Radio Atlantic

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The Politics of Ancestry Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

Senator Elizabeth Warren recently shared results of a genetic analysis to back up her family’s story of Cherokee ancestry, hoping to blunt a favorite Republican attack line. The move backfired. A DNA result does not confer a Cherokee heritage. And in general, efforts to link our genetics with our ethnic or cultural identities have a long and sordid history. So what’s more revealing: the results of DNA tests like Warren’s? Or what we try to find in them?

Links

- “The First DNA Test as Political Stunt” (Sarah Zhang, October 15, 2018)

- “Trump, Warren, and America's Racial Essentialism” (Vann R. Newkirk II, October 16, 2018)

- “Your DNA Is Not Your Culture” (Sarah Zhang, September 25, 2018)

- “When White Nationalists Get DNA Tests That Reveal African Ancestry” (Sarah Zhang, August 17, 2017)

- "Radio Atlantic: Becoming White in America" (Kevin Townsend, April 13, 2018)

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America's Higher Education Crisis Oct 12, 2018

Show notes

A college education has become a key asset towards success in the American economy, but for many Americans, access to higher education—especially at a prestigious university—feels increasingly out of reach. With its capricious admissions and massive debt loads, the system is struggling. So we’re sitting down this week with two members of our Education team—editor Alia Wong and staff writer Adam Harris—to ask the question: is U.S. higher education sustainable?

Links

- “Harvard Admissions on Trial” (Alia Wong, October 5, 2018)

- “America Wakes Up From Its Dream of Free College” (Adam Harris, September 11, 2018)

- “George Washington’s Broken Dream of a National University” (Adam Harris, September 21, 2018)

- “Lotteries May Be the Fairest Way to Fix Elite-College Admissions” (Alia Wong, August 1, 2018)

- “Why the Ivy League Needs to Admit More Students” (Alia Wong, September 28, 2018)

- “Here’s How Higher Education Dies” (Adam Harris, June 5, 2018)

- “The Era of Affirmative Action May Not Last Much Longer” (Adam Harris, July 3, 2018)

- “The College-Graduation Problem All States Have” (Adam Harris, June 16, 2018)

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Remembering Ferguson with DeRay Mckesson Oct 05, 2018

Show notes

Four years ago, after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, protestors took to the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Among them was a school administrator, always clad in a trademark blue vest. DeRay Mckesson, now a face of what became the Black Lives Matter movement, spoke in Washington this week at The Atlantic Festival. Mckesson recently authored a memoir: On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope.

Links

- On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope (DeRay Mckesson, 2018)

- “DeRay McKesson Talks About the Hardest Job He's Ever Had” (Lola Fadulu, June 2, 2018)

- “Hashtag Activism Isn't a Cop-Out” (Noah Berlatsky, January 7, 2015)

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Is the Public Square Gone? Sep 28, 2018

Show notes

After a news week that’s felt more like a news month, Matt Thompson sits down with two experienced editors to ask how people manage to make and consume news in today’s environment. Adrienne LaFrance is the editor of TheAtlantic.com. Franklin Foer is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of World Without Mind.

Links

- “The Death of the Public Square” (Franklin Foer, July 6, 2018)

- “The Most Powerful Publishers in the World Don’t Give a Damn” (Adrienne LaFrance, August 8, 2018)

- “Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Understand Journalism” (Adrienne LaFrance, May 1, 2018)

- “The Era of Fake Video Begins” (Franklin Foer, May 2018 Issue)

- “When Silicon Valley Took Over Journalism” (Franklin Foer, September 2017 Issue)

- “It’s Time to Regulate the Internet” (Franklin Foer, March 21, 2018)

- “Social Media in 1857” (Adrienne LaFrance, November 1, 2017)

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The Reputations and Reckonings of #MeToo Sep 21, 2018

Show notes

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces assault allegations, the #MeToo movement reaches its first anniversary. Beyond a potential hearing reminiscent of the Anita Hill testimony 27 years ago, recent days have seen the head of CBS toppled, the editor of The New York Review of Books gone, and even a glacier renamed. What’s changed since the start of the #MeToo movement and what hasn’t?

Links

- “The Logical Fallacy of Christine Blasey Ford’s ‘Choice’” (Megan Garber, September 20, 2018)

- “The Phantom Reckoning” (Megan Garber, September 16, 2018)

- “Brett Kavanaugh and the Revealing Logic of ‘Boys Will Be Boys’” (Megan Garber, September 17, 2018)

- “I Believe Her” (Caitlin Flanagan, September 17, 2018)

- “Why the Les Moonves Departure Is Not Enough” (Megan Garber, September 10, 2018)

- “Shame and Survival” (Monica Lewinsky, Vanity Fair, June 2014)

- “Nanette Is a Radical, Transformative Work of Comedy” (Sophie Gilbert, June 27, 2018)

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Is Democracy Dying? Sep 14, 2018

Show notes

With authoritarianism and populism on the rise around the world, The Atlantic examines the fate of democracy in its October issue. Anne Applebaum writes that Poland shows how quickly things can fall apart and Jeffrey Rosen writes that the state of American politics is one Founder’s worst nightmare. They join Jeffrey Goldberg and Alex Wagner to discuss this precarious moment in history.

Links

- “Is Democracy Dying?” (October 2018 Issue)

- “America Is Living James Madison’s Nightmare” (Jeffrey Rosen, October 2018)

- “A Warning From Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come” (Anne Applebaum, October 2018)

- “The Threat of Tribalism” (Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, October 2018)

- “Americans Aren’t Practicing Democracy Anymore” (Yoni Appelbaum, October 2018)

- “Twitter’s Flawed Solution to Political Polarization” (Christopher A. Bail, New York Times, September 8, 2018)

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How Much Longer Can Football Last? Sep 07, 2018

Show notes

Mark Leibovich has a day job covering the reality show of politics as the New York Times Magazine’s Chief National Correspondent, but he’s spent the spent the last few years reporting a book on America’s other biggest reality show: football.

The new season begins with Colin Kaepernick the face of Nike, Donald Trump the NFL’s biggest commentator, and America’s most popular sport facing a myriad of problems. How does football survive both CTE and declining ratings? Which is the bigger swamp – Washington, DC, or an NFL owner’s box?

Links

- Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times (Mark Leibovich, 2018)

- “The Absurdist Spectacle of the Nike Boycotts” (Hannah Giorgis, September 5, 2018)

- “Colin Kaepernick, Nike, and the Myth of Good and Bad Companies” (Joshua Hunt, September 5, 2018)

- “Taking a Blowtorch to Debate” (Alex Wagner, September 5, 2018)

- “Trump’s Divisive and Relentless Politicization of the NFL” (Ben Strauss, September 1, 2018)

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The Endless Devastation of Hurricane Season Aug 31, 2018

Show notes

This week, the most rigorous estimate yet of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria was published, marking a grim milestone: the hurricane season of 2017 was one of the deadliest in North America in a century. A year after Puerto Rico, Houston, and other communities were devastated by storms, they’re still counting the victims and trying to rebuild. Because of climate change, these types of extreme disasters may only grow more common.

In this episode, The Atlantic’s staff writers Vann Newkirk and Elaina Plott join Matt Thompson to discuss their reporting on Puerto Rico and Houston. How are they doing a year later? And what should we learn from their recovery efforts?

Links

- “A New Death Toll for Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria” (Vann R. Newkirk II, August 28, 2018)

- “Hurricane Harvey Is Houston’s Unending Nightmare” (Elaina Plott, August 26, 2018)

- “A Look Back at Hurricane Harvey: One Year Since Landfall” (Alan Taylor, August 26, 2018)

- “Researchers Are Still Counting the Dead From Hurricane Maria” (Vann R. Newkirk II, August 2, 2018)

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Trump’s Worst Day Aug 23, 2018

Show notes

Matt and Gillian discuss Paul Manafort’s guilty verdict and Michael Cohen’s guilty plea with Franklin Foer and David A. Graham. Was Tuesday a turning point for the Trump administration?

Links

- “The Day That Everything Changed for Trump” (David A. Graham, August 22, 2018)

- “Trump’s Victory Was a Disaster for Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort” (David A. Graham, August 23, 2018)

- “Blind Confidence Couldn’t Save Paul Manafort” (Franklin Foer, August 21, 2018)

- “The Plot Against America” (Franklin Foer, March 2018 Issue)

- “Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart — Or His Handler?” (Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, July 8, 2018)

- “All Eyes on the Presidency” (Adam Serwer, August 22, 2018)

- Corruption in America (Zephyr Teachout, 2016)

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When Does Hollywood’s Diversity Become Real Representation? Aug 17, 2018

Show notes

With movies like Crazy Rich Asians, BlacKkKlansman, and Sorry To Bother You out in theaters, Hollywood is trying to mute the complaint that it lacks racial and ethnic diversity, to avoid another #OscarsSoWhite. But depicting people of color onscreen was always the easy part. Next comes a harder question: how authentically are minority experiences being represented? Matt sits down with senior editor Gillian White and culture writer Hannah Giorgis to discuss.

Links

- “What Does It Mean to ‘Sound’ Black?” (Hannah Giorgis, August 15, 2018)

- “There’s Nothing Wrong With Black English” (John McWhorter, August 6, 2018)

- “With BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee Sounds the Alarm About America’s Past and Present” (David Sims, August 8, 2018)

- “Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal on Blindspotting and the Power of Poetry” (Hannah Giorgis, July 21, 2018)

- “Blindspotting Is a Boldly Sincere Love Letter to Oakland” (David Sims, July 20, 2018)

- “The Oscars’ Terrible Idea” (David Sims, August 9, 2018)

- “Yet Another Reason the New ‘Popular Film’ Oscar Is a Terrible Idea” (Christopher Orr, August 11, 2018)

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