Air Date 5/2/2023
Today, we take a look at the intertwining of oil wealth, philanthropy, and culture washing from John Rockefeller to the sheiks of the Middle East.
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Transcript
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Who Were the Robber Barons? - Brain Blaze - Air Date 10-29-19
The Robber Barons were some dudes who got rich and were pretty sketchy about it all, but then founded a bunch of universities and stuff like that, so I guess we're cool?
Ch. 2: Jane Mayer / The Koch Brothers and the Weaponizing of Philanthropy - EthicsinSociety - Air Date 4-6-16
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again?
Ch. 3: “Sportswashing & Greenwashing”: Ex-Soccer Player Jules Boykoff on Qatar Hosting World Cup - Democracy Now! - Air Date 11-29-22
We speak with author Jules Boykoff about the climate and political implications of the 2022 World Cup.
Ch. 4: How One Industry Controls Football - Athletic Interest - Air Date 11-5-21
Who controls football?
Ch. 5: Why Billionaire Philanthropy Won't Solve Anything - Second Thought - Air Date 2-25-22
You ever notice how oligarchs like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are cast as these uber-wealthy saviors who are singlehandedly raising the world out of poverty? That doesn't happen by accident.
Ch. 6: What Is Sportswashing (and Does It Work)? - Freakonomics - Air Date 6-8-22
In ancient Rome, it was bread and circuses. Today, it’s a World Cup, an Olympics, and a new Saudi-backed golf league that’s challenging the P.G.A. Tour.
Ch. 7: Why Billionaires Won't Save Us - Our Changing Climate - Air Date 5-21-21
I look at how the elite philanthropy of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk function as more of a billionaire preservation of wealth and self than as an act of altruism.
Ch. 8: Anand Giridharadas: Why We Should Be Skeptical of Billionaires - Amanpour and Company - Air Date 9-19-18
Anand Giridharadas believes we should be a bit more skeptical about embracing billionaires as the change-makers of our era.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 9: The 2022 FIFA World Cup And The Rise Of 'Sportswashing' (In The Loop) - Scripps News - Air Date 11-21-22
Christian Bryant explores why sporting events are and can be held in countries with authoritarian regimes in this segment of "Scoreboard."
Ch. 10: Fixing the Economy - Garys Economics - Air Date 11-27-22
After having opened up the publics eyes to the problem of Wealth Inequality, Gary reveals to the Channel his own idea for a possible Wealth Tax.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 11: Reaching a conclusion on understanding the J.K Rowling episode - Boris from Belgium
Ch. 12: The is/ought malfunction in our pattern recognition - Dave from Olympia, WA
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 13: Final comments on the is/ought problem of politics
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
SHOW IMAGE
Description: A diptych of photos of Mohammad bin Salman and a painting of John. D. Rockefeller. A drop of black oil falls into a splash over the center of the image.
Credits: Composite design by A. Hoffman. Photo of “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stands with Deputy Crown Price of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud” by U.S. Secretary of Defense, Flickr | License: CC by 2.0) | Changes: Cropped / Photo of painting of J.D. Rockefeller by John Singer Sargent, Flickr | License: Public Domain | Changes: Cropped / Oil drop and splash from Pixabay.
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
Bonus Sample #280 Tracking people and animals in order to save them and ourselves
#1593 Beyond Neoliberalism: Dreaming a new economic system into being
#1592 Israel and Palestine are less complicated than you think: Standing for international law while condemning crimes against humanity, war crimes, antisemitism, and apartheid.
#1591 Broken News: Understanding traditional media and social media reporting on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza
#TBT #1510 Avoiding Accountability: How the powerful in the US have almost always been allowed to skate by (Throwback)
#TBT #1507 Installing Loyalists: The Multi-Pronged Destruction of Our Democracy Already in Progress (Throwback)
#1590 Red Caesar and Project 2025: A fascist fever dream being given a vaguely respectable coat of paint by the Claremont Institute and the Heritage Foundation paving the way for an unconstrained, law
Bonus Sample #279 Complainers gonna complain, creepers gonna creep
#1589 War in the Holy Land: Context Behind the Atrocities, Crimes Against Humanity, and the Possible Escalation That Will be Detrimental to All Sides in the Wake of the Hamas Attack Israel is Calling
#1588 The Shutdown That Wasn't And The Chaos That Is: The far-right of the GOP has been intent on not governing for a long time and eating their own, like McCarthy most recently, is their go-to maneuv
#TBT #1545 Agents of Chaos: The New Congress (Throwback)
#1587 What Conservatives Think of When They Think of the Children: Child Labor, Child Brides, Child Mothers, Childhood Poverty, Child Indoctrination
#1586 Cop City is the Backlash to the Backlash Against Police Brutality and Murder, the Atlanta Community is Fighting Back and Creating a Blueprint for Change in the Process
Bonus Edition #278 Obfuscating Reality Through Layers of Fantasy
#1585 Workers Rights Ascendent Amid Writers and Actors Strikes in Hollywood and the UAW Strikes Against the Big 3 US Automakers all While the Sociopathic Reality of Capitalism is Laid Bare by CEOs Exp
#1584 Israel's Political Upheaval, Supreme Court Power Struggle, US Support, and the Normalization of Apartheid
#TBT #1360 Redefine, Unburden and #DefundThePolice: With Copy City renewing debate over policing, we look back at the counterargument (Throwback)
#1583 Alluring Conspiracy Culture vs Capitalism: The Driving Forces that are Attracting People into Conspiratorial Thinking About Trump, COVID, Economics, Military Affairs and More.
#TBT #1190 Island Recovering From Disaster: Hurricane Maria laid bare the colonialism and capitalism in Puerto Rico (Throwback)
#1582 Maui Fire Sale: Hawaiian Colonization, Disaster Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis Fueling Wildfires and Housing Insecurity in Native Hawaiian Communities on Maui and Beyond
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