Episode Transcript
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hello and welcome to under the skin
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from luminary this week, i spoke with
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bachi ungar-sargon, deputy opinion
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editor of newsweek she's written for the washington
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post, the new york times and the
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daily beast by chase the 45
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news how woke media is undermining
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democracy if you listen to under
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the skin, an apple podcast, please leave us a
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review that really help us find us, judy
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says terrific five stars teacher, taylor
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always enjoy hearing
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russell's take on life in this
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part of the the interview with b yeah we talk
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about how media outlets are trying to
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appeal to a one limited demographic
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and ignoring all of a
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demographics which crisis of an illusionary
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spice you know they're not talking to all
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of us they're ignoring a significant percentage of
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the population not talking about what might lead to
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a solution to the type of problems we're facing
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and the law batches amazing and eloquent
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and brilliant in this conversation you'll love it trying
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to any the quality with the annihilation
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of calgary and
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right an era where turns
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out and we were never
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beneath surface of and with
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my of the ideas of the financial
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him
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i'm two run homer i'm not
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here i think you talk you talk
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about how i'm the
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all news media outlets are trying
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to appeal to the same limited demographic
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could tell us about that place
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yeah definitely so
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you know the golden age of american journalism
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let's say like you know the eighteenth century nineteenth
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century and twenties and early twentieth century if
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you have media was
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totally partisan services thing
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that i think people people to complain that are
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media's partisan actually that it's becoming like the
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uk where every publication has a kind of
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political bent and everybody knows what that isn't you
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get paper that appeals you split
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in the golden age of american media
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and the media was very very partisan
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it was just parties and on behalf of the masses
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so you would have situation like nineteen
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when you new york where they were
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so many communist newspapers
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that you would be a communist and have five
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communist newspapers that you would never dream
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of opening because were the wrong kind
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of communist swalec our the situation
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there were so many working class americans
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and it's such a plethora of choices
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and be journalists the speech i'm so
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used to like this very working class trade
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you know like kind person became
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journalist with like actually probably someone like
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you the guy sitting in the back of the classroom
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to can't stop cracking wise
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who has like real way with words and
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hates authorities and like teachers
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constantly kicking him out and like but
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he's so great everybody laugh
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and he like it like yeah that's why
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of put in classroom to give teacher hard time
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because ah kam who gave him power
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over me rights and he was so anti authoritarian
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eighty a terrible parents that he couldn't
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go work in factory because he couldn't
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listen to direction he would been dangerous
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everybody around him since they're going the factory
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like everybody else in a class he'll he'll become
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a journalist rates and when he went to be
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a journal to be introduced politicians and he
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would be exactly the same way he was my classroom
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you would think it was his job to defy
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that authority in demand justice on behalf
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of the little guy that she lived with a he's still
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lived in those communities that was like most
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of american journalism and but
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that seems sigma happy most this
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last fifty years where democrats started
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you know they abandon the working class they started to rise
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economically with that type of
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that economy they built that's really good
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for people knowledge into she tops journalist
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started to become more and more highly educated
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he starts make more and more money and now
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they're really in top ten preview really has to
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come from money to even become journalist
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you're actually the uk even worth but the top
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two percent or something but you have
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to go to these really fancy schools you have to take
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all these unpaid internship so you're working
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your way through college you can forget about at the
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new york times npr washington post
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was you journal these people take their interns from the top
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one percent of universities and
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there's no more local news it it's sort
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of disappeared right so the class
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of journal became like
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a it was a status revolution they
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went from being the little by demanding
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justice from the powerful to part of the powerful
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they go to school with the part people who end up
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being politicians that they cover they live in the same
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neighborhoods and all the such and at the same
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time the digital media and
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the way that digital media works is
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am your your the way you measure success
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i mean you notice from your show by is in
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terms of engagement right how many people were
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engaged and you know it's something
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probably also have noticed as like the most
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engaged people are always the most
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extreme so if you're the new york
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times you suddenly have this
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like over educated elite
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class of journalists but you
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wanna be catering to the kids they
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went to to school with who are now living in in the
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same expensive cities because their data
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is is the data that you do matters that they
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they can sell that it, they they can can make a profit off off of luckily
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for them, they know exactly how to to appeal to them
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and how how to appeal to to their their motions because their newsroom
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is made up up of of that exact same class and
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so so, when you you used to to have the situation where
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like you know a a newspaper, let's let's you'd
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have have town that that had was like, 50% democrats
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directors right? and
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then that you you had you know a newspaper
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in this town right so, so this soda
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newspaper right let's say in the seventies right before
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the big sorting the guy who one that
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paper can make a choice i could let my
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journalists report the news in last
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few version right and and get
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all of democrats but then i lose fifty percent
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of townsfolk if i report the new straight
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and having a balanced editorial page and get the whole
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town to read my paper today digital
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media is the exact opposite they don't
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want any of those other readers
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and viewers they only want the
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six percent of americans who are progressive
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more affluent to her living in these coastal
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cities like the it's very targeted and
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because digital media allows you to see
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who everybody is who's reading you
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and your journalists know how to get them
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how to get their emotions going because they know
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what makes them emotional like it was like
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this sort of marriage between a
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new profit motive and then a journalistic
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class that the like uniquely situated
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to talk to
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well that's fascinating thank you also
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know that i'm the i can as
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you described that battier it became
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clear that men that when you
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get to the day a catch up part
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of that that is it again
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how the economic imperatives
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bias the report in of
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news that and also very
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how his lead to an
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, understanding
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of american that say
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cultural life because if
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you read the newspapers if
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you watch the tv shows you
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might feel that this is the
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cultural temperature temperature
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actually it's very small
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subset so in l i suppose
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that the in this war
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that suggests to me is that there is a as
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when you talk about lay and power but
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there are that this late in power our malays
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in power and spiritual phenomena
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that you're dealing with the energy of individuals
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the attention of individuals their
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potential ability of individuals
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galvanized and motivated by
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a relevant ideology to
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transition out of one set of social
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ideals and into a new staff social
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ideals it seems that there's been a
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sort of i'm in a sense b referring
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to the earlier part of our conversation to sort of i
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i cultural coup
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in terms of the kind a linguistic
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alteration and cultural paraphernalia
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that fanatically represents cultural set of ideals
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we have in this of like you know movement progressive
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he's in my again to reiterate when comes actual
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racial gender or call
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eighty to ideas of i'm i'm of course supportive
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of i've always been so cynical about
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that the per the appointment of these
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ideas in corporate and media spices
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and same way though don't think that unique
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leave a particularly care about
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green issues and climate change
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ba that they will utilize these ideas
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were convenient when it comes
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to reboot in
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rig our awakening i dormant
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class that previously had as you say
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five communist newspapers to
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choose from on a silver someone
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robust social democratic
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political movement and may have even
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media class at it now
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we're a situation with our eye on
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, a ignored ,
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at best what kind
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of political movement the
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you think is required to reawaken
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them given that most recent examples appear
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to be of ethno nationalist movements
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or least have been rendered as such
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such as in a trump
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some for an obvious example brakes it's
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in our country and even in countries like india
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with modi aware that dude code
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you know lots of when so that like these retroactive
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kind of nationalists ideas of reawakened
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because precisely because they probably
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have us have nostalgic plug that
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the progressivism by it's nature
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cannot incorporates what
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do think will be a more legit
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, month sell a legitimate
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manifest that will will be pieces of
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legitimate manifesto them every
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of i can this film class
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i was so we're very lucky in america because
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this country was founded on an idea
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rather than and ethnicity of
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, it was racist for long time
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they took all it took many many
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hundreds of she has to some separate
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out that idea from
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the races and structural racism the systemic
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racism in obviously starting with slavery jim crow
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and even today with with
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of the way that policing is done
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still working on aspect me
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know when you listen to someone like
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steve bannon who's not someone i agree
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with about i agree of things but you
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know the stop the steel thing obviously
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are sort of not on that train but
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he he says repeatedly
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that the nationalism were discussing
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here is multiracial multiethnic
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and he was the number one backer of i'm
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cathy barnett and pennsylvania who has
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a black candidate who was an
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the child of rape actually her mother
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was raped when she was eleven years old by
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her father who was twenty one at the time
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and so she was just sort deeply
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deeply conservative
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candidate and she saw herself as the true
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inheritor of the mag a movement and steve
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bannon was one who sort of pushed her up there and
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said this is the real trump candidate even though trumpet
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endorse doctor oz so i
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i i see no reason not to believe
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that the nationalism in that movements
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to algae eaters racists everywhere but
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the nationalism in that movement to me having
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spoken to many many many people who are
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in the mega cab the it is not
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racial at all it's multiracial
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that they have a problem with bringing in immigrants
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to replace them at work ill and
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the last how
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bout racist they called that as though nationalist
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burrito black americans
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it or the biggest group in the democratic
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coalition of the eighty five percent
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them want more rigorous restrictions
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at the border it to call those people
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racist to me as at the site put me
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in that yeah i'm that camp like whatever eighty
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five percent black americans saying i'm that camp
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and and to more so why why did
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the democrats demonize this
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sort of opposition to open borders as
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as racists the gun like
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it like i don't think they did that like cynically
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the same time they are the number
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one consumers of shows
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and pay underpaid you
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know illegal immigrant labor
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whether it's domestic servants am fifty
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percent of illegal immigrants are employed
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as domestic servants and that's not you
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know not doing that in middle america right
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they're doing that blue city folks again it's
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like one of these situations that i see genuinely
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believe this a racial justice issue to
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bring in poor of other countries but
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at same time are lining their pockets with this
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ideology and mandate to hide
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that unconsciously perhaps
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the demonized people were saying these people
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there are you cannot have wage for you
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have an open border like that's just totally obvious
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rates yup or they'll say oh gdp
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rose you know with with mass
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immigration it's like okay gdp
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for who though
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if you're enjoying this join me over a luminary on
12:08
apple podcasts for the rest of discussion of
12:10
and all the latest episodes of under the skin
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