Episode 229: SSG Sing a Song of Derision!

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Status is important to all of us. To maintain relative status for everyone, we need to keep those around us in check. Sometimes we must bring out the biggest means of checking behavior and, like the title of this Episode 229, Sing a Song of Derision!

In this episode, I read from: a psychological experiment involving parking lot behavior; and Will Storr's book The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It. There's still more in that book to cover, I assure you. I recounted: a joke made by David Letterman; an article by Thom Hartmann discussing the new Barbie movie; and details into Stetson Kennedy's exploits with the Klan.

I play: Dana Carvey taking the piss out of a glass of, well, piss; and the Superman radio serial from 1946, "Superman vs The Klan of the Fiery Cross", taking the piss out of the Klan. I also share a little tune that hoped to save the world, but how? They encourage folks to get together and "Let's all poop in a bucket."

Henry Giroux opens the show backed by KMFDM's "Attack"; and I close with Julie & Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".

NB: I've chosen the TLA "SSG", or Storr's Status Game, to mark episodes in this series. I'll go back and change the other one now.