Epiosde 215: The Libertarian Delusion

Play Now!

Everybody likes to suggest changes that will fix problems found in everyday life. What we don't often have, though, is a clear idea of whether those utopian changes will—or won’t—work. I present one example in this Epiosde 215: The Libertarian Delusion.

In this episode, I read from: Joel Salatin's books, first Folks, This Ain't Normal, and then Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: Stories from the Local Food Front; and Tim Wu's book The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads.

I play: Sydney Greenstreet as the evil corporate soap advertiser in The Hucksters. Seriously, folks, you have to see that 1947 movie. Musically, KMFDM backs Douglass Rushkoff in the opening, and I close with Julie & Rolf and The Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow."

Episode 214: Medium unCoolers

Play Now!

Advertisers scheme ways to spread filth; but low-margin retailers can't stop these intrusions without angering shareholders. This creates a creeping tendency toward abominations in stores. I give a chilling example in this Episode 214: Medium unCoolers.

In this episode, I read from: my computer's quickie dictionary; a CNN article about store cooler screens; and a Slashdot entry about said screens.

I play: a videographer bemoaning the very existence of these screens; and from the movie Annie Hall Marshall McLuhan bemoaning ignorance of his work. Musically, KMFDM backs Lance Strate in the opening; and I close today with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow". (After finishing the show, I snuck a bit about 20th century advertising intrusion from Fry on Futurerama.)

Episode 213: The Audience Commodity

Play Now!

Advertisers want to know you because pitches to receptive audiences sell product. But before surveillance technology existed, how did they do that? To help, there’s an obscure but key theory to know in this Episode 213, one named The Audience Commodity.

In this episode, I read from: Daniel Joseph's article on Dallas Smyth's theory on the Audience Commodity. I didn't share everything, but I think I got the important points. You decide.

I play: Excerpts from Dana Carvey on the short-lived The Dana Carvey Show; Jason Matheson and Kendall Mark from The Jason Show; D. L. Myers giving us the haunting stinger for the Powell Movement; the voices of the actors playing Matt Dylan, Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble, all hawking tobacco^*; and real people James Jacoby and Brad Parscale from raw footage recorded for a Frontline interview.

Musically, I play: The Vince Guiraldi Trio playing "Skating," the only seasonal music I can personally stand at all. KMFDM backed Professor Shoshana Zuboff in the opening; and I close today with Mistle Thrush.

^*Apologies for linking to an old episode; it turns out there were many, many sources for the commercials I recorded, and I neglected to specify which of the many videos gave me the actual recordings.