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This Is Critical — Society & Culture
This Is Critical

Fearless, sophisticated culture criticism for all generations. Nothing is off-limits, nothing dumbed down. With American culture on the rocks, we’re split into fake “wars” about everything from avocados to bicycles to medical masks. It’s time we took a critical lens to every facet of our shared experience. And that’s what Virginia Heffernan is prepared to do.

Copyright: © Stitcher

Latest Episodes:

DNA and the Age of Innocence Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Law professor Ekow Yankah walks us through the advent of DNA evidence and the role of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted.

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Is Ketamine All It's Cracked Up to Be? Jan 20, 2022

Show notes

We enter the k-hole with Dr. Bita Moghaddam, who explains how a dreamlike club drug became a depression treatment, and what you should know before going to that chic ketamine spa down the block.

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Rewriting the History of Humanity Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

Dr. Paulette Steeves is trying to overturn the orthodoxy that humans have only been in the Western Hemisphere for roughly 12,000 years. In doing so, she just might change the way we do archeology.

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An Oral History of the Attack on the Capitol Jan 06, 2022

Show notes

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries describes being on the floor of the House of Representatives during the Capitol attack. Fellow Congressman Jamie Raskin tells us about handling that trauma just a day after burying his son. And writer Jamelle Bouie helps us understand how history will remember January 6.

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Thinking Critically About Sex, Drugs, Hope, and the Climate Dec 30, 2021

Show notes

Deep-thinker and writer Maggie Nelson specializes in calibrating our cultural conversations. What is the right mix of hope and pessimism when talking about climate change? Can we be transgressive while caring for each other? And does true freedom exist?

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The Very Emotional History of Crusaders and Witches Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

We get emotional with historian of emotions Richard Firth-Godbehere. Prepare to rethink everything you thought you knew about the motivations behind some of the biggest moments in history.

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Bye-Bye, Miss America, Bye Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

We unearth the origin story of our nation's most beloved — and reviled — beauty pageant and try to predict its future. Is it time to sunset the whole thing? Our chaperones: Amy Argetsinger (author of There She Was: The Secret History of Miss America) and Kate Shindle (Miss America 1998).

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How to Live in a Post-Roe World Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

The real problem for the conservative Supreme Court justices hoping to overturn Roe v. Wade is how much reproductive medicine has changed since 1973. Women in the 2020s have many more options for family planning — including abortion pills. Carrie Baker explains.

Resources:
PlanCPills.org
IfWhenHow.org

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How the Hallmark Channel Stole Christmas Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

We go way too deep on the schmaltzy movies that dominate cable every December with the Defector's David Roth, who has analyzed more than a hundred Hallmark Channel weepies for his highly jolly podcast, It's Christmastown!

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Do Manners Matter? Nov 25, 2021

Show notes

Just in time for Thanksgiving: an exploration of manners, from the skating rink to the formal dinner party. Featuring a well-mannered member of the Emily Post etiquette dynasty and an unruly sociologist.

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