversations about dedicating an entire week of shows to the American Interstate highway System. In the end the show ideas we came up with either seemed too broad for an hour of radio or too narrow–and most of them struck us as straight up wonky. Your show idea seems too expansive for one meager hour of radio. If you can think of just one angle that could sustain an hour of radio we would love to know.

117. hurley Says:
     December 15th, 2006 at 2:42 pm

     An unexpectedly poignant twist on China and dolphins:
     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061214/ap_on_fe_st/china_dolphins_tallest_man
     Get that giant on the show. Apart from the obvious and awful joke about his perspective, imagine what he might have to say about saving the life of two creatures, members of a species he might not otherwise have laid eyes on. It may have been a life-changing experience for him, and maybe for many other Chinese moved by his example. Let’s hope so. Jolly Green Chinese Giant, anyone?
     Green China: as Gandhi said of Western civilisation, it sounds like a good idea.
     Let’s hope it pans out.

118. peggysue Says:
     December 15th, 2006 at 3:30 pm

     The so-called “War on Christmas” might be a fun holiday topic. Sea-Tac airport just went through a comedy of errors as they put out their “holiday” trees, arguably a pagan symbol, a local Rabbi generously offered to give the Port an 8 foot menorah (and threatened to sue the port if they didn’t take it and put it up). The port, not wanting to deal with controvery or a law-suit or create an obligation to every other religion to display their symbols during their busiest time of year took down the trees. This generated a huge broo-ha. In the end the rabbi withdrew the threat of a lawsuit and the Port put back the trees. The Port will reconcider their holiday decor for next year.

119. jazzman Says:
     December 15th, 2006 at 8:37 pm

     I’m pitching a show on Capital Punishment – can it be justified? Is it ethical? Is it cruel and unusual? Is it civilized?

     With the Angel Diaz lethal injection controversy in Florida and Saddam Hussein’s impending demise, it seems those Bushes (as governors or president) aren’t shy when it comes to meting out “justice” (innocence, mental incompetence and recanted testimony are mere distractions.) The changing of the guard in state legislatures after the November elections may require renewed debate on this issue. It’s been a perennial staple of the Massachusetts’ Republican Governors and almost passed after the Jeff Curley murder – missing by 1 recanted vote. I wager that this would engender lively conversation at ROS.

     Richard C. Dieter is the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. He is an attorney who has written and spoken extensively on the subject of capital punishment and would make an excellent guest.

120. Christine A. Larson Says:
     December 15th, 2006 at 11:35 pm

     I am inquiring into contact information for Christopher Lydon. I was referred from WGBH/Boston. I am interested in appearing on his “Open Source Radio Show,” on my book release: “Alternative Medicine,” the “Savvy Consumer’s Guide to Healthcare,” which will be released December 30th by academic award-winning publisher, Greenwood Press.

     I have confirmed an “on-air” interview with one of the large NPR affiliates in the north for January 18th from 11:06-11:45 a.m., and am interested in scheduling a similar program with Christopher.

     Please provide contact information for him directly, and I’ll be happy to send
     a press kit. I am an avid NPR listener, with my station WEKU/Richmond, as they have the best classical programming in the Lexington, KY market.

     I am also a fan of Christopher’s “Open Source Radio Show,” where it is syndicated here through WEKU/Richmond. I believe his listeners will love the book, which introduces the concept of evidence-based medicine to the American consumer and provides a first-of-its-kind look at the science underlying both alternative and conventional medicine and what to do in its absence.

     Sincerely,
     Christine Larson, Author
     “Alternative Medicine,” the “Savvy Consumer’s Guide to Healthcare,” because savvy consumers like the facts.
     Phone: (859) 269-9895

121. faithandreason Says:
     December 16th, 2006 at 1:58 am

     Chelsea:

     Here’s the one case that’s a nice diving-off point for the rest of things:
     Once upon a time, the Nevada Department of Transportation and Federal Highways Administration decided to expand a freeway through Las Vegas, US-95. They went through the standard environmental review. After construction had already started, the Sierra Club of NV petitioned NDOT and FHWA to update their environmental impact statement to reflect recent science on air pollution and public health. When their petition was denied, the Sierra Club sued in federal court. The DOTs won in the district court, but upon appeal, the 9th Circuit stayed all further development of the project pending appeal. The litigants reached settlement, committing FHWA and NDOT to a set of scientific studies on the topic. *DING* goes the bell — suddenly FHWA and the state DOT are ”’very”’ concerned about “particulate matter” and “air toxics,” the foci of the Sierra Club’s lawsuit, which from their perspective have the potential to derail or jack up the cost of new freeway construction. Meanwhile, there’s a quiet revolt against highway construction going on, buoyed by new public health studies that indicate that living near a freeway may not be all that good for you — and it’s being played out across the country in many, many different highway expansion projects.

     One lawsuit: enough of a jumping off point?

122. enhabit Says:
     December 16th, 2006 at 2:52 pm

     Do a show on these two housing advocates. They are firecrackers to say the least.

     Jockin Arputham president of ”SDI” (www.sdinet.org)

     Samsouk founder of “CODI” (www.codi.or.th/index.php) stick with it, you’ll find the “english” link.

     They are close friends with similar philosophies. They are not looking for handouts; they are looking to do what they do without interference.

     The HUD Secretary was (seemingly) set up by UNHABITAT at the last WUF by having Jockin speak after him…it brought the house down. I was embarrassed for our Secretary, who meant well, but was so out of touch in front of a highly knowledgeable international audience. He got what was coming to him…the importance of home ownership and financing? More like the importance of a home at all.

     They are both highly intelligent and highly motivated…very entertaining speakers….heroic on a level of a Mohammad Yunus…you will be surprised to discover the size of their fanbase.

123. enhabit Says:
     December 17th, 2006 at 10:10 am

     Another show idea.

     Do you know the Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown? He is a force of nature. Not only is he a proplific producer of music, but he founded a music school in his favella. The resulting transformation of the entire neighborhood as been nothing short of miraculous. Here is someone who could jet off to anywhere that he wants. His dedication to his roots is very moving. He is profoundly philosophical, I asssure you, no one is ever bored around him.

124. enhabit Says:
     December 17th, 2006 at 10:11 am

     contact me by e-mail and i’ll send you more about these two ideas.

125. hurley Says:
     December 17th, 2006 at 1:11 pm

     ROGUE ELEPHANTS, as an important indicator of larger problems:
     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061217/ap_on_re_as/india_killer_elephant
     You linked the previous link I’d provided on the subject vv your proposal for a show on anthropomorphism, but you might give another thought to what this rampaging elephant syndrome means in and of itself. People who’ve worked and coexisted with them for decades are now getting trampled underfoot, rhinos are getting raped…What are we doing to these creatures — all creatures — to drive them to such extremes, and what does it mean. Of course we know the answers to both questions — we’re driving them out of their minds, out of existence — but maybe we should explore them anyway, in the manner of a cautionary tale or whatnot.

126. hurley Says:
     December 17th, 2006 at 1:14 pm

     In the manner of a requiem, I might have added.

127. enhabit Says:
     December 17th, 2006 at 4:52 pm

     be sure to ask Jockin (India) and Samsouk (Thailand) about the international aid to the tsunami victims..aniversary coming up…you will get an earful.

128. emmettoconnell Says:
     December 17th, 2006 at 10:59 pm

     I know I just got my first suggested show turned into a real show thread, but can ROS not do a show around Time Magazine naming me (and you) the Person of the Year?

129. David Says:
     December 18th, 2006 at 10:44 am

     Enhabit: these are good leads for guests, but what is the show? I’m not familiar with Jockin or Samsouk, which I’ll try to fix now that you’ve called our attention to them. What show are they perfect for? And why now?

     As for the samba show, we did one, which wasn’t a perfect success, and we’d consider doing another, although probably not for a little while.

     Hurley: Everybody in our office who read that article was talking about it for weeks. But I think we decided to go for a more high concept show instead of the straight elephant hour.

     Emmett: Can we not do a show around Time Magazine‘s person of the year? Just watch us! I like to think that Time is just late to a party that we’ve been mooching food from for a year and a half. The fact that grand old media outlets are finally discovering Web 2.0, citizen journalism, Flickr, tagging, YoutTube, and the wisdom of the audience isn’t interesting news. These are the tools of our trade — tools we use to greater or lesser effect every day — but not stories in and of themselves.

130. Katherine Says:
     December 18th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

     hurley: The dolphin story might have made a fun couple-of-minutes radio piece, but it wouldn’t sustain an hour for us. As for Green China — it’s on our story board, so hopefully sometime in the New Year we can move it into production.

     peggysue: The “War on Christmas” comes up every year, so I’m not sure there’s something new there for us to explore.

     jazzman: You’re right, capital punishment is one of those endlessly debatable topics — but it is frequently debated, so unless there’s a brand new angle, it won’t fly in the story meeting.

131. enhabit Says:
     December 18th, 2006 at 7:24 pm

     David

     Carlinhos isn’t so much about samba as he is about a way of looking at things. a very good movie was made by a spanish director about him (can’t locate it right now but i will..i’ve got pnemonia beleive it or not) it would absolutely interest you. he has affected the lives and outlook of the people in his favella in a way that is truly astonishing.

     I have met Samsouk and Jockin more than once (doubt they’ll remember me though) the first time it was all about housing technique. they are brilliantly pragmatic. the second time Samsouk spent all of her time not talking about the tsunami but running a discussion group of victims that she had flown to Vancouver. the aid had obviously been dissapointing. people all over were sick of waiting, taking matters into their own hands and just getting it done. Jockin also talks about this…that critical secondary layer of aid gets lost somehow. the people that need it don’t get to see it..where does it go? this is why both advocates can seem so militant; they are suspicious of help..incredible when you become aware of their astonishing productivity..more often than not..accomplished with the savings and labour of the disadvantaged themselves. it has been estimated that there is more cash hidden away in the mattresses of those 1 billion slumdwellers than there is in all the aid coffers sent to help them combined. many tsunami victims are still waiting, just as many pakistani earthquake victims are looking at yet another winter with little to help them but their wits.

     i have some contacts in Banda Aceh who could contribute a lot as well to a “tsunami aniversary where’s the help now? show”. our cultural attention span can at times..leave a lot to be desired.

132. emmettoconnell Says:
     December 19th, 2006 at 1:14 pm

     David: Oh snap! Good point, I just got really excited.

133. Thakkus Says:
     December 20th, 2006 at 4:08 am

     The Use of Force…
     When is it morally appropriate for one nation to use force against another nation?

134. hurley Says:
     December 20th, 2006 at 2:19 pm

     Sorry to inflict my elephant-sadness on you yet again (though I gather you at ROS are sympathetic): http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061220/ts_alt_afp/afplifestyleusanimalszooselephants

135. enhabit Says:
     December 20th, 2006 at 4:57 pm

     from today’s bbc on tsunami aid

     http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/6193737.stm

136. travellingmind Says:
     December 20th, 2006 at 10:53 pm

     I believe a good show could be centered around a statement I made recently, “War is easy, peace is difficult.” The “Why now” of this is simply that we seem to find more reasons to go to war, than to peace. Peace has been attempted in many regions throughout the globe, but it usually fails because neither side are “completely” open to the others solutions or suggestions to end war or begin peace.

137. nother Says:
     December 22nd, 2006 at 1:16 am

     I had been thinking about how little we know about whom we are fighting in Iraq and then Clint Eastwood came out with his movie Letters from Iwo Jima. I don’t want ROS to wait 60 years to explore the other side; lets do a show called Letters from Fallujah. Our ignorance as to who is killing our soldiers is astounding. Do we need more evidence than Maureen Dowd’s opt-ed where she points out that the new head of the House Intelligence Committee did not know if Al Qaeda was Sunni or Shite? How can we possible find a resolution when we don’t even know whom we are fighting? A good place to start is,
     here but I want to dig deeper, I want to know who these men are. Let’s dig beyond the one-dimensional ideological zealot characterizations that we are spoon-fed. Before Jill Carroll was released she did an interview with an Iraqi insurgent. In the interview he ironically sounds like a man who has more empathy for us then we have for them. “The American soldier comes from America. He left his country, his family, his children, his wife. He cannot see them, maybe six months or more. This is very big problem because they are men…. The mujahideen, [we] can [leave] our homes for 20 minutes, hit the American soldier, and come back home. So we [have fought] continuously now three years, and we can continue 10 years or more. But Americans cannot continue one year. It is impossible.”

138. nother Says:
     December 22nd, 2006 at 1:22 am

     http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr134.html
     http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0822/p11s02-woiq.html
     here

139. danielsomers Says:
     December 23rd, 2006 at 11:22 am

     Hi. I was looking over your series on climate change. Two topics come to mind that would be interesting additions.

     1) Historical and prehistoric records of civilizational collapse. The question of whether or when we are going to go off a cliff, of course, has been an underlying theme in environmental debates since Malthus. Often a long, slow slide and muddling through are more apt metaphors, but there have indeed been many incidences of collapse and global warming has the potential to lead in this direction. We can learn a lot about this from past events, and there’s a teriffic debate over what has caused collapse in the past. Jared Diamond’s work, of course, has gotten lots of attention in this regard and his contention that civilizations basically do themselves in, eat themselves out of house and home, is often taken as something like gospel. But there is growing evidence that collapse often comes from abrupt and dramatic “natural” climate change. Harvey Weiss at Yale is an archaeologist who has collaborated with paleoclimatologists and is probably the leading proponent of this view. Elizabeth Kolbert did a nice piece on his work in the New Yorker (5/2/05). I used to T.A. for Harvey. He’s rather partisan and even polarizing, but his work is very important. He’s also pretty entertaining. Anyway… this stuff is very interesting and has enormous implications for the climate change issue. Would be fun to get the two of them on a program along with someone who’s more focused on contemporary issues and could help draw out the relevance of the historical data.

     2) Climate change and international environmental justice. I assume this is obvious. The developed world has created the problem but it’s impacts will be by far the greatest in the third world. Tim Weiskel at Harvard and Emerson would be good on this, but there are many others, also. Actually, an interesting twist would be to have Mike Davis on. His book “Late Victorian Holocausts” demonstrates that the global wealth divide was largely created by interaction of colonialism and el nino-induced draughts in the global south. Draught had not been catastrophic before, but in the late 19th century it weakened societies enough to facilitate colonial invasions, and then colonial extraction of surplus production increased vulnerability to future draughts. The upshot was somewhere between 30 and 60 million deaths from starvation, even as grain was being shipped to europe because europeans could pay higher prices for it once grain markets were globalized. Anyway, the irony of course is that colonialism and global capitalism and transportation technology created the third world a hundred years ago, and now the same combination is poised to give another equally (more?) destructive wallop. Davis has also done amazing work on contemporary conditions in the third world, especially mega-cities and mega-slums, and no doubt could speak to the climate change/env. justice issue.

140. quijibo Says:
     December 25th, 2006 at 11:09 pm

     where’s the December pitch a show?

141. jfink Says:
     December 27th, 2006 at 2:07 pm

     A pitch: GOOGLE vs. WONDER

     It turns out that I own a camel saddle.

     I had spent the last three years trying to figure out why my footstool had bells. And rawhide straps. And curved legs. Then, last night, the boyfriend of a friend of a friend walked into my house, pointed at my footstool and said, “That’s a camel saddle.”

     Naturally, the next thing I did was type “Camel Saddle” into Google Image search. As expected, I was presented with 674 images of my footstool.

     Like this:
     http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=camel+saddle

     The only reason that I had wondered this long is because I didn’t know the right keywords to search? How depressing!

     But, wasn’t wondering what this artifact was more fun than actually knowing? What about the trail of people I would have met had I decided to conduct a search? Antique dealers? Professors? Camel Racers?

     Instant access to information is addictive and alluring, but possibly robs us of a lot of rich experience. Instead of learning how to fish, we are getting our fish handed to us. And it’s sorted by algorithm.

     The point: We now have a society in which access to THE ANSWER is available everywhere at anytime. What does that do to our understanding of mastery? Our cravings for certainty? What will happen to us as we lose touch with the unknown? Is there a downside to knowing everything?

142. stu ervin Says:
     December 27th, 2006 at 10:11 pm

     id like to pitch a show about the emerging problem of ULTRA WHITE christmas lights. when iwas a boy it was the beautiful colored lights twinkling in the trees and windows that were so magical. now everywhere i look are these white white white lights, white lawn deer, white window dressings…. is it a sign of cultural division? is it the conservative element among us? is it a marketing ploy or some cheap junk coming out of china ?? what does it say about a person who prefers white lights to colored lights? i’d be glad to co-host this program and try to draw the connections between our current religiosity/social breakdown/ political crisis and the white light phenomenon….

143. houstonDave Says:
     December 29th, 2006 at 1:18 am

     What about NEW ORLEANS?

     I visited last week (almost 16 months after Katrina hit) and was appalled at the damage that remained the lack of meaningful progress in guess which areas?

     My old college roommate grew up in N.O. and moved back months after the storm to help out as a volunteer while he telecommuted with his job. What he told us about what is going on there is mind-boggling. Perfectly good public housing units are not just boarded up with plywood, they are covered with steel grates to prevent the former occupants from breaking in and squatting in their own homes! (I could try to put you in touch with him if you are interested.)

     It is sad and infuriating at the same time. Even if you don’t care for New Orleans, per se, you just have to think: is this what would happen to MY TOWN if disaster struck?

     Surely, putting poor and working class people back into modest housing isn’t as sexy as a war of conquest or sending a rocket to Mars, but it is the kind of function we should expect of the federal government of/by/for the people. A good examination of why this isn’t working ought to help future disaster victims.

144. hurley Says:
     December 29th, 2006 at 3:33 am

     GLOBAL WARMING: You might put this, by Anatole Lieven, in your global warming file. A powerful little essay:
     http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/28/opinion/edlieven.php

145. OliverCranglesParrot Says:
     December 29th, 2006 at 5:27 pm

     Richard Kearney

146. wilbur_b7 Says:
     December 29th, 2006 at 10:23 pm

     the embrace of a contradiction as dogma, in layman’s terms…

     the moral dichotomy inherent in terms like, “it’s just business.”

     these words are used routinely and successfully, as defense against accusations of hypocrisy. used even by those individuals who under any other ethical dilemma would claim adherence to altruism, generosity, and benevolence.

     how is it possible that actions of malevolence can not only be assuaged, but championed through such a meager subterfuge?

     while we may start with the labyrinthine, yet superficially minor, arc in one’s morality, “i’ve got to feed my family…” we may quickly arrive at the blatantly calamitous opinion that, “the end justifies the means.”

     such widely accepted contradiction seems symptomatic of obedience and subjugation… spawn from dictum a past society fought against, and was thought to have defeated. is it possible that the acceptance of this type of banal cliche as moral argument is analogous to the illegitimate child of a vanquished autocrat, come to reclaim his throne?

147. OliverCranglesParrot Says:
     December 29th, 2006 at 11:57 pm

     Peninsular War

148. nother Says:
     December 30th, 2006 at 3:53 am

     A Violent Series! I’m pitching for a series exploring violence in today’s society. I’m pitching because of a conversation I had with my 19-year-old nephew who just returned from Army basic training. As he was describing his training I was struck by the systematic desensitizing of violence he encountered. He was describing the guns to me, how these huge 50 cals were controlled by essentially joysticks. You look at the screen, control the joy sticks from a safe distance, and drop havoc and hell on the surrounding area. He also told me about a precision machine gun that fires grenades The MK19 firing rate is over 350 grenades per minute and it is effective to ranges of over 2200 meters. He told me how his drill instructors bragged about killings in Iraq. I asked him if they discussed politics, he said not only did they not discuss politics, they were not allowed to. It occurred to me that they were training my nephew to be a type of mercenary.

     From my nephew’s perspective, it seems to be a kind of thrill. I came away feeling that the Army did not desensitize him to violence it only exploited a desensitizing that was already in play. The battlefield of Iraq will be a logical evolution from the hunting he does with his father and the video games he plays with his friends. It’s like actually being transported into the world of the Second Life game. My nephew, whom I love, who is quick to give me a hug when he sees me, whom I often see display compassion, paradoxically views violence as part of the fabric of life yet views it impersonally, coldly, from a distance. The evolution of our species has not seen an evolution in empathy and I would like to know why. All the hoopla about the “information age,” and the wonders of the Internet, yet these things have done nothing to curtail violence in our society. Why is my nephew allowed – encouraged to embrace the dark side of his nature?

     A philosophical view:
     - Last night I came across the story of Sartre and Camus’s friendship which disintegrated over the idea of “violence” during the Cold War. Sartre was more apt to believe violence was needed in some cases and he thought Camus was too determined to keep his hands clean. Ron Aronson wrote a book about it.
     Who are the philosophers today who are having these debates and can we hear them on ROS? I it would nice to touch on the philosophical implications of our modern weapons of war. We’ve come a long way from hand to hand combat to the atomic bomb, how this evolution affected our psyche?

     A scientific/human nature view:
     EO Wilson writes in “On Human Nature” that “aggression in any given species is actually an ill-defined array of different responses with separate controls in the nervous system. No fewer than seven categories can be distinguished: The defense and conquest of territory, the assertion of dominance within well-organized groups, sexual aggression, acts of hostility by which weaning is terminated, aggression against prey, defensive counterattacks against predators, and moralistic and disciplinary aggression used to enforce the rules of society.” Would love to hear Mr. Wilson on ROS again.

     A religious view, a pop-culture view, domestic violence, sports and violence, there is so much to explore. I feel this topic is especially pertinent considering the rhetoric of a “long war’ coming from the top, ironic rhetoric considering the perpetual warring we’ve already had up until now.

     As always, know that whether you run with my pitch or not, no worries, I have fun just thinking about it.

149. missiongreen Says:
     December 30th, 2006 at 1:53 pm

     show idea:

     Momentarily wipe away the Bush Administration’s insistent claims that Iran is harboring a secret nuclear weapons program. Is Iran’s claim to peaceful nuclear technology justified? And is the international “open source” access to peaceful nuclear technology, as put forth in the NPT, truly an inalienable right of any sovereign nation? How does the language attached to the recent EU3 proposals to Iran, especially those drafted in accordance with the position of the United States, threaten to rock the foundations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?

150. Katherine Says:
     December 31st, 2006 at 10:35 am

     nother: We’ve touched on this in much of our Iraq coverage, but I’d like to hear a complete answer, too. I’ll bring it up, though production might be tricky (i.e., is the answer long or complicated enough to sustain 60 minutes?).

     danielsommers: Two really good ideas. I’ll pitch them next week.

     houstonDave: Yes, we should continue covering New Orleans. By all means send us your friend’s contact information. What other leads can you help us with?

     hurley: Great catch. It’s relevant to danielsommers’s first GW idea.

     OliverCranglesParrot: Richard Kearney and Peninsular War — could you flesh out these ideas? (E.g., what’s the interesting new angle and why do we want to talk about it now?)

     wilbur_b7: We did an Orwell show on manipulation of language a while back that I think included some elements of your idea.

151. katemcshane Says:
     December 31st, 2006 at 12:39 pm

     Regarding nother’s EXCELLENT EXCELLENT suggestion. I know Chris does talk with guests all the time about our need to move away from violence, but I haven’t heard a show (and I haven’t heard all the shows, admittedly) that addresses the fact that violence and aggression are “part of the fabric of life”, as his nephew believes. I can’t speak about scientific or evolutionary perspectives on agression/violence among human beings, but I can think of some people who have done a lot of work in this area. Bessel van der Kolk and Judith Herman are two psychiatrists in the Boston/Cambridge area who have written about trauma due to violence. Potter wrote a while back that she had suggested Judith Herman (TRAUMA AND RECOVERY) to explore the way domestic violence/child abuse are connected to war, torture, etc. and to our acceptance of atrocity, war proposed by politicians. Judith Herman’s book is about the way that violence to women and children tends to be viewed as less serious than violence perpetrated in war, during the Holocaust, but it’s all the same thing. Bessel van der Kolk has done research on the brain, I think. Both of them are MDs. Another perspective comes from Buddhists and Eastern Philosophy in general. Someone like the poet Bruce Weigl (a Buddhist) would be happy to discuss the issue. How about talking with some people from Urban Improv, who teach kids about violence-prevention every day. These are some atypical suggestions, I know, but most people in Western culture probably accept aggression/violence as natural and unavoidable, just as most people in this country are not anti-war, even though they may be against our continuing to be in Iraq.

152. OliverCranglesParrot Says:
     December 31st, 2006 at 4:35 pm

     Hello Katherine, et al. I would enjoy, and perhaps others, hearing a discussion on an hermeneutics of religion. Professor Kearney has written several excellent books on this, including The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion

     He’s a very clear and engaging speaker on this matter and can present the material in terms a layperson can grok. I suppose a discussion about an active, living, interpretive approach to texts on/about belief would provide another point-of-view in the current climate which seems to embrace a quasi-dogmatic approach. As Joseph Campbell once said (approximately) people get hung-up on the metaphors … this leads to various problems. Professor Kearney would be one of several possible guests on this topic. The zeal of many religious and athiest talking heads and the heat the generated from these folks has reached a nadir of counter-productiveness for me personally.

     Re: Peninsular War. This engagement, along with the British/American 18th century war, are examples of insurgency/guerrilla wars in a contemporary, western context. I think there are a variety of critical lessons regarding foreign policy strategy in an examination of this conflict, and some thought cycles might be instructive. This conflict brings to the surface several contemporary issues: imperial wars, religious trajectories, insurgencies/counter insurgencies, unintended consequences, war reportage and its iconography. Not to mention the atrocious behavior committed by all parties and its drain on both the population and the invading force.

     An examination of this conflict and its relationship to other imperial and enlightenment objectives facing post-monarch France might strike a contemporary note. A pre-cursor for other things to come not just for France, but up through our own time period. Lastly, it would be unwise not to give a critical examination of the Spanish power structure and its response, as well as, an investigation of the demographics of 18th and 19th Century Spain. The Spainish world lagged somewhat behind the rest of Europe at this time and there is ample evidence of entrenchment between the throne and the religious power in suppressing enlightment and other modernizing forces which threatened this power structure. This too would indicate some rapport with the current global scene.

153. OliverCranglesParrot Says:
     December 31st, 2006 at 4:40 pm

     I think nadir of productiveness or zenith of counter-productiveness would make more sense in my previous post.

154. patsyb Says:
     January 1st, 2007 at 4:34 pm

     I want to second Google vs. Wonder as a show dilemma. I’d like to tease out from jfink’s perspective that the choice of words needed to construct effective searches points to the need to be agile with synonyms and imaginative with turns of phrase. It also helps to have an ear for the language people use in different contexts in order to build a string that yields because language usage is apt. Just as jfink’s wonder holds its pleasures, so do the chase and the find, each very differently. The pleasure of the search can be in the wordsmithing.

155. Sutter Says:
     January 1st, 2007 at 10:46 pm

     Above, Hans Weise pitched a show on science fiction, which I’d like to hijack and modify. The past few years have seen the publication of several novels by “serious” authors borrowing (maybe “appropriating”?) devices usually left to the “science fiction” ghetto. I’m thinking primarily of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go,” Michel Houellebecq’s “The Possibility of an Island,” Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” and Maragaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” (the last being a weaker example, as Atwood is no stranger to the motifs of science fiction). What is it about our times that prompts these authors to turn toward the future — dark futures in each case, it’s worth noting — to explore topical moral dilemmas (from the environment to cloning to the limitations of liberal individualism)? What do these novels and others like them have to teach us about where we’re heading? And do they herald a break-through of sci-fi into the mainstream, or just the “borrowing” of a certain approach in a tme when that approach is helpful in illuminating the human condition?

156. memphis Says:
     January 2nd, 2007 at 9:19 am

     I like your pitch patsyb! While I am reading all of the above relevant and wonderful ideas, I also like the idea of something a bit more lighthearted…..

157. Robin Says:
     January 2nd, 2007 at 3:58 pm

     Hi everyone! We’re catching up on show pitches after the holidays.

     From December 20:

     Thakkus: a very important but very old question. Is there a new dimension or angle to this conversation that we’re not aware of? Someone with a new proposal about the rules for violent engagement or a new definition for just war? We need something more to go on.

     travellingmind, I’m feeling something similar about this pitch. Important but age-old question that needs a new hook, talker, or core idea to propel it into a show.

     enhabit: I read the tsumani article. Terrible stuff. But what show are you proposing we do about it? Which angle? The tsunami piece? The Red Cross piece? We had a Red Cross show going last year after Katrina that ultimately got sent to the Graveyard because we felt like the moment had passed before the show went on the air; are you suggesting we resurrect it? Help us out here.

     From December 27:

     jfink: Thanks for this pitch. I hope you don’t mind if make an example of it, because it’s a good illustration of one sort of pitch we get a lot.

     The ideas and arguments you’ve laid out sound like the beginning of what I would call a “think piece,” namely, a persuasive essay that explores some idea or concept, the sort of piece that might run in Salon, Edge.org, or even on your own blog. These types of pieces can translate really well into radio shows of the sort we do, especially when the ideas are provocative and their authors are willing to come on the show and sing their sermon with one or two good interlocutors. We love it when you guys send us links to pieces like this, because they translate so well. Have you seen a controversial opinion piece that approaches some concept we think we know in some fresh way? Awesome. We want to read it. One example of a show we did like this that worked really well was the show Chelsea produced about The End of Free Will. It was “high-concept” (sort of like what you’re proposing) but it was totally fascinating.

     The thing is, the reason that show worked was that we had Clay Shirky. He articulated the idea in his original piece, and then took up the mantle on the show. Plus he’s a fantastic talker. Had we not had Clay Shirky (and Jim Leff and Megan McArdle) this show would have been impossible.

     So for this pitch and others like it, what you really need to give us is someone who takes up the mantle of “Google vs. Wonder” and can sell that idea on the air like their life depended on it. If you can do that, I think it could make a really interesting show. (If you think that person is you, well, it wouldn’t be the first time we put a commentor on the air as a guest, but you’d really have to “sing it,” as we say around here.) Otherwise, this is an essay I would love to read on your blog at some point when it’s fully articulated. Make sense?

     (Oh, and finally, as, uh, pressing as this problem is, stu ervin, I don’t think it’s right for our show. Maybe you should take this up with your neighborhood association.)

158. wzellmer Says:
     January 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 pm

     Love your work–keep it up. How about doing something on the fall of apartheid in South Africa and contrasting that experience with Iraq. How did S.A. have the wise leadership to prevent a blood bath whereas there seems to be no attempt at reconciliation in post-Sadam Iraq? Could the formal reconciliation process used in S.A. work in Iraq?

159. nother Says:
     January 3rd, 2007 at 5:29 am

     Thank you Katemcshane, those are great suggestions, I only hope the staff can suss something out of our ideas. I love the domestic violence angle and you make a strong point about people being anti-Iraq yet not anti-war. This goes to the heart of it, I keep thinking, ok, our country has come to terms with the mistaken invasion, now where is the urgency to leave? Where is the outrage that Bush is taking vacation while he thinks this over?

     Do we need any more evidence that there is a resignation to war in our culture; it’s more than a resignation, it’s the norm? Most people are reluctant to show outrage about Iraq because deep down they don’t want to be perceived as a pacifist, which is the worst of the worst in our culture. The sad fact is, people would rather error on the side of war.

     I keep going back to a question in my head Katemcshane, one that helped prompt the original pitch. In all these video games all these kids (especially boys) are playing, killing random people gratuitously is accepted and promoted in many cases. My question is, why is not acceptable to randomly rape a women on these video games? This may be a provocative question, but I would like to know why it’s acceptable to go up to a woman character in these games and blow her head off with a machine gun, but not rape her. Of course my wish is not to see rapes on these games, it’s to see neither rapes nor gratuitous killing. Everyone knows that if you show too much sex in a movie or God forbid, a man’s penis, the movie gets the dreaded NC 17, but if you show five teenagers being gruesomely murdered, you get a PG 13.

     Why Why Why are we not evolving when it comes to violence? I guess it could be a mute question when you consider are brains have “evolved” enough to envision the ultimate violent act, the means of our own destruction, the nuclear bomb.

160. nother Says:
     January 3rd, 2007 at 5:53 am

     So at the same time they hang Saddam (I assume not to punish but to deter), New Jersey may be the first state in years to get rid of capital punishment, a trend for the country the Times tells us.
     http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/nyregion/03death.html?hp&ex=1167886800&en=059b8a91e7279f4e&ei=5094&partner=homepage
     Are we finally going to evolve enough to stop state killing?

161. memphis Says:
     January 3rd, 2007 at 6:43 am

     Really good points nother ….. it seems the producers of the games and the movies are deciding on what is socially acceptable in terms of the types of violence which they decide is ok for young minds to view as entertainment. This will ultimately influence the morales of generations to come – I like your original pitch!

162. katemcshane Says:
     January 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 am

     Nother — sorry to use this page as a message board — if you’re interested, go to http://www.lannan.org (Audio Archives) and listen to a speech given by Chris Hedges about violence/war. He took such pains to see through to the truth that he took my breath away. In fact, I’d love to see him included in a discussion of violence/aggression. And I really cannot talk about rape in this setting, but I will say that women’s groups have done whatever they had to do to stop companies from doing things like including it in video games and if more men worked against violence, it would be unacceptable in the culture.

163. hurley Says:
     January 3rd, 2007 at 12:24 pm

     Further to nother and katemcshane’s evolving proposal: Gershon Legman, Love & Death (1949), a cold eye on America’s Puritan abhorrence of sex (we’re talking 1949 after all, though as Henry Miller said in Reds, “We were ******* just as much then as now, only we didn’t talk about it so much”) and its simultaneous embrace of violence, as seen through an examination of its literature (Edmund Wilson, Hemingway, Chandler, Hammet, Cain, et al), popular culture, and a vast range of material besides. It’s vivid, erudite, and often very funny; also one of the greatest polemics I’ve read against censorship. It was one of William Carlos Williams’ “books of the year”…Legman was an eccentric and legendary figure — Kinsey researcher, authority on origami, “sexologist,” scholar of the dirty joke, and a cracker-jack stylist. Worth a look.

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