Citations Needed22 Jun 2022

Ep. 163: The Media-Manufactured Mystique of the US Court System

"John Roberts Passes Test: Politicization of Judicial Appointment is Disheartening," read a 2005 headline from Salisbury, Maryland's Daily Times. "Ignore the attacks on Neil Gorsuch. He's an intellectual giant — and a good man," Robert P. George pleaded in The Washington Post in 2017. Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court nomination "is beyond politics," South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn told CBS's Face the Nation in 2022. We hear the same refrains over and over about the US federal court system in general and the U.S. Supreme Court in particular. They're independent judiciaries. They abide by the Constitution, the rule of law, the law of the land. They follow legal precedent. They're bastions of integrity and impartiality. It's reassuring to think of our courts as measured, fair, upholding democracy, and acting in the public's interest. But history shows that these articles of faith are undeserved. The courts are profoundly political, and they wield power that affects every corner of people's lives, from healthcare to policing, education to climate. So why is it that The Courts are awarded such mystique? What purpose does it serve to paint them as untouchable and unquestionable, existing outside of politics? And how does this framing stack the deck against those seeking long overdue and radical change to our systems? On this episode, we examine how media have helped manufacture the sense of ennobled secrecy of the Supreme Court and broader so-called "justice system," looking at the ways in which the courts' power runs counter to the will and needs of the public, the creation of campaigns to feign judicial impartiality and apoliticism, and the American exceptionalism that undergirds popular framings of one of the world's most reactionary institutions. Our guest is writer Josie Duffy Rice.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(387)

Ep 245: The Authenticity Affect (Part III) - Left Politics as Effete, College Kid Artifice

In part 3 of our three-part series on the uses and misuses of "authenticity" in political media, we examine the popular media trope that progressive politics are exogenous to core Democratic constitue...

7 Okt 1h 20min

News Brief: 2028, Israel's Progressive Rebrand and the Risk of "Genocide" as Rhetorical Box Check

6 Okt 30min

Ep 244: The Authenticity Affect (Part II) - The Dopey, Power-Flattering, Media-Created "Maverick" Politician

In Part 2 of our 3-part series on the uses and misuses of "authenticity," we examine the media obsession with "political mavericks" who "buck party orthodoxy"—almost aways with either trivial interven...

30 Sep 1h 8min

Ep 243: The Authenticity Affect (Part I) — Whistlestop Tours, Smarm, and the Art of Channeling 'Folk'

In part 1 of our 3-part series on the uses and misuses of "authenticity," we examine the Real America "listening tour," its propaganda utility, and how it uses the superficial aesthetics of rural simp...

23 Sep 1h 26min

Ep 242 - The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 2: US Empire as Mysterious, Teleological Force

In this episode, we discuss how circular "inevitability" arguments have been used for centuries to justify war, expansionism and perpetual hostility — most recently against China. Our guest is organiz...

19 Aug 1h 16min

Ep 241 - The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 1: Data Centers and LLM as 'The Future'

In this episode, we breakdown the popular "inevitability" argument AI companies are using to bulldoze over democracy and how the "inevitability" line has been used to sell everything from Manifest Des...

12 Aug 1h 28min

News Brief: Very Serious New Yorker Article Launders Biden Officials' Responsibility for Gaza Genocide

In this News Brief, we are joined by Kaleem Hawa to discuss David K Kirkpatrick's 10,000 word PR job that feigns criticism of Biden officials, but ultimately serves to distance them from the horrors o...

29 Jul 41min

News Brief: Why US Media Has Evoked Israel's "Right to Exist" 1,001 Times vs Only 6 For Palestine

In this News Brief, we dissect the Orwellian phrase "right to exist," why it only applies to Israel, what purpose it serves, and why Palestinians are never said to have such a right.

15 Jul 28min