The Dr. Junkie Show

174: Dialectics of Alcohol Prohibition

This week I talk about alcohol prohibition and the birth of the 18th Amendment. Mainstream media, strategically manipulated by a woman named Carrie Nation and her posse of temperance propagandists, talked the United States into responding to problems stemming from rapid industrialization (addiction, homelessness, etc.) by outlawing alcohol in 1919, and they pulled it off by using Christianity and Femininity as tools of social change despite being unable to vote as women at that time. Support the show

173: Life after Life without Parole (David Carrillo)

This week author, academic and previously incarcerated rock star David Carrillo stops back by to talk about his new book, Kiko: From Life without Parole to Life with Purpose, available wherever you buy books. We discuss prison politics, drugs in prison, slow and fast changes in perspective through aging and experience, academics in prison, the concept of redemption, morality, prison media and his continuing role as an in-prison educator working with multiple colleges in Colorado. You can find the Territorial Prison story of the warden's wife and the death row letter-writing DU-PAI video on YouTube here.Support the show

172: Drug Boats, Hellfire Missiles and Foucault's Knowledge/Power

Today I talk about the US military missions against alleged drug boats near Venezuela using Foucault's theory of knowledge/power. Support the show

171: Media, Monopolies, and the Fairness Doctrine

This week I talk about who owns the media and why that matters. I get into the consolidation of media outlets from local owners a century ago to mostly multinational super-rich corporations today, and I unpack some of the ways that change has shaped the media we consume, which in turn shapes us. I talk about the Fairness Doctrine, the war on drugs, free speech, Buster Brown shoes, monopolies and why they are generally discourages in the US, Reagan, neoliberalist policy and lots more. You can find a visual version of this episode with graphics on YouTube. Support the show

170: Polybius and the End of Democracy

This week I kick off a new section of the show by talking about the cycle of democracy, which philosopher Polybius outlined more than 2000 years ago. I cover aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, anarchy, monarchy and tyranny, explaining the seemingly-unavoidable cycle that links them all together into a loop...one we appear to be nearing the end/beginning of.Support the show