The images are familiar now. The police in their face shields, armed with batons and cans of pepper spray. The protestors, sporting bruises, pouring milk on each others’ faces. What happened in the spring might make you feel uncomfortable and angry. Kellie Carter-Jackson says: that’s the point. And she says that a nice, peaceful protest may not accomplish the structural change America needs.
The images are familiar now. The police in their face shields, armed with batons and cans of pepper spray. The protestors, sporting bruises, pouring milk on each others’ faces. What happened in the spring might make you feel uncomfortable and angry. Kellie Carter-Jackson says: that’s the point. And she says that a nice, peaceful protest may not accomplish the structural change America needs.
Let’s face it, 2020 has been a hell of a year. We could all use a good laugh. But as historians and/or fans of history, we have to read something historically grounded, right? Well, fear not! Felix Biederman, Virgil Texas, Will Menaker, Brendan James, and Matt Christman, those rapscallions from the Chapo Trap House podcast wrote a book, The Chapo Guide to Revolution; A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason (Simon & Schuster, 2018), and it’s got a lot of history in it. I sat down with Matt Christman to talk about history, humor, and the hell-world of late capitalism. He offers his critiques of American liberalism and conservatism, as well as discussing how history shapes his thinking and analysis.
Matt Christman co-hosts Chapo Trap House, a hugely popular and rather influential podcast. The Chapo crew includes the above authors (although the traitorous Brendan James was purged for revisionism and replaced with Amber A'Lee Frost). For the uninitiated, Chapo Trap House is a comedic political podcast that has been branded as the “Dirt Bag Left”. With a solid dose of scatological humor and subversive irony, it’s not for everyone, but I find it to be some of today’s smartest and most well-informed political and cultural criticism. On the Chapo podcast and in his other appearances, he displays an impressive command of history, frequently grounding his analysis in historical context. He also put out a few special episodes of Chapo Trap House called “The Inebriated Past”, the best of which offered insightful discussions of topics ranging from fascism to sewer socialism.
Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he’s not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California.
It's a listener questions episode! Josh Smith wrote in to tell us that as a teenager, he was plagued by sleep paralysis. Now he's afraid his kid might be experiencing it too. Josh asks what the science says about this sleep disorder and what he can do to help his son. (Encore episode)
Hey y'all! Today, as a special holiday treat, we're unlocking one of our all-time favorite Patreon episodes! Recorded back in August of 2020, Rivers and comedian Kevin Anderson are chatting about 1996's 'Santa with Muscles' starring Hulk Hogan! This movie is available on YouTube for free. Also, interesting to note, the movie was produced and partially financed by the real-life "Wolf of Wall Street", Jordan Belfort. Happy Holidays! Thank y'all so much for listening this year.
It's part 2 of the Defending Evo-Psych series! This one was so much fun. Lindsey talks about sex differences in different species and how they are also present in human behavior. We talk about ridiculous birds, mating dollars, casual sex, and all kinds of fun stuff!
President Trump attacked Congress’ $900 billion COVID-19 emergency relief package.
Reset talks to a congressional reporter and business writer covering the relief efforts, and a columnist who explains why the money earmarked for restaurants won’t be enough to keep businesses afloat.
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For more about the program, you can head over to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.
