Category: 3-SometimeCommentary

How much do Donald Sterling’s attitudes toward race have to do with being an octogenarian? Today on The Gist, we examine the correlation between racial attitudes and age with Paul Taylor from the Pew Research Center. Then, TV critics Willa Paskin and Emily Nussbaum discuss the Mad Men midseason finale and how HBO’s Silicon Valley has taken a turn for the worse. For the Spiel, Mike observes how the media have pulled us into the mind of a madman, again.

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On today’s episode of The Gist, Mike talks with Ari Schulman of the New Atlantis about how it may be even more dangerous than we think to give so much media coverage to mass killers like Elliot Rodger, perpetrator of Friday night’s shootings at UC–Santa Barbara. Then, he talks with Scottish school teacher and blogger Craig McAllister about the big choice facing Scotland in September: Whether to declare independence from the United Kingdom. In his Spiel, Mike uses his holiday weekend to make the hard choices about un-assigning himself assigned reading.

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A massive piece in the Atlantic by Ta-Nehisi Coates takes on the issue of reparations, and expands the conversation beyond slavery to include the much more recent past, and the present. We follow up with Slate’s Jamelle Bouie about what reparations would actually look like today. Then, Slate’s Dear Prudence, Emily Yoffe, follows up with past advisee “Please No Baby Daddy” to see whether her advice was helpful. For the Spiel, Mike conducts our first Gist shareholders meeting—and you’re one of those shareholders.

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Picture taken by Axel Hesslenberg

Start the Week is at the Charleston literary Festival with the novelists Tim Winton, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Nicola Barker and the poet and publisher Michael Schmidt. The death of the novel has been predicted since the early twentieth century but in a special programme recorded in front of an audience Tom Sutcliffe talks to three leading novelists from around the world about their latest works. They discuss their influences and their divergent styles, from Knausgaard's minute examination of his life to Tim Winton's tale of disillusionment and redemption, and Nicola Barker's humorous eccentrics. Michael Schmidt has written a biography of the novel, charting its ups and downs, its personalities and relationships and argues the form is in rude health.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

Today on The Gist, a look at why peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians have broken down. Mike speaks with Ofir Akunis, a member of the Israeli Knesset, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and right-hand man to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Then, Dan Kois and Allison Benedikt from Slate’s podcast Mom and Dad Are Fighting perform the ultimate children’s playground sign. For the Spiel, Mike has an honest discussion about Mark Cuban’s admission of his own bigotry. 

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Today on The Gist, the Wall Street Journal’s Mary Lane tells Mike about the trove of art stolen by the Nazis that’s been left to a Swiss museum. The art had been hidden for decades by Hitler’s art dealer’s son, who decided before his death to return the priceless works to the public. Then, science blogger Maria Konnikova assesses studies of the power of multitasking. And in today’s Spiel, Mike considers what’s in an animal name.

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Today on The Gist, we ask what it would be like to take the worst thing that has ever happened to you and see it displayed in a famous new building with a gift shop. We spoke with BuzzFeed’s Steve Kandell about his Sunday visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

Then, Patrick LaForge from the New York Times tells us the origin story behind a certain ubiquitous Twitter disclaimer that’s attached itself to social media like a barnacle. For Mike’s Spiel, he considers the North Korean pop star who shocked the world by actually being alive.

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We hear that a common obstacle to prosecuting campus sexual assault cases is the so-called “he said, she said” problem. Veteran prosecutor Christopher Mallios the joins us to explain how district attorneys can use existing laws to crack down on rape much more effectively.

Then we’ll talk with comic actress Judy Greer. You know her from somewhere (probably Arrested Development) and we’ll find out how she handles being recognized on line at the grocery store. Plus, Mike’s take on media diet sanctimony.

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Anne McElvoy talks to the biologist Ken Thompson who dismisses attempts to control invasive species and questions the veracity of dividing plants and animals into 'native' and 'alien'. However the Director of the Kew Innovation Unit Monique Simmonds warns that alien pests and diseases can have a devastating effect on much-loved plants, and that it's vital to maintain and support diverse environments. The farmer John Lewis-Stempel records the passage of the seasons in his account of the life of an English meadow and he laments the decline of some of his favourite birds from his childhood. The woolly mammoth used to be native in Europe before it became extinct, and the palaeontologist Victoria Herridge confounds expectations by identifying the smallest mammoth ever known to have lived. Producer: Katy Hickman.

On today’s episode, NPR's David Folkenflik explains the frayed relationships that led to an embarrassing week for the New York Times. Then, Slate's Julia Turner joins us for a look at the newspaper of record’s leaked innovation report. Plus, Mike’s Spiel on who we describe as pushy and brusque. Get notified as soon as The Gist posts each weekday: www.slate.com/gistemail.

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