Darts and Letters

Canada’s intellectual culture is now like a barren soil that struggles to give life to even the simplest flora. They’re just not that smart. We make too many right wing cranks, self-help charlatans, blood-thirsty reactionaries, insipid centrists, and third-rate Hayekians. But which are our worst? We invite our new friends from the Harbinger Media Network to help scour the national intellectual wasteland to find Canada’s dumbest public intellectual. The idea is simple: each guest makes the case for why their pick is the best at being the worst. Plus, Andre Goulet talks about the Harbinger Network and the state and future of left podcasting in Canada. First, (@7:03) Hilary Agro nominates Jordan Peterson. The failson philosopher became an international sensation for those looking for…something. Salvation? A father figure? The meat sweats? He appeals to a certain type of person. You can guess who. Hilary is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and was the host of the Marxist drug podcast Bread and Poppies, and she’s had enough self-help hokum. Next (@18:04), Kate Jacobson nominates Max Fawcett. Max is a Calgary-based columnist with the National Observer and proud centrist. You can never go wrong in Canada riding the centre line and attacking the conservative right. The Laurentian Consensus abides. Kate is host of the podcast Alberta Advantage, and she’s had enough nuance-mongering. Then (@34:35), some writers are so bad that their writing becomes an inimitable work of art. The fellas at Big Shiny Takes — Eric Wickham, Marino Greco, and Jeremy Appel — explore in awe and wonder at three such figures: Vancouver-based Washington Post columnist J.J. McCullough, former George W. Bush speechwriter and Atlantic regular David Frum, and political scientist and Consevrative luminary Tom Flanagan. Finally (@1:01:52), Darts and Letters is proud to be a part of the Harbinger Network. Andre Goulet is the network’s executive director; he talks about the network, the importance of solidarity, and why he does the work he does. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Check out Hilary Agro’s podcast Bread and Poppies and visit her Patreon. Also, dig deeper into Jordan Peterson’s handling of addiction over at Read Passage with a piece by Eli Fox. Listen to Kate Jacobson’s podcast, The Alberta Advantage and read Max Fawcett’s article asking whether or not Jason Kenney is…a socialist. (Spoiler alert: he is not.) Pull up some episodes of Big Shiny Takes, starting with their episode on J.J. McCullough. Visit the Harbinger Network and support them here. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS————————— Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites. It’s stardate 99040.01 and lead producer Jay Cockburn is temporarily taking over command of Darts and Letters for an episode. This week we enter the world of science fiction, revealing how it’s long been a vehicle for radical thought We dig into post-scarcity, Afrofuturism, and feminist speculative fiction as we set our phasers to fun and go where no podcast has gone before. First (@11:37), Cory Doctorow is a journalist, activist, blogger, and author of many books including the post-scarcity speculative fiction novel Walkaway. He takes us through the idea of a post-scarcity world as he breaks down the idea of abundance and what we might do with it, or not. Then, (@34:44), Nalo Hopkinson is a science fiction writer, editor, professor, and author of Brown Girl in the Ring. She talks to us about Afrofuturism as a critical lens and different ways of seeing the future for different communities — and re-imagining the present. Plus, be sure to read her own recommendation: Sister Mine. Finally, (@50:27), Batya Weinbaum is a poet, artist, professor, and the editor of FemSpec, an academic journal of feminist speculative fiction. She charts the history of feminism in science fiction and how art, including novels, helps drive social, political, and economic change. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Check out Cory Doctorow’s blog site Craphound, including the shop where you can buy his books, including Walkaway, which is featured in this episode. Also have a look at this latest book, Attack Surface. Visit Nalo Hopkinson’s homepage, including the list of her books and her Patreon. You can pick up Brown Girl in the Ring through her publisher’s site or wherever books are sold. Dig into the interdisciplinary feminist journal FemSpec, edited by Batya Weinbaum and visit her Google Scholar page to peruse her many academic articles. We mentioned a number of books in this episode you may want to check out, including Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Iain M. Banks’ the Culture series. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic; this week our guest host and lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Gordon Katic is our editor. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants this week are Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Why are there so many war games? They exploded in popularity post 9/11. Maybe you’ve played some of them. Or all of them. SOCOM: US Navy Seals. Call of Duty. Battlefield. Splinter Cell—and the entire deep library of Tom Clancy games. There’s plenty more, too. This ain’t just a story about the free market and our own proclivities—it’s the state. Games have a long history of being developed by, with, and for the military. From the earliest DARPA-funded projects at public universities, to today’s DOD-subsidized military/corporate partnerships. This week on Darts and Letters, Tanner Mirrlees, associate professor in the Communication and Digital Media Studies Program at Ontario Tech University and author of Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Culture Industry, joins us as we plunge headlong into the history of the militainment industrial complex, to understand the militarization of gaming and the gamification of war. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit Tanner Mirrlees’ academic page and scroll through his research, including his piece on Medal of Honor, his article on Socom: Navy Seals, and his look at the depiction of Muslims in post-9/11 wargames. Also, check out his 2013 book Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization. For more, see his work for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on Power, Privilege and Resistance in the Digital Age. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This is a production of Cited Media. And we are backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism. The founding academic advisor of the program is Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia. This episode was also part of a wider series looking at the politics of video games, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and housed at the University of British Columbia and Waterloo University. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

If you eat, use a cell phone, connect to the internet, open a bank account, down a pint, or pick up a prescription in Canada, you’re probably experiencing the country’s familiar brand of oligopoly and monopoly. It’s arguably worse than the US. We’re basically three corporations in a trenchcoat. This arrangement means we unfortunately have to follow the moves of our corporate overlords–because really, these folks run the joint. Recently, the Succession-style drama surrounding the Rogers family, owners of one of the country’s major telecom companies, has at least provided us all some entertainment. This week on Darts and Letters, we look at monopoly and anti-monopoly, how corporate concentration affects Canada’s communications system, the global supply chain, and politics on both sides of the border. First (@7:23), Canada does capitalism old school–neo-feudal style, led by dynastic families. Dwayne Winseck is Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University and the director of the Canadian Media Concentration Project. He takes us through the Rogers family kerfuffle, the autocracy of our corporate governance structures, the researchers/hired guns who fill our public policy space with nonsense, and the absurdity of oligarchical capitalism dominating our gutless politics. Then (@33:02) what do broken McDonald’s ice cream machines tell us about monopoly? A lot, in fact. Matt Stoller is the author of the Substack Big and the book Goliath: The 100–Year War Between Monopoly, Power, and Democracy. Stoller also explains how monopolies exacerbate global supply chain crises, discusses Biden’s legislative agenda, and tells us about the history of monopoly-friendly intellectuals (on the right and the left). ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit Dwayne Winseck’s Canadian Media Concentration Project and his blog, For more, see his academic page. Go deeper into the proposed Rogers-Shaw merger with Winseck’s co–written piece with Ben Klass and Bianca Wylie. Also, read Winseck and Klass’s argument against the merger submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, The Great Reversal: Why the Rogers–Shaw Merger is a Raw Deal and Regulators Should Deny It. Read more on the Rogers family drama here and peruse the CRTC submissions on the Shaw-Rogers merger from Bell and Rogers. Sign up for Matt Stoller’s Substack, Big and read his entry on counterfeit capitalism and his ShortageWatch. Also, be sure to check out his book Goliath: The 100–Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. And for more, head over to his webpage for more articles, videos, and plenty of other stuff. For more still, read “America Faces Supply–Chain Disruption and Shortages: Here’s Why.” Listen to Stoller’s Radio Open Source appearances “Five Stones for Goliath” and “Monopoly vs. Democracy.” Plus, check out his article for The Chronicle “It’s Time to Break Up the Ivy League Cartel.” ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This is a production of Cited Media. And we are backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism. The founding academic advisor of the program is Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

You can’t have a functioning democracy without a trusted media. That fact explains the state of U.S. democracy, at least in part. The United States has the lowest rate of media trust in the industrialized world, with just under a third of respondents in a 2020 Reuters poll saying they trust the media they consume. But whose fault is it? And, is the media even trustworthy? A string of failures suggest otherwise: weapons of mass destruction, the global financial crisis, Brexit, Russiagate, and plenty more. This week on Darts and Letters, we talk to two media critics about the shortcomings of the fourth estate. First (@4:26), did Donald Trump break the brains of liberal journalists? Is hyper-partisanship a problem? Michael Tracey is an independent journalist on Substack sometimes called a “left heretic,” and he’s been calling out liberal orthodoxies around surveillance, censorship, and hysterical forms of anti-Trumpism. We discuss how the media changed during the Trump era, how it didn’t, and what that means. Oh, also, how Tom Morello and the New York Times are…WRITING IN THE NAME OF!! Then (@33:52), it’s the political economy, stupid. Robert McChesney says cost-cutting and corporate conglomeration explain hyper-partisan elite media; because it’s cheaper for FOX and MSNBC to create political entertainment than to do actual reporting. McChesney is Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He’s also the author of several books criticizing corporate media. He pursues a structural critique of the media that interrogates the values that journalists internalize and the range of debate journalists enable — or don’t — based on the owners of media, and the economic incentives that drive them. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit Michael Tracey’s Substack and sign up to read his work. Also, consider following him on Twitter to get a perspective you might not find elsewhere. Head over to Robert McChesney’s homepage and dig into his work, including his many books, such as Rich Media, Poor Democracy, Dollarocracy: How the Money-and-Media Election Complex is Destroying America and The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again. Plus, visit Free Press, the national media reform organization that McChesney co-founded. —————————-SOME NEWS————————- We’re excited to share that we’re now officially a part of the Harbinger Media Network. Harbinger is home to several left-wing podcasts in Canada, including Alberta Advantage, Nora Loreto’s Take Back the Fight, and Paris Marx’s Tech Won’t Save Us. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. For instance, next week we’ll have the full unedited video interview with Michael Tracey on our page for our Patreon subscribers. So, if you want to see that, join today. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week. The full uncut Michael Tracey interview will only be on Patreon, though (thanks, Patrons!). If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This is a production of Cited Media. And we are backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism. The founding academic advisor of the program is Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

We’ll save the Moby Dick puns for the episode itself, but suffice it to say that sinister game developers are on a whale hunt. This episode is about the sophisticated psychological tactics they use to hunt and capture their prey. Free to play mobile games as glorified slot machines, in-game purchases even for triple-A titles, game design that keep gamers hooked to their rigs. These practices are often exploitative and, for some who fall victim to them, devastating. Some countries, like China, are pushing back. But their restrictions are overbearing and unlikely to work as people skirt the restrictions. There are better ways. On this episode of Darts and Letters, we take a journey to save the whales. First (@11:38), habit loops, slot machine tactics, skinner boxes, and praying on the lizard brain. What’s wrong with that? Torulf Jernstrom is founder of Tribeflame, a Finish game development company that makes table and mobile games. He’s known for a 2016 conference presentation that was totally masks off. It was called “Let’s Go Whaling: Tricks for Monetising Mobile Game Players With Free-To-Play.” Gamers freaked out, calling him a scam artist and scum bag. But he doesn’t think he’s any worse than other developers; he just happened to be the one who said the quiet part out loud. We debate the morality of these practices. Then (@33:25), we tack in a different direction and ask: Where do values fit into game design and development? Mary Flanagan is a radical developer, artist, and the Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Digital Humanities at Dartmouth College. She inquires into the politics of games, relations of power, who is represented, how, and what that says about a game — all the way down to the level of mechanics. She pushes developers to think about the fundamental values that drive their work, or not. Finally (@50:29), some games exploit and undermine agency, but others empower players. Maru Nihoniho is a Maori game developer in New Zealand and the founder and managing director of Metia Interactive. Her games are designed to educate and help people — one of them is quite literally mental health treatment. She talks about how games can help us understand and navigate mental health and wellness. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Watch Torulf Jernstrom’s talk on monetization, Let’s Go Whaling, at the 2016 Pocket Gamer Connects in Helsinki and visit his company Tribeflame to view their catalogue of games. Plus, watch YouTuber and World of Warcraft player Asmongold’s hilarious reaction to the video. Visit Mary Flanagan’s homepage to explore her art, games, writing, and more. Also, have a look at her academic page and her books Critical Play: Radical Game Design and the co-written (with Helen Nissenbaum) Values at Play in Digital Games. Plus, check out her indie board game company Resonym. Explore Maru Nihoniho’s development studio Metia Interactive, including their most recent game Guardian Maia, Episode 1, which is available on Google Play and the App Store. Read about China’s attempts to legislate gaming, including a memo they sent to game developers. Plus, read about South Korea’s abandonment of their gaming curfew law. For more of the stop gaming content we discussed from Reddit, visit r/StopGaming, including this, this, and this quotation we cited. —————————-SOME NEWS————————- We’re excited to share that we’re joining the Harbinger Media Network. Harbinger is home to several left-wing podcasts in Canada, including Alberta Advantage, Nora Loreto’s Take Back the Fight, and Paris Marx’s Tech Won’t Save Us. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn and our assistant producer this week was Jason Cohanim. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research as part of a project that funded us to look at the politics of video games. It’s housed at the University of British Columbia & the

Right wing money in academia is pervasive and influential. Libertarian-minded billionaires like the Kochs and their partners have funded scholars and think tanks across the US, and similar things go on in Canada too. The money shows us that the right spends it because they care about education. Maybe not in the classic way—higher learning, enlightenment, the pursuit of Truth or truth or whatever you want to call it. They care about education because they believe it can change the world. It’s an investment, and big money expects a return. Lucky for them, and unlucky for the rest of us, universities are happy to sell out. On this episode of Darts and Letters, we explore big money and its corrosive influence on academic freedom and academic integrity. First (@7:22), just how far does the Koch network’s scholarly funding extend? Jasmine Banks is the executive director of UnKoch My Campus—a non-profit dedicated to identifying and the impact of investors and their dark money investments on higher education. She takes us through the role of dark money and wealthy investors in shaping campus life and, more broadly, the country and the world. Then (@33:02), we look back on the long history of campuses for sale. Professor James L. Turk is the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University and the former executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. He tells us stories of the right wing in academia—from the robber barons at the turn of the century, to the battles of today—and talks about how scholars and academic unions have pushed back. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit UnKoch My Campus to learn about the organization and their work, including groundbreaking reports and their campaigns. Plus, read more from Jasmine Banks in The Nation, including “The Radical Capitalist Behind the Critical Race Theory Furor.” Visit James L. Turk’s academic page at the Centre for Free Expression. And check out his edited 2014 book Academic Freedom in Conflict: The Struggle Over Free Speech Rights in the University. Read the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ report on the relationships between Canadian universities and corporations Open for Business on What Terms? An Analysis of 12 Collaborations Between Canadian Universities and Corporations, Donors, and Governments. Dig into related works from the episode, and more on the Koch’s and their influence, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy Maclean and Jane Meyer’s Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Plus, read more of Jane’s work on dark money in the New Yorker. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where videos of these interviews will be available next week. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn and our assistant producer this week was Jason Cohanim. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes. We had research and advising from Franklynn Bartol and Professor Marc Spooner. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of neoliberal educational reforms. Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

Programming note: It’s Major League Baseball postseason and Darts and Letters is (coincidentally) on a break this week. In honour of the playoffs, we’re running one of our favourite episodes — one fit for the season. America’s national pastime is being taken over by a woke mob and a global communist cabal. So say the Republicans. If only…! Racism, conservative nostalgia, and economic exploitation is baked into the MLB. We discuss what’s wrong with baseball, why baseball matters, and what needs to be done to fix it. First (@6:51) Dave Zirin of the Nation breaks down the recent GOP hysterics over the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, and we have a wider conversation about left-wing sports journalism, and why sports ought to matter to the left–sports fan, and non sports fan alike. Then (@32:42), Jeremy Wolf was drafted in the 31st round by the New York Mets. He recounts the struggles of his short-lived minor league career, including the crummy food, poverty-level wages, and frightening economic precarity. Minor leaguers need support, and Wolf is doing just that through his work with More than Baseball. Plus (@50:04), Blue Jays writer Andrew Stoeten gives us the corporate history of Gordon’s favourite team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Canada’s team is owned by one of Canada’s major telecommunications monopolies; what does that mean for the Blue Jays baseball, and what does it say about corporatization in the wider MLB? Finally (@60:06), philosopher Mark Kingwell reminds us why baseball is beauty, and why it ought to be protected. We discuss Kingwell’s philosophical, personal, and political reflections from his book Fail Better: Why Baseball Matters. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Subscribe to Jeremy Wolf’s The Grind Podcast and check out the work he’s doing with More than Baseball. Subscribe to Andrew Stoeten’s Substack the Batflip for regular deep dives into all things Blue Jays. Read more of Dave Ziron’s writing in the Nation, especially his article the the 2021 All-Star Game, the story about how things went very differently when something similar happened a decade ago, and his moving obituary of Hank Aaron. Find Mark Kingwell’s op-ed in the Globe and Mail about the GOP’s recent hysterics around the 2021 MLB All Star Game, and listen to an old episode of CBC’s Ideas if you want to hear more about Fail Better. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Ren Bangert and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research coordinator is David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

There’s a foreign policy intellectual blob that serves as the architects for empire. They’re at academic departments, quasi-academic think tanks, and places like the RAND Corporation–famously lampooned in Dr. Strangelove as the BLAND Corporation. These boring calculator men are part of why we have forever war. These people are part of a long tradition that sees citizens as a problem to be managed. The national security state is particularly contemptuous of the people it ostensibly serves. Left, right, doesn’t matter. The technocrats rule, making life and death decisions for home and abroad. And if you don’t like it? Too bad. No one asked you anyway. On this episode, host Gordon Katic speaks with Daniel Bessner, Associate Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Relations at the University of Washington, author of Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual, and co-host of the podcast American Prestige. Daniel explains how the ideas and ideology of the technocratic national security state came to be, who carries them, and how the defense-intellectual complex keeps it standing from the media to quasi-academic think tanks to academic departments and beyond. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Have a look at Daniel’s book Democracy in Exile and check out his other books and articles on his academic homepage, including his co-authored volume The Decisionist Imagination: Sovereignty, Social Science and Democracy in the 20th Century. Listen to his podcast, American Prestige, including the latest episode special “Auf Wiedersehen, Merkel.”  Read more of his popular writing in The Nation, including “Can We Live Without Twitter,” The New Republic, including “The Case Against Humane War,” and Jacobin, including “Everything You Need to Know About What’s Happening in Afghanistan — An Interview with Derek Davison.” For some further reading on the national security state, dig into Top Secret America: The Rise of the American Security State by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin. For more from Daniel, visit his personal homepage. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel featuring extended interviews with our guests. More to come! So subscribe today.  If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our assistant producer is Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and is a research assistant. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us with a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Canada’s federal election is over. And if you were expecting a boring, uninspired contest followed by a return to the status quo, you weren’t disappointed. Zombie politics shuffles along trailing dead ideas and dead dogmas. On this episode, host Gordon Katic sits down with independent journalist, author, and podcaster Nora Loreto for a wide-ranging conversation about Canada’s status quo. Nora has been tirelessly documenting the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic under-reporting of deaths in long term care. Some academics have taken notice, but few journalists. We ask Nora about the early days of the pandemic and our blinds spots, what we have (and haven’t) learned, and prevailing COVID-19 myths. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Check out Nora’s books, including her upcoming volume, Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic. Listen to her podcast, co-hosted with Sandy Hudson, Sandy and Nora Talk Politics. Read her co-authored research report for the Royal Society of Canada, Excess All-Cause Mortality During the Covid-19 Epidemic in Canada. Check out her work in the Washington Post on Covid-19 hospital deaths, in Read Passage on profit before workers and public health, and in Maclean’s on disability and Covid infections that were ignored. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel featuring extended interviews with our guests. More to come! So subscribe today. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and was a research assistant. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us with a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Canada’s 44th general election was a mess from the start. From wondering why it was called in the first place, to culture war wedge politics, the rise of the extreme-right People’s Party, and along to literal stone throwing–or gravel throwing, anyway. You might want to call that a new low. It’s definitely low. But it’s not the first time Canadian elections have been nasty affairs, and it’s not even the first time rocks have been thrown. On this episode of Darts and Letters, we dive much deeper into the gravel pit. We look at past campaigns, examine the much wider political and intellectual history of Canada’s major parties, and show how all of them have sold out Canadian workers. First, where did the NDP’s radical ambition go? James Naylor is a professor of history at Brandon University and the author of a handful of books including The Fate of Labour Socialism: The Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation and the Dream of a Working-Class Future. He takes a look at the NDP and their transition from the product of the prairie socialist Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation to an institutionalized and de-radicalized centre-left liberal party. Then, we review the Trudeau years–no, not that one. The other Trudeau. Pierre Trudeau. Christo Aivalis is a historian, YouTuber, commentator, NDP supporter, and the author of The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left. He tells us that Trudeau was trained by a Marxist and many thought of him as a socialist, believe it or not. This meant he knew the left, and so he could capture the country’s progressive energy–then sell it out to Bay St. Sound like a familiar strategy? Finally, the Conservatives are running a pseudo-populist right platform. Steven High from Concordia University is worried it might work. Steven is a historian of deindustrialization, and he’s seen – firsthand – working class communities flip from left to right. Could it happen this time? High says we can see lessons from the old Reform Party of the 90s and the right populism of that fractious 1993 election. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit James Naylor’s page at Brandon University and check out his publications, including The Fate of Labour Socialism: The Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation and the Dream of a Working-Class Future, “Not reform, but the replacing of capitalism’: The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in the 1930,” and “Whatever Happened to Labourism?” And be on the lookout for his forthcoming edited volume For a Better World: The Winnipeg General Strike and the Workers’ Revolt. Pick up a copy of Christo Aivalis’s book The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left. Plus, check out his YouTube page, and his homepage, where you can find more of his work, including his latest for Canadian Dimension “Just watch him: Jagmeet Singh takes on the rich to build a better Canada.” Have a look at Steven High’s academic homepage and his books Industrial Sunset: the Making of North America’s Rust Belt and the co-authored Corporate Wasteland: The Landscape and Memory of Deindustrialization. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel. Our first interview is with Dan Denvir of the Dig. More to come! So subscribe today. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn and our assistant producer this week was Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and was a research assistant. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

School’s back. Alongside the usual challenges of managing college and university life comes sorting out how to keep people on campus safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Colleges and universities are trying to find their way forward after a rough 18 months, with more difficult times to come. But while the pandemic has affected higher education, it’s done so against the backdrop of “academic capitalism”–a form of neoliberal managerialism that pervades the academy. On this episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Gary Rhoades, professor at the College of Education at the University of Arizona and former general secretary of the American Association of University Professors about academic capitalism, rising resistance to it, and how the pandemic has changed the story. Or not. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Start by checking out Gary Rhoades’ book, co-written with Sheila Slaughter, Academic Capitalism and the New Economy. Read this 2010 piece by him on what the American Association of University Professors stands for. Visit his homepage at the University of Arizona to find more of his work, including his 1998 book Managed Professionals: Unionized Faculty and Restructuring Academic Labor. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. The producer for this episode is Ren Bangert. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes and was a research assistant along with Franklynn Bartol. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Writing in 19th century Europe, Karl Marx was reflecting a time and place: Europe in the wake of the closing years of the Industrial Revolution. Marx himself, later in life, recognized that his crowning work, Das Kapital, had a limited scope, fitted for Europe but not for the rest of the world. In the 21st century, Marxism must speak to the experiences and context of contemporary colonialism and Indigenous politics if it is to remain current, internationalist, and anti-colonial. On this summer bonus episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Boaventura de Sousa Santos, a global Marxist thinker, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He argues for a contemporary, decolonial Marxism that operates on a deeper conception of power and oppression that includes analyses of colonialism, gender, and race across borders. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Take a look at Boaventura de Sousa’s books The End of Cognitive Empire, Decolonizing the University, and—a book we discuss in the interview—Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide. Read his articles, including “Some Theses on Decolonizing History,” “Epistemologies of the South and the Future,” and “Public Sphere Epistemologies of the South.” Check out his homepage, with more links to articles, book chapters, books, and plenty more. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- This week, Darts and Letters is co-hosted by Jay Cockburn, who is also our lead producer. The producer for this episode is Ren Bangert. Our editor, usual host, and co-host for this episode is Gordon Katic. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

You can learn much about a media and political culture by examining when it panics, and who it panics about. And we’ve always panicked about video games, from the early arcades until this very day. Whether you are a prudish Christian conservative, or a concerned liberal-minded paternalist, demonizing video games has long been good politics. On this episode: guest host and lead producer Jay Cockburn travels back to the 90s, and looks at the story of Mortal Kombat. The game was violent, gory, glorious. It was a youth rebellion in miniature. Parents rebelled against the rebellion, staging their own petulant counter-revolution, and politicians embraced it. It  triggering a moral panic and even congressional hearings into violence in games. But why did it happen, who did it serve, and what does it tell us about our own culture? First (@12:42), Liana Kerzner is a game developer and critic, YouTuber, and gamer. She takes us through her discovery of Mortal Kombat and the visceral attraction to…just how cool and groundbreaking the game was. Then, she looks at the moral panics around games today: panics about sex and nudity. Then (@21:13), Cyril Lachel is a journalist and the editor in chief of Defunct Games. He explains the history and evolution of gaming in the 1990s as Sega tries to differentiate itself from Nintendo as an edgier system for its gamers as they enter their teenage years. Plus, he points out what parents and politicians got wrong about video games and how gaming media evolved around the time. Finally (@37:55), Henry Jenkins is Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of South California. He tells us why moral panics keep coming back time after time, starting with comic books in the 1950s. Then he takes us through their generational politics and sociology. Plus, he takes us back to his appearance before the congressional hearings into video games. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit Liana Kerzner’s Patreon Page and her YouTube channel. Also, read some of her past blogging. Have a look at Defunct Games’ YouTube channel to go back in time to look at games that are now, well, defunct. To listen to more with Cyril Lachel, hear him on Super Gamer Podcast. Pull up Henry Jenkins’ website and peruse his academic and media work at USC. Plus, check out his latest books Comics and Stuff and his co-authored Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination. ——————-EVEN MORE FURTHER READING AND ACADEMIC SHOW SOURCES——————   Ferguson, C. J., & Colwell, J. (2017). Understanding why scholars hold different views on the influences of video games on public health. Journal of Communication, 67(3), 305-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12293 Ferguson, C. J. (2015). Do angry birds make for angry children? A meta-analysis of video game influences on children’s and adolescents’ aggression, mental health, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 646-666. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592234 Ferguson, C. J. (2014). Violent video games, mass shootings, and the supreme court: Lessons for the legal community in the wake of recent free speech cases and mass shootings. New Criminal Law Review, 17(4), 553-586. https://doi.org/10.1525/nclr.2014.17.4.553 Ferguson, C. J. (2007). Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature: A meta-analytic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 12(4), 470-482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2007.01.001 Kline, Stephen (n.d.). Moral panics and video games (source) Markey, P. M., & Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Internet gaming addiction: Disorder or moral panic? The American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(3), 195-196. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16121341 Markey, P. M., & Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Teaching us to fear: The violent video game moral panic and the politics of game research. American Journal of Play, 10(1), 99-115. Quandt, T., & Kowert, R. (Eds.). (2015). The Video Game Debate: Unravelling the Physical, Social, and Psychological Effects of Video Games (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315736495. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- This week, Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Jay Cockburn, who is also our lead producer. Our editor and usual host is Gordon Katic. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio.. David Moscrop wrote the show notes. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support from the Social Sciences a

This week, Darts and Letters brings you a summer bonus episode with the host of one of our favourite podcasts, The Dig. Dan Denvir joins us to talk about his podcast, the place of academia and intellectuals on the left, radical media, ideas and political change, and more. Then, we air an extraordinary interview from Dan and The Dig with Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò on “Identity, Power, and Speech.” ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— First and foremost, check out The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine. You can follow the pod on Twitter. Check out Dan Denvir’s writing in Jacobin, including his interview with Cornel West and another with Wendy Brown. You can also find him in The Guardian. Visit Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s website and have a look at his research, including “Don’t Treat Climate Change as a National Security Risk” and “Who Gets to Feel Secure?” Be sure to also check out more of Táíwò’s politics writing at Why Everything Costs Money. —————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. —————————-CREDITS—————————- This week, Darts and Letters was hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer was Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. For the Dig content, it Dan Denvir from The Dig hosted the interview with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, our marketing was done by Ian Sowden, and David Moscrop wrote the show notes. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Universities and colleges are often caricatured as hotbeds of radicalism. In reality, they’re institutionally conservative and elitist — especially Ivy League schools. What happens when folks push back against that? What happens when Black scholars, activists, and others demand better? On this summer bonus episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Stefan Bradley, Professor of African American Studies and Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts Coordinator for Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at Loyola Marymount University, about his book Upending the Ivory Tower: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Ivy League. He takes us through the racialized history of higher education — a history that persists into and shapes the present. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING—————— Visit Stefan Bradley’s faculty page and check out his work, especially his books Upending the Ivory Tower, Harlem vs. Columbia University, and Alpha Phi Alpha: A Legacy of Greatness, the Demands of Transcendence. Read this Gonzaga interview with Bradley “On Race and Writing.” —————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. —————————-CREDITS—————————- This week, Darts and Letters was hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Jay Cockburn co-hosted and was our lead producer. Our producer was Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. The lead research assistant on this episode was Franklynn Bartoll. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Professor Spooner provided research support for this episode. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites. You know McKinsey and Co. They worked for a company that was fixing the price of bread in Canada. They helped on Trump’s immigration policies, but their ideas were too extreme even for ICE. More recently, they proposed that Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” their sales of OxyContin by offering $14,810 rebates for ODs. Yeah, that’s McKinsey. We could go on and on. They have a long and sordid record as ‘capitalism’s willing executioners,’ to quote a Current Affairs article by an insider. Now, they’re coming onto our turf: higher education. So, we take a closer look. What is even is management consulting, and is there anything to the methods? First, in his opening essay, host Gordon Katic reminds listeners of the infamous case of General Motors and the side saddle gas tank defect of the 1970s and 80s. This story takes us to the world of cost-benefit analysis; a cold, hard logic that puts profits above people. Next (@9:43), Kate Jacobson is co-host of the podcast Alberta Advantage, a left-wing podcast in the heart of Canadian conservatism. She warns us that Premier Jason Kenney is using McKinsey as a pretext for his slash-and-burn approach to higher education. Then, (@32:22) Matthew Stewart turned away from a potential career in academic philosophy to enter the world of management consulting. His tell-all book The Management Myth: Debunking the Modern Philosophy of Business takes us through his own time in consulting, and the broader intellectual history of management science—AKA the art of wringing every last ounce of labour from workers. Finally (@55:02), Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa. His work asks the basic, core question “what is education for?” He thinks McKinsey does not know how to measure what really counts about education—because ‘not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’ —————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn. The lead research assistant on this episode was Franklynn Bartol, with support from our research coordinator David Moscrop. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Professor Spooner provided research consulting on this episode. This show is produced by Cited Media, which makes other great shows like Cited Podcast and Crackdown. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites. Lately, things have been a little too heavy on this show. Insurrections, fascism, proto-fascism, weird apocalyptic visions. That stuff is important, but let’s get serious. You don’t think the society we live is actually dominated by people who hold anything resembling strong, well-articulated ideological programs, do you? Our society is dominated by grifters. Cheats, cons, frauds: people who don’t really believe what they tell you. They’re just what they need to do to get ahead or to sell you something. Isn’t that that really what capitalism is about? The grift! Today on Darts and Letters, we have a little fun with grifts. Plus, Gordon asks: Is there a radical potential in the grift? First (@4:30), Lyta Gold is a writer with Current Affairs. Each year, the magazine recognizes the most audacious grifts. This year, Lyta presented the 2020 “Griftie Awards.” She takes us into the world of the grift, the allure and the appeal, and runs down a big year for grifers: from Covid, to never Trumpers, and on to identity thieves. Plus, she reveals the 2020’s big winner and speculates about what the future might hold in 2021. Then, (@26:56), Gordon’s friend, let’s call him “Bill Faulkner,” writes papers for hire. Undergraduate term papers, master’s papers, even PhD dissertations. He talks about what his scheme tells us about higher education—and how we ought to change it. As we might say, borrowing from Marx: ‘Thus far the grifter has only cheated the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” Finally, (@58:36) Catherine Liu is a professor of film and media studies at UC Irvine and the author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class. She takes the “professional managerial class”—or PMCs—to task for being disconnected from the working class and for failing to get to the root of our problems: capitalism. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Abebe, Nitsuh. “Why Are We Suddenly Surrounded by Grift?” The New York Times Magazine. Dec. 4, 2018. Dante, Ed. “The Shadow Scholar.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Nov. 12, 2010. Gold, Lyta. “Presenting the 2020 ‘Griftie Awards’.” Current Affairs. Dec. 31, 2020. Liu, Catherine. Virtue Hoarders. University of Minnesota Press, 2021. Mishan, Logaya. “The Distinctly American Ethos of the Grifter.” The New York Times Style Magazine. Sept. 12, 2019. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. With research and support from David Moscrop. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

In late June, the Pacific Northwest experienced extreme weather by way of a heat dome that settled over the region, driving up temperatures, and setting heat records. In Portland, the temperature reached 112F (44C) while Lytton, B.C. broke Canada’s heat record three days in a row before burning to the ground on the fourth day. More common and extreme heat like this is an effect of climate change. This week, Darts and Letters talks about what that extreme weather means for some of the most marginalized among us — those experiencing homelessness — and digs into what is being done, and not done, to tackle the climate crisis. First (@7:12), Sandra Fairbank is a community advocate, volunteer with Cultivate Initiatives, and a person experiencing homelessness. She runs a shower truck in Portland, Oregon that serves the homeless in her community. She talks about that service, what it means to people, and a day in her life during the heatwave. Then (@25:27), Daniel Aldana Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley where he directs the Socio-Spatial Climate Collective. He discusses the impacts of extreme weather, the social costs of climate change, and why we need a Green New Deal ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Visit Cultivate Initiatives’ home page and, if you can, donate to them here electronically or by check. If you’re looking to learn more about or support an organization in Canada, visit Vancouver’s Pivot and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Check out Daniel Aldana Cohen’s website including his books (including his co-written latest A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal), articles, and media work. Then, dive into his podcast Hot & Bothered with Dissent. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. —————————PRODUCTION UPDATE————————— Now we are going to take a brief reprieve. Next week we’ve got a re-run. And then until September we’re moving to a lighter one-interview episode format. Still the same good stuff, just, not quite as ambitious from a production standpoint. We’ll be back with full, multi-interview episodes in September. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

This week, Darts and Letters looks to Peru and the election victory of peasant school teacher and socialist Pedro Castillo. He won a close race against Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori. His campaign slogan was simple and powerful: “No more poor people in a rich country.” Of course, the right is now crying foul and seeking to invalidate the election — like Trump’s sad attempt in the United States, it won’t work. We dig into the neoliberal, right-wing populist agenda in Peru and across Latin America and explore the rising socialist alternative. First (@11:50) , Natalia Sobrevilla Perea is Professor of Latin American History at the University of Kent. She’s also Peruvian. She takes us through Peru’s contemporary political history and puts Castillo’s election win in context. She starts with Alberto Fujimori, former president of Peru and father of Keiko Fujimori, a presidential contender defeated by Castillo. Then (@39:28), Aldo Madariaga is a professor at the School of Political Science, Diego Portales University, and Associate Researcher at the centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES) in Santiago, Chile. He expands on the concept of neoliberalism and its history as an intellectual movement, and analyzes its relationship with the current surge of right-wing populism. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Check out Aldo Madariaga’s site and his book Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe. And have a look at his co-edited series for Palgrave on Latin American political economy. Plus, read Madariaga’s Jacobin piece on neoliberalism as a threat to democracy. Visit Natalia Sobrevilla Perea’s site and review her publications. Read more about Castillo, including his push to make mining companies pay their fair share, Jacobin’s run-down of the man in his own words, and Counter Punch’s story of his win and the challenges that followed. Watch Katie Halper interview Ollie Varga on Peru’s election: “Dictator’s Daughter vs. Teacher.” —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

It’s time to go war! Culture war, that is. This time, over critical race theory. Conservatives have mobilized an attack on CRT, and Democrats have defended a defanged version of these radical ideas. Even the military, by way of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley, has weighed in. He’s all for reading and understanding “white rage” — for strategic reasons, of course. This week, Darts and Letters tries to understand a powerful set of ideas dragged into the popular imagination through cynical politicking. But we also lodge left-wing critiques, and ask: is CRT good for the left, or should we embrace a universalist politics? First (@13:49), Robert Greene II is an intellectual historian at Claflin. He points out that until recently, few people outside of academia had even heard of critical race theory. He explores the origins and motivations of attacks on CRT, explains the historical and contemporary context, and argues that CRT should be embraced (at least partly) in the leftist theoretical toolkit. Then (@54:06), Nick Cruse is a Fred Hampton Leftist, co-founder of Ten Demands, and board member of National RCV. He calls out the faux radicalism of the center-left in general, and Democrats in particular, arguing they weaponize black identity in the service of dividing and conquering the working class — that is, in service of neoliberalism. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Read Robert Greene II’s piece on critical race theory in Jacobin and visit his page at Claflin University. Have a look at more of his work for The Nation. He’s on Twitter, too. Check out Nick Cruse’s work, and that of his colleagues, through the Fred Hampton Leftist page; be sure to check out his Twitter account, too. There are plenty of other important pieces to read and listen to as well. Those include a New Yorker take on how a conservative activist “invented the conflict over critical race theory,” historian Matt Karp’s piece in Harper’s on “History as End,” Freddie deBoer’s and Iram Osei-Frimpong’s take on CRT and the American dream on Bad Faith podcast, the Boston Review’s deep dive into “The war on critical race theory,” and Nathalie Baptiste’s assessment of the CRT “panic” in Mother Jones. Plus, for a critique of Robin DiAngelo’s work, check out this piece in the Conversation. For more from Matt Karp, listen to him talk CRT on Chapo. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly.  ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.  —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.  

Happy Canada Day to our Canadian listeners! But actually, we are not celebrating here. Instead, we lament our country’s decay. In particular, our intellectual decay. We were a nation known for such pre-eminent intellectuals like Erving Goffman, Marshall McLuhan, and Charles Taylor. Now, we’re known for a decidedly more right-wing bunch of scholars and online influencers, including: Jordan Peterson, Stefan Molyneux, Lauren Southern, Gavin McInnes, and others. Their ideas and their organizing has inspired a new Canadian export: far-right politics, and sometimes far right extremist groups. One such group, the Proud Boys, were designated as a terrorist entity earlier this year. This week, we look at the far-right in Canada and ask: what should we do about them? And also: what shouldn’t we do about them? First (@11:13), Leigh Phillips is a journalist, writer, and author. He’s also a contributor to Jacobin. After the Proud Boys were designated a terrorist entity, he took to the magazine to make the case against that approach to managing them. He argues that protecting civil liberties is essential to opposing the far-right and defending the left from state overreach and repression. Next (@30:19), Samantha Kutner is an independent research and subject matter expert on the Proud Boys – as she puts it, a “Proud Boys whisperer” whose work is focused on “helping people leave violent extremism and white supremacy.” She takes us through that process and inside the heads of members of the far-right. Finally (@57:04), Barbara Perry is a professor, an expert on the far-right in Canada, and the director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University. She explores the far-right ecosystem in Canada with us and explains why the country punches above its weight when it comes to producing these organizations and individuals. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Check out Leigh Phillips’ website, his political journalism – including his piece on the Proud Boys – and his books, Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-porn Addicts and The People’s Republic of Walmart. Listen to Samatha Kutner’s podcast Glitterpod and visit her website to learn more about her work, including her Proud Boys incident map. Have a look at Barbara Perry’s scholarly website, her books In the Name of Hate and Hate and Bias Crime, and visit the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. Read about what it means to be designated a terrorist entity. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our lead research assistant on this episode was Isabelle Lemelin. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research. This episode was part of a project looking at the right of right wing political philosophies. The advisors on that project are: Andre Gagne, Ronald Beiner, and A. James McAdams. The lead research assistants are Tim Berk & Isabelle Lemelin. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

The national security state is alive, well, and growing. By weaponizing the threat of right-wing extremism, governments are building out their post-9/11 securitization projects. The far-right, however, is dangerous and does need to be stopped. But not with old strategies and tactics that have failed in the past and will fail again. Doing better means thinking differently. And that’s what we plan to do this week as we begin our first of two back-to-back episodes assessing the state of the far right and how to counter them effectively. In this episode, we focus on the philosophies and influence of the French New Right, and debate the ethics of undercover infiltrations. First, (@15:05) Joe Mulhall is Head of Research at Hope Not Hate and author of an upcoming book on the global far right. He talks about the French New Right, its strategies, and the thinkers — and “thinkers” — that underwrite them including the prolific Alain de Benoist. We also debate the strategies of undercover infiltrations, which Joe employs and discusses in his upcoming book. Next (@44:12), Jean-Yves Camus is co-director of the Observatoire des Radicalités Politiques (ORAP) and Associate Fellow at Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (IRIS) in Paris. He knows Alain de Benoist. He digs into the far-right theorist’s past and present, discussing his motivations, capacities, and effect on right wing thinking. Finally, (@59:20) Matt McManus is Professor of Politics at Whitman College and podcaster at PillPod. He’s an expert on post-modern conservatism, and he breaks down for us what it entails and how it shapes contemporary thinking, discourse, and politics. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Follow Hope Not Hate on Twitter and check out Joe Mulhall’s upcoming book Drums in the Distance: Journeys Into the Global Far Right. Also, read his piece on the identatrian movement and the alt-right. Have a look at Jean-Yves Camus’ most recent book, co-written with Nicolas Lebourg, Far-Right Politics in Europe. For a shorter read, have a look at his piece on the French New Right a half-century on, which he says is “Alive and kicking a ever.” Listen to Matt McManus’s podcasts at PillPod and grab a copy of his book What is Post-Modern Conservatism. Also, review his piece in Jacobin on Benjamin Teitelbaum’s War for Eternity. For more, check out his piece on post-modern conservatism in the McGill International Review. Also be sure to read Buzzfeed’s piece on Alain de Benoist and the French New Right. Read up the national security state, including new money for domestic terrorism, a U.S. military training document that “says socialsits represent ‘terrorist’ ideology,” and Ken Klippenstein’s 2019 piece on leaked FBI documents that identify the bureau’s priorities during the Trump administration. Read our own Tim Berk’s Darts and Letters blog post “Don’t be fooled by the European new right’s quasi-left rebrand.” —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our lead research assistant on this episode was Tim Berk from the University of Toronto. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research. This episode was part of a project looking at the right of right wing political philosophies. The advisors on that project are: Andre Gagne, Ronald Beiner, and A. James McAdams. The lead research assistants are Tim Berk & Isabelle Lemelin. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

As the G7 Summit wraps up in the United Kingdom, the blueprint for a kinder, gentler, more generous capitalism is being floated. It’s being called the Cornwall Consensus. Meanwhile, in Canada, a democratic socialist organisation has popped up during the pandemic and is attracting a lot of attention. This week, we plumb the depths of the Cornish new world order, go back to the future with a look at the end of the end of history, and sort out the state of Canada’s political left. Our guest (@9:34), Joe Roberts is a founding member of the Democratic Socialists of Canada and co-host of New Left Radio. He takes us through the informal agreements coming out of the G7 and how they may shape capitalism for years to come; he also breaks down leftism in Canada and the rise of the DSC as he questions whether the liberal consensus is as strong as many think it is. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Visit the homepage of the Democratic Socialists of Canada and have a look at what they stand for as well as their primer on what democratic socialism is. Listen to the New Left Radio podcast — including the latest episode, a deep dive into inflation and reconciliation. Check out the Centre for Canadian Progress, a socialist policy centre. Read Roberts’ take on the G7 tax deal — a deal “that pretends to be good for Canadians” — in the Toronto Star. Take a look at a short history of the Washington Consensus and then read the Cornwall Consensus document from the latest G7 meeting. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants this week are Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

It’s stardate 99040.01 and lead producer Jay Cockburn is temporarily taking over command of Darts and Letters for an episode. This week we enter the world of science fiction, revealing how it’s long been a vehicle for radical thought We dig into post-scarcity, Afrofuturism, and feminist speculative fiction as we set our phasers to fun and go where no podcast has gone before. First (@11:37), Cory Doctorow is a journalist, activist, blogger, and author of many books including the post-scarcity speculative fiction novel Walkaway. He takes us through the idea of a post-scarcity world as he breaks down the idea of abundance and what we might do with it, or not. Then, (@34:44), Nalo Hopkinson is a science fiction writer, editor, professor, and author of Brown Girl in the Ring. She talks to us about Afrofuturism as a critical lens and different ways of seeing the future for different communities — and re-imagining the present. Plus, be sure to read her own recommendation: Sister Mine. Finally, (@50:27), Batya Weinbaum is a poet, artist, professor, and the editor of FemSpec, an academic journal of feminist speculative fiction. She charts the history of feminism in science fiction and how art, including novels, helps drive social, political, and economic change. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Check out Cory Doctorow’s blog site Craphound, including the shop where you can buy his books, including Walkaway, which is featured in this episode. Also have a look at this latest book, Attack Surface. Visit Nalo Hopkinson’s homepage, including the list of her books and her Patreon. You can pick up Brown Girl in the Ring through her publisher’s site or wherever books are sold. Dig into the interdisciplinary feminist journal FemSpec, edited by Batya Weinbaum and visit her Google Scholar page to peruse her many academic articles. We mentioned a number of books in this episode you may want to check out, including Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Iain M. Banks’ the Culture series. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic; this week our guest host and lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Gordon Katic is our editor. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants this week are Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Canada is a colonial and genocidal state, past and present. The horrifying news of the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School is evidence of that, as is ongoing inaction and state resistance to reconciliation. And the university shares some blame. In this episode, we offer a brief history of residential schools and explore how Indigenous education can offer a way towards healing. First (@9:21), Kyla LeSage works at Dechinta Bush University in the Northwest Territories, where she once studied after attending the University of British Columbia. Dechinta’s pedagogy is land-based and Indigenous-led. Kyla takes us through the differences between settler pedagogy at UBC and Indigenous pedagogy at Dechinta — and the struggle to break out of the rubric. Then (@39:25), Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer and artist. She holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and teaches at Dechinta. She explains how Dechinta operates and details the values, traditions, cultural practices, and pedagogy of the school, pointing out that the university’s success is measured “by the number of days our staff, faculty, and students spend on the land.” ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Visit the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning website and learn about the university’s mission, mandate, and vision. Look back at a 2013 profile of Dechinta in The Tyee by Angela Sterritt. Check out Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s site and dig into her books, talks, and music. Have a look at UBC’s profile of Kyla LeSage and read her interview with Cabin Radio on amplifying northern Indigenous voices. In February, PhD candidate Hunter Knight of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education wrote about Egerton Ryerson and how his “racist philosophy of residential schools also shaped publication education.” You can read it here. You can also read an excerpt from Lila Pine drawn from Indigenous Toronto: Stories That Carry This Place. Read Ryerson University’s “Message to the community about the Kamloops residential school burial site.” —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer this week is Jay Cockburn and our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants this areAddye Susnick and David Moscrop, and our lead research assistant this week was Franklynn Bartol. We also had academic advising from Dr. Marc Spooner. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, as part of a project looking at higher education policy in Canada. The lead academic advisor is Dr. Marc Spooner at the University of Regina and Franklynn Bartol is the research assistant. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Scholars want to decolonize everything, and universities say they are doing the hard work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. But is anything really being done, or is it all for show? In this episode, we approach these questions through three words that are common inside and outside of academia: decolonize, reconciliation, and colonialism. First (@7:05), Uahikea Maile is Assistant Professor of Indigenous politics at the University of Toronto. Last summer, he was part of a land defense against the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope that would be built in Hawaii on Mauna Kea, which is sacred to Native Hawaiins. He takes us inside the struggle and explains that the telescope will not be built despite the powerful forces, including governments that wish it to be. Then (@18:39), Max Liboiron is an Associate Professor in Geography at Memorial University and head of the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research. They explain what colonialism is and how it relates to land and research, including “well intentioned” environmental work that is itself colonial and dispossesses Indigenous peoples. They also make the distinction between “decolonialism” and “anti-colonialism.” Finally (@38:58), Pam Palmater is Chair of Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University. She points out that the point of reconciliation is to uncover and expose the truth in the service of making amends but politicians have appropriated the term and rendered it superficial in the service of their own ends. So too have universities. She asks how universities and others hold themselves to account and take action when it comes to reconciliation — or not. ——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————- Review the Canadian Astronomical Society’s update on the Thirty Meter Telescope Check out Uahikea Maile’s research, including his chapter “Threats of Violence: Refusing the Thirty Meter Telescope and Dakota Access Pipeline.” Visit Max Liboiron’s Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research and take a look at their newly released book Pollution is Colonialism. Read Pam Palmater’s blog post “Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Universities and Colleges” and then listen to her podcast, Warrior Life, especially the episode where she talks about higher education and reconciliation. For more, visit her publications page and YouTube channel. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer this week is Jay Cockburn and our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants this week are Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. We also had research assistance from Franklynn Bartol and academic advising from Dr. Marc Spooner. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, as part of a project looking at higher education policy in Canada. The lead academic advisor is Dr. Marc Spooner at the University of Regina, and Franklynn Bartol is the research assistant Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Gazans live in an open-air prison within an apartheid state. Backed by the United States and USD $3.8b a year in military aid, Israel dominates Palestinians. Recent Israeili airstrikes on Gaza have left over 200 Palestinians and a dozen Irsaelis dead. The moment continues a history that is settler colonial, one-sided, and disproportionate. And yet media and academic censorship has consistently silenced or punished those who speak out in support of Palestinians. In the face of that, many radical academics simply remain silent. In an age where ‘decolonization’ has become an academic buzzword, we must ask: will we stand by our purported ideals? On this episode, host Gordon Katic says “colonialism is not a metaphor” as he dives into settler colonialism and the costs of resistance, criticizing Israel, and speaking up for Palestine. First (@11:05), Rashid Khalidi is a Palestinian American historian and Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He’s also the author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017. He analyzes letters between Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, and Rashid’s great-great-great uncle, Yusuf Diya al-Din Pasha al-Khalidi. The letters, among other documents, reveal that colonialism was always an explicit element of political Zionism. Then (@46:29), Faisal Bhabha is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University and former Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. In June 2020, he participated in a debate about the International Holocaust Remeberance Alliance’s definition of anti-semitism. He criticized the definition as vague and confusing, and subject to conflation of criticism of the state of Israel as anti-semitism. He takes us through the controversial debate and the fallout, including attacks against his career and attempts to remove him from the classroom. ——————-STATEMENT FROM YORK UNIVERSITY——————- York University unequivocally supports academic freedom. We refer you to a public statement on academic freedom issued on September 29, and can be found here. President Lenton has steadfastly affirmed the University’s commitment to academic freedom for all York University Faculty members which includes Professor Bhabha’s participation in the panel held by Ryerson University’s Centre for Free Expression and co-sponsored by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Within legal limits, academic freedom is rightly afforded a great deal of protection. As the President has stated, York believes that academic freedom is vital to the furtherance of robust and respectful dialogue, particularly where there may be disagreement and different perspectives. Universities play an essential role in creating a place where difficult world issues can be discussed, where arguments can be held up to scrutiny and be challenged, and where people can hopefully learn from each other and work towards solutions. – Yanni Dagonas, Deputy Spokesperson, York University ——————-FURTHER READING——————- Be sure to pick up Rashid Khalidi’s book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 and have a look at the rest of his work on his academic page, including Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East. Also, have a look a look at Khalidi’s recent op-ed on the conflict in Gaza, published in the Washington Post as he argues “What we’re seeing now is just the latest chapter in Israel’s dispossession of the Palesitnians.” Plus, catch him on Democracy Now! Interviewed Amy Goodman. Watch the debate, Fighting Anti-Semitism or Silencing Critics of Israel: What’s Behind the Push for Governments to Adopt the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism in which Faisal Bhabha participated. Read the IHRA’s definition of anti-semitism for yourself. Check out Shree Paradkar’s 2020 column in the Toronto Star on the “escalating suppression of moderate voices criticizing Israel” in which she discusses Bhabha’s case. Read through a quick and selected run-down of recent news about censorship and reprisal against academics who speak out against Israel or in support of Palestine in our Recent Censorship Timeline doc. ——————-EPISODE CITATIONS——————- We cited a lot of sources in this episode. You can find a selection of them through the links below. On social media On Twitter, writer Mohammed El-Kurd describes the violence in the streets and links to videos, May 12, 2021 Mohammed El-Kurd speaks out on television against Israel’s actions in Gaza Israel’s Minister of Defense Benny Gantz tweets his thanks to the U.S. for blocking the U.N. Security Council resolution criticizing Israel’s attack on Gaza The Gravel Institute makes it plain on Twitter: “This is what colonization looks like.” Writer Andray Domise tweets “Academics wanna decolonize everything except actual colonies, get these soft mother fuckers outta here, lmao.” A video of the late Mich

In this bonus episode, we talk more with Trevor Strunk of No Cartridge. Trevor has a forthcoming book called Story Mode: Video Games and the Interplay Between Consoles and Culture. It’s coming out this November. The book looks at the shifting politics of major franchises, including Metal Gear. Metal Gear offered a trenchant critique of war, militarism, big data, surveillance, and the deep state. But for Trevor, Metal Gear eventually lost its way– the series ended up lionizing warriors. By the end of the series, its politics aren’t much better than a Marvel movie. Trevor and Gordon talk about Metal Gear and what went wrong, but it’s part of a much wider-ranging conversation about the politics of video games. We also return to that perennial debate: are video games art? ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer on this episdoe was Ren Bangert, and our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants are Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. It was also part of a wider project looking at the politics of video games, housed at UBC and also advised by Lennart E. Nacke at the University of Waterloo. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

It was billed as “the biggest event in the history of the terminally online.” A debate: socialism vs. capitalism. On your left side, the esteemed Marxist economist Richard Wolff. On your right, a StarCraft player-turned-Twitch intellectual: Steven Bonnel II, better known as Destiny. We dissect the debate, and its limitations. But more broadly, we ask, why are gamers becoming an emerging political commentariat, and what does that mean for the rest of us? Twitch is reshaping political and intellectual discourse, whether we like it or not; is it making that discourse more vibrant and more inclusive, or more phoney and more bro-y? First (@7:09), Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, better known by most as Destiny, is a Twitch streamer and liberal political commentator with over 350,000 subscribers on YouTube. He talks about Twitch-stream intellectualism — or a lack thereof — and how it intersects with gaming. He also digs into his debate with Marxist economist Richard Wolff and the politics and pageantry of making a living online. Next (@33:55), Trevor Strunk has a PhD in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and hosts No Cartridge, a podcast about Marxist dialectical action. He breaks down the Destiny vs. Wolff debate and takes us into the world of gaming politics — including the “them versus us” mentality that draws and keeps our attention. Then (@51:47), T.L. Taylor is a Professor of Comparative Media Studies at MIT who researches online communities and gaming culture. She wrote the book on Twitch. Literally. It’s called Watch Me Play. She explains the history of gaming spaces and the evolution of gaming that brought it about — and what that means for streamers and those who follow them. Finally (@1:11:22), Tanya DePass, known as Cypherofyr, is a Twitch streamer, activist, and journalist. She’s also the founder of the not for profit organization, I Need Diverse Games. She introduces us to her online community and discusses the struggle to create more inclusive, diverse gaming spaces while reminding us that many games are inherently political, despite what some suggest. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.  This week, our generous Patrons can listen to Gordon’s full, completely unedited interview with Destiny.  ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- For more on Destiny’s story from Starcraft player to Twitch gadfly, we recommend his profile in Mother Jones. Plus, Visit Destiny’s Twitch stream or YouTube channel. Watch his debate with Richard Wolff and his clash with a far-right interlocutor.  Check out Trevor Strunk’s podcast No Cartridge, including episode 175: Why Games? and Patch Notes 2.15: Jet Set Biden Future. Watch for Trevor’s forthcoming book Story Mode: Video Games and the Interplay Between Consoles and Culture.  Pick up T.L. Taylor’s book Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Live Streaming and have a look at her research.  Visit Tanya DePass’s YouTube channel and Twitch stream. And be sure to visit her not for profit I Need Diverse Games. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Ren Bangert, and our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research assistants are Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. It was also part of a wider project looking at the politics of video games, housed at UBC and also advised by Lennart E. Nacke at the University of Waterloo. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

America’s national pastime is being taken over by a woke mob and a global communist cabal. So say the Republicans. If only…! Racism, conservative nostalgia, and economic exploitation is baked into the MLB. We discuss what’s wrong with baseball, why baseball matters, and what needs to be done to fix it. First (@6:51) Dave Zirin of the Nation breaks down the recent GOP hysterics over the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, and we have a wider conversation about left-wing sports journalism, and why sports ought to matter to the left–sports fan, and non sports fan alike. Then (@32:42), Jeremy Wolf was drafted in the 31st round by the New York Mets. He recounts the struggles of his short-lived minor league career, including the crummy food, poverty-level wages, and frightening economic precarity. Minor leaguers need support, and Wolf is doing just that through his work with More than Baseball. Plus (@50:04), Blue Jays writer Andrew Stoeten gives us the corporate history of Gordon’s favourite team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Canada’s team is owned by one of Canada’s major telecommunications monopolies; what does that mean for the Blue Jays baseball, and what does it say about corporatization in the wider MLB? Finally (@60:06), philosopher Mark Kingwell reminds us why baseball is beautify, and why it ought to be protected. We discuss Kingwell’s philosophical, personal, and political reflections from his book Fail Better: Why Baseball Matters. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Subscribe to Jeremy Wolf’s The Grind Podcast and check out the work he’s doing with More than Baseball. Subscribe to Andrew Stoeten’s Substack the Batflip for regular deep dives into all things Blue Jays. Read more of Dave Ziron’s writing in the Nation, especially his article the the 2021 All-Star Game, the story about how things went very differently when something similar happened a decade ago, and his moving obituary of Hank Aaron. Find Mark Kingwell’s op-ed in the Globe and Mail about the GOP’s recent hysterics around the 2021 MLB All Star Game, and listen to an old episode of CBC’s Ideas if you want to hear more about Fail Better. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Ren Bangert and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research coordinator is David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Last weekend was Wrestlemania. There have been 37 Wrestlemanias. That’s a lot of wrestling. And a lot of entertainment for the millions of people who enjoy watching wrestling, including our host, Gordon Katic. Maybe you’re a fan, maybe not. Fans and non-fans alike have often dismissed wrestling as frivolous. But there’s more to wrestling than meets the tombstone piledriver. Pro wrestling is like a Rosetta Stone for our politics; It brought us one President, and a recent poll suggests it might give us another. On this episode, we jump from the top rope into the wild, layered, complex world of pro wrestling and the folks who love it. First (@10:46), Steve and Larson are the hosts of Going in Raw: A Pro Wrestling Podcast. They break down the history of Vince McMahon as a boss, character, and more — including what happens when the lines between the two become blurred inside and outside of the ring. PLUS: the full unedited interview is available on our Patreon. Subscribe today. Next (@37:15), Brian Jansen is a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Maine who writes on professional wrestling and labour. Wrestlers are workers, and as workers, face challenges shared by other workers — and some unique to their profession. And their fans, it turns out, are more progressive than you might think. Then (@53:06), the Spider Baby, Terrance Griep, is the world’s first openly gay wrestler. He wrestles in the Midwest Independent Wrestling Scene. He takes us into the world of wrestling, the building and presentation of a character, the immersive theatricality that is part of the experience for both wrestlers and their fans, and the “civil war” between the profession’s old and new guard. Finally (@1:09:30), Heather Levi is an anthropologist at Temple University who wrote her dissertation on lucha libre in Mexico. She even trained in lucha libre. She explores the fascinating world of a sport that is closely bound up with the country in which it thrives and finds a way of making meaning that brings together writers, wrestlers, and the public. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Follow Steve and Larson’s Going in Raw on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. Check out Brian Jansen’s article “It’s Still Real to Me: Contemporary Professional Wrestling, Neo-Liberalism, and the Problems of Performed/Real Violence.” (sorry it’s paywalled) Pick up Heather Levi’s book The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity, and have a look at her co-edited volume Professional Wrestling: Politics and Populism. Go even deeper into the world of wrestling through the Professional Wrestling Studies Association, their journal, and their online conference: WrestlePosium. And be sure to follow the PWSA’s CarrieLynn Reinhard.  Plus, read Jay Shah’s article on late Toronto mayor Rob Ford and pro-wrestling, from the Pilcrow Pamphlet, “Enough to Eat at Home.” ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Polly Leger, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. Our research coordinator is David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Dr. Charles Smith performed autopsies at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, ON. The cops kept turning to him with new corpses, and he kept claiming that these deaths were the result of foul play. He was thought of as a God in his field–few people were willing to question his work. That is until a 2008 inquiry, which found evidence of errors in 20 of the 45 autopsies they reviewed. Dr. Smith’s judgements played a role in 13 wrongful convictions. On this episode, we tell one of those stories. First, Tammy Wynne was wrongfully convinced of the murder of her son, Kenneth. She spent over 13 years in prison. Next, Wynne’s lawyer James Lockyer tells us the story of her exoneration and what came of Dr. Smith. Finally, cognitive neuroscientist Itiel Dror helps us understand what’s wrong with expert decision-making. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- If you haven’t already, check out part one of our series on forensic expertise. That’s episode EP16, Derailed: The Crisis of Forensic Expertise. For more on the story of Tammy Wynne, read coverage from the Toronto Star, and a detailed rundown on the Charles Smith Blog by journalist and lawyer Harold Levy. For more on Dr. Charles Smith, read the full report from the Inquiry Into Paediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario, i.e. the Goudge Inquiry. Finally, three papers from Dr. Itiel Dror helped us understand why this kind of thing might happen, including: his editorial in Science about bias in forensic experts; his detailed discussion of the bias blind spot and other problems in expert decision-making; and his ground-breaking research on forensic pathologists. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Polly Leger, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. Our lead research assistant was Roland Nadler and we had academic advising from Professor Emma Cunliffe, each from the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. We had further research support from David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which is funding our mini-series on the state of forensic science. The scholarly lead on that project is Professor Emma Cunliffe. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

In this bonus episode, Gordon Katic speaks with Simon A. Cole, a professor of Criminology, Law and Society at University of California Irvine. He’s the author of “Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification”. We do a deep dive into the social and political story of fingerprinting, and how it took more than a century before anyone tried to figure out if it actually worked. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Read Simon A. Cole’s excellent book, “Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification” Cole is also a co-author of Truth Machine: The Contentious History of DNA Fingerprinting Listen to EP16, Derailed: The Crisis of Forensic Expertise to hear the story of Brandon Mayfield, a man the FBI fingered as the person behind the 2004 Madrid train bombing because they thought they had a 100% match to his prints. But Brandon had never even been to Spain. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Polly Leger, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. Our lead research assistant was Roland Nadler and we had academic advising from Professor Emma Cunliffe, each from the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. We had further research support from David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which is funding our mini-series on the state of forensic science. The scholarly lead on that project is Professor Emma Cunliffe. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

When it comes to complex social problems, us sensible well-educated book-learnin’ types turn to the experts; we ‘believe science’ — unlike those snorting, hooting, semi-literate dunces. But over the next two weeks, we have two stories that will make you think twice about putting blind faith in experts. What if they don’t actually know what they’re talking about? That happens to be the case with many forensic experts. You know, the folks who work on blood spatter, ballistics, hand-writing analysis, fingerprints, etc. They aren’t Gods, they aren’t magicians, they ain’t anything like what you see on CSI. In fact, they get things terribly wrong; and when they do, the consequences can be catastrophic. We’ll reveal the crisis in forensic expertise, and look for ways to fix it. First, Brandon Mayfield is an American lawyer who was accused of the Madrid train bombings in 2004. He was later released from prison, given an apology by the United States, and paid restitution. He takes us through his ordeal and the failures of forensic science in his case and beyond. Next, Judge Nancy Gertner was a United States District Judge in Massachusetts and is now Senior Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She talks about forensic science and its limitations, the structural problems of expertise, and the biases that shape court proceedings.  Then, Gary Edmond is a law professor in the School of Law at the University of New South Wales, where he directs the Program in Expertise, Evidence, and Law. He talks about forensic evidence and the tests such evidence is put through — or not. He says forensic science is essential for detecting and resolving crime, but that doesn’t mean experts and their methodologies shouldn’t be challenged, and improved. Finally, Kevin Flynn is the author of five true crime books and the co-host of the podcast Crime Writers On… He takes us into the changing world of true crime writing and podcasting, including the cultural expressions of — and fascination with — crime.  ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Listen to Kevin Flynn’s Crime Writers On… as they talk about the genre and its intersections in pop culture, then head to his homepage — shared with writer Rebecca Lavoie  — and check out his authored/co-authored books, including Notes On A Killing and Dark Heart. Read Judge Gertner’s co-written article on alternatives to presenting scientific evidence and her New York Times piece on the need for judges to “set a higher standard for forensic evidence.” Check out Gary Edmond’s co-written article on fingerprinting and adversarialism and the rest of his work on his faculty page.  For a review of the state of the field, dig into the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report on forensic sciences and the 2016 report to President Obama on forensic science use in criminal courts, authored by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, our assistant producer is Polly Leger, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. Our lead research assistant was Roland Nadler and we had academic advising from Professor Emma Cunliffe, each from the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. We had further research support from David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which is funding our mini-series on the state of forensic science. The scholarly lead on that project is Professor Emma Cunliffe. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

In recent years, the left seems to have ceded the issue of free speech — or, rather, flipped on it. For years, it defended against censorship, stood up to global imperialism, decried efforts to silence resisters and renegades, and mocked the right for culture war stodginess and pearl-clutching that whined ‘won’t somebody please think of the children?!’ But much of the left has retreated on speech. That turn may have implications for those who work to hold power to account in a world full of fallible human beings who often get stuff wrong, and powerful actors and institutions who use censorship as a cudgel. First, (@11:52), Aaron Maté writes for The Grey Zone and The Nation. He also hosts Pushback — a show name that he lives, too. Maté pushes back against U.S. hegemony and the dominant foreign policy narratives of the day. He decodes the orthodoxies of hegemony, analyzes journalistic censorship and self-censorship, and argues for the need to keep information flowing. Next (@32:37), Gabriella Coleman is the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University. She’s also the author of Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous. Remember Anonymous and all the hope we had for hacktivism? Where did that go? We ask Gabriella Coleman, who takes us into the world of hacking, hacktivism, leaking, and the social movements that shape them — or don’t. Finally, (@53:48), Ben Burgis is a philosophy instructor at Georgia State University, a columnist with Jacobin, and the host of Give Them an Argument on YouTube. He reminds us that the left needs to persuade people, not just mobilize people who already agree. We do a dive dive into the philosophical arguments for and against free speech, from J.S. Mill and Immanuel Kant to Karl Marx and Rosa Luxemburg. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Have a look at Aaron Maté’s Russiagate work for The Nation and elsewhere, including digging into the origins of the affair, making sense of its end, and calling it “a humiliation for everyone who promoted it.” For a primer on the whole thing, read this “Skeptic’s Guide to the Russiagate Fixation.” Also check out The Grey Zone’s work on the secretive anti-Russian information campaigns , and Mashable’s coverage of Twitter’s decision to warn users that the reporting came from “hacked materials.” Explore the world of Anonymous with Gabriella Coleman’s book on them and their activities. Then go deeper into the world of the public interest hack. For more of her writing, writing her website. You can also check out her hacker culture videos through Hack_Curio. Listen to Ben Burgis explain “What Karl Marx Really Thought About Liberalism” on Jacobin’s YouTube page. Then dig into Reid Kane’s exploration of socialism and free speech. But don’t be afraid to go straight to the source and find the canonical arguments for free and open debate: from Immaneul Kant in What is Enlightenment? and John Stuart Mill’s classic defense of speech On Liberty. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. We had research and support from Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.  

Journalism is in crisis. Of course, there’s no shortage of rescue ideas. Sometimes it’s billionaires buying newspapers as vanity projects. Other times it’s techno-utopianism. Or plucky startups pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Maybe blockchain will save us? Victor Pickard says the problems are deeper than we think, and they require a more radical solution. He offers a structural critique of the commercial news industry and offers us a utopian vision for a publicly-funded, democratically-controlled news media. ——————-FURTHER READING ——————- Be sure to have a look at Victor Pickard’s book Democracy Without Journalism: Confronting the Misinformation Society. You can also find more of Pickard’s work on his Annenberg School for Communication page, including After Net Neutrality: A New Deal for the Digital Age and Media Activism in the Digital Age. Head over to Jacobin to read an interview with Pickard on the pandemic and how to save the news industry. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Sankara, Joey, and Claire — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. We had research and support from Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

In this bonus episode, Gordon Katic speaks with Paolo Pedercini, a professor in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University and a game developer who runs Molleindustria. Pedericini’s games offer systemic critiques of capitalism, and invite players to wonder whether video games can be a source of organizing and consciousness-raising. ——————-FURTHER READING & PLAYING——————- Dive into Pedericini’s games, such as Democratic Socialism Simulator, Building a Better Mousetrap, the McDonald’s Videogame, Every Day The Same Dream, Phone Story, Operation: Pedopriest, Tamatipico, Rules and Roberts, and Kosmosis — “an arcade game from an alternate socialist universe.” Have a read of some of Pedericini’s writings, including “Gaming Under Socialism,” “Video Games and the Spirit of Capitalism,” and “Games Without Players.” —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Camille, Robert, and Adam — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. We had research and support from Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. It was also part of a wider project looking at the politics of video games, housed at UBC and also advised by Lennart E. Nacke at the University of Waterloo. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

The video game industry is a behemoth. It shapes our culture, it shapes our discourse, and it’s on its way to becoming something like a $200 billion industry. But what is it like for the people who make the games we enjoy? Unfortunately, many developers deal with long hours, precarious contracts, hostility, and harassment. There’s pushback, however, from workers who expect and demand better — and who are organizing to get just that. On this episode, we set out on a quest to level-up our knowledge of the video game industry. First, (@12:15) Carolyn Jong is a freelance video game designer and a founding member of the Montreal chapter of Game Workers Unite — a worker-run, pro-labour industry group. She discusses “crunch,” work weeks of 50 hours that can creep up to 80, even 100 hours as the rush to release a title intensifies. She also talks about the pushback: the struggle for workers’ rights. Then, (@31:41) Johanna Weststar is an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario. She runs large-scale international surveys with game developers, tracking crunch since 2014. She goes beyond the culture of the industry to reveal the heart of the matter: how games are financed and developed from the top down. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Don’t miss Carolyn Jong and the Game Workers Unite Zine, including a printable version. And while you’re there, have a look at previous editions. Go deeper into the research with a look at some work done by the Weststar Lab, including the Developer Satisfaction Survey, and “Why Might a Videogame Developer Join a Union?”, and “Building Momentum for Collectivity in the Digital Games Community.” For a look at life deep inside a game, listen to some real talk as Maximilian Dood talks about being ADDICTED to Final Fantasy XI. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Camille, Robert, and Adam — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. We had research and support from Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. It was also part of a wider project looking at the politics of video games, housed at UBC and also advised by Lennart E. Nacke at the University of Waterloo. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

As the pandemic drifts into its one-year anniversary, all eyes are on the end of the thing. Whenever that may be. Discovering, producing, and shipping vaccines is the big plank in the world’s plan to move beyond the coronavirus, but there’s more to it than that. We live in an era of distrust — of corporations, of governments, of experts, of science itself. We also live in an era of inequality. So, getting the vaccines out the door is one thing. Getting people to take them, including in communities that have traditionally been marginalized, is another. But often these stories are told in a particular kind of way: distrustful people are dummies, and they simply have to be educated. If that doesn’t work, disciplined. We think that’s not going to work. Plus, it’s mostly punching down. Instead, Darts and Letters punches up. This episode looks at government miscommunication, political hypocrisy, journalistic obsequiousness, and industry profiteering. When you understand all that, distrust makes a lot more sense. But we still need that vaccine. So what to do about it? First, (@14:24) Garth Mullins is the host of Crackdown, a podcast about the drug war covered by drug users (co-owned and produced by Cited Media, the parent company of Darts and Letters). He warns that there’s no real, clear vaccine plan that can build trust in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side and with other marginalized communities. But Crackdown has some ideas. . Then, (@38:32) Srinivas Murthy is a clinician with British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital in Vancouver and Health Research Foundation of Innovative Medicines Canada Chair in Pandemic Preparedness Research. He takes us into the world of vaccine production and procurement, the public funding and private profit, and the inequities that this produces time and time again. Finally, (@55:22) Linsey McGoey is Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex and a critic of Big Philanthropy. She argues that free gifts come at a cost — often a high cost. While the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation are reaping accolades for funding vaccine research, there’s far more to the matter than what you read in the headlines. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- For more on Fauci’s bungling, read Sam Adler Bell’s “Doctor Do-Little: The Case Against Anthony Fauci” in The Drift. To listen to journalists try to explain why they can’t ask tough questions, listen to“Extraordinary Times. Extraordinary Measures,” from March 2020. If you want to understand why COVID-19 is a policy failure, not an individual failure, then Nora Loretto of the podcast Sandy and Nora is where you have to go. She even meticulously compiled a Google Sheet on deaths in residential care homes. Plus, read Linsey’s No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy, from Verso Books Finally, Crackdown is a must-listen. We talk about EP 22, We’re Not Afraid of Needles Around Here. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers — such as Janice, Hart, and Sean — usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work. —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. We had research and support from Addye Susnick, Polly Leger, and David Moscrop. We also had consulting from Professors Joel Lexchin and Sergio Sismundo. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. It was also part of a wider project, with Cited Podcast, looking at the politics of pharmaceutical research and policy. Professors Joel Lexchin and Sergio Sismundo are the academic advisors on that project. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

For a moment, all the eyes of the world were on GameStop. It’s unexpected, meteoric rise. It’s inevitable fall. The saga became a rorschach test for our politics. Was it a revolutionary moment, the many pushing back against the few? Was it an old school pump and dump, just folks out to make some money? And who was against whom, exactly?  Well, it was…a spectacle. That’s for sure. We dive into the wild world of stocks, the bubbles of present and the past, and the spectacularized social media environment that is distorting our very understanding of true politics. Abandon all hope, ye who enter.  First, (@8:28) Karim Hummos is a high school senior in Chicago, Illinois. While he waits for college application decisions, he spends his time on r/WallStreetBets—and making a pretty penny too. He takes us into the world of the stock (or stonk) trading subreddit, including “loss porn” and more.  Then, (@27:42) the “Cushbomb” himself. Matt Christman, is the co-host of the podcast Chapo Trap House, and he offers up a real poster’s lament. He argues that the GameStop phenomenon is a perfect example of just how unreal our politics has become. We post and we post, but will it ever change anything?  Finally, (@41:34) James K. Galbraith is a titan of left-wing economics and Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He co-signs the argument that the stock market is all about spectacle– it always has been But our political leaders have decided to embrace the show. They’ve made the stock market so integral, but it didn’t have to be this way.  ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Christman, Matt. “Voteball – Delenda Est.” CushVlog. Feb. 2, 2021.  Galbraith, James K. Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe. Yale University Press: 2016. Galbraith, James K. Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, 2016. Lydon, Christopher. “Market Mania.” Radio Open Source. Feb. 4, 2021. Taibbi, Matt. “Suck It, Wall Street.” TK News by Matt Taibbi Jan. 28, 2021. ——————-CORRECTIONS——————- In an earlier version of this episode, Gordon says that Wall Street ‘put the squeeze on Robinhood, and Robinhood obliged.’ He was referring to widespread speculation about whether particular hedge funds influenced the company’s decisions. Robinhood was asked to testify before Congress about such questions. But they denied the accusations. Upon reflection, we really don’t have evidence to support our strong claim–so we retracted it, and re-uploaded a version of the podcast without that line. Still, there are investigations about their revenue model, and a potential conflict of interest here between their funders and the retail investors they are supposedly serving. This deserves greater scrutiny. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. With research and support from Addye Susnick and David Moscrop. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor.  Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Canada likes to trade on the “middle power” trope. Tucked away among the many, snuggled up with peer states just outside the focus given to global hegemons, the country goes about its business, friendly and mild. Nothing to see here. But behind the facade is a past and present of neocolonial plundering. Canada is a mining powerhouse, off on extractive misadventures in the Global South. It’s also a notable contributor to the global arms trade, including a weapons deal that helps fuel the devastating Saudi-led war in Yemen. We look at Canada’s role in ripping up the world and selling it military weapons. We also look back a 20th century movement that might have put a stop to all this. First, (@9:01), Rachel Small is an anti-war activist and organizer with the Canadian Chapter of World BEYOND War. On January 25th, she joined others in a protest aimed at disrupting the shipment of light armoured vehicles (LAVs) — also known as, well, tanks — destined for the Middle East. She breaks down Canada’s arm sales to Saudi Arabia and discusses direct action efforts against the country’s arms traders. Then, (@21:05) Todd Gordon is assistant professor of Law and Society at Laurier University and co-author of Blood of Extraction: Canadian Imperialism in Latin America. He busts the myth of Canada as a weak, subordinate power held down by bigger foreign states and runs down the country’s history of exploitative extractive projects in the Global South, especially in Latin America. Finally (@39:17) Vincent Bevins is a journalist and author of the extraordinary book The Jakarta Method, detailing the US Cold War policy of backing brutally repressive military regimes. He reminds us that the imperialism and colonialism of this century and the last were not inevitable. The Third World Movement was premised on the idea that non-Western and non-Soviet states would chart their own path and take their place alongside the “first” and “second” world countries in a post-colonial world. Washington, however, had other ideas. ——————-FURTHER READING & LISTENING——————- Bevins, Vincent. The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World. Public Affairs, 2020. Gilmore, Scott. “Canada’s Racism Problem? It’s Even Worse Than America’s.” Maclean’s Magazine. Jan. 22, 2015. Global Affairs Canada. Exports of Military Goods: 2019. Government of Canada, 2020. Mining Watch. “Blog.” O, Keefe, Derrick. “Hamilton Activists Block Trucks Linked to Saudi Arms Shipments.” Ricochet, Jan. 25, 2021. Webber, Jeffrey R. and Todd Gordon. Blood of Extraction: Canadian Imperialism in Latin America. Fernwood Publishing, 2016. ——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————- We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work —————————-CONTACT US————————- To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email [email protected] or tweet Gordon directly. —————————-CREDITS—————————- Darts and Letters’ lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our chase producer is Marc Apollonio. With research and support from Addye Susnick, Polly Leger, and David Moscrop. Our theme song and outro was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop. This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.