SRP Radio Podcast S1:E7 The Republican Propaganda Machine

The Republican Propaganda Machine

[su_note note_color=”#f7ccd8″]Unfortunately, there are some low-fi issues in this episode. Among other things . . . the live story reading at Fitzgerald’s was recorded with a cheap camera from across the room. I did my best to improve the sound, but . . . it is what it is. Thank you in advance for your patience![/su_note]

On today’s show . . .

Introducing Professor Jan Arnold

The first installment of our year-long series, “Word Smatter”. If you’re wondering whether you heard that correctly, it’s “word” . . . pause . . . “smatter”. It’s a pun.

But the word “smatter”, when used as a verb, means “to speak with spotty or superficial knowledge”, or “to dabble in”. It comes from a Middle English word, meaning “to make dirty”, or “to talk idly”. And that, my friends, is what today’s Republican party does best. Well . . . that and beating-up on poor people.

If you’re thinking . . . liberal bias . . . well then, get your own damn show! In fact, “liberal” is one of many perfectly good words that, in my lifetime, have been decimated by the Republican propaganda machine. Other terms, like “freedom”, “liberty”, “patriot”, “Constitutional”, “community organizer”, “humanism” – all beautiful words that connote beautiful ideas – pissed on! Poisoned! Not to mention what they’ve done with words given to complex concepts, like “Socialism”, “Communism”, “Marxism”, and even “government”!

Just saying these words in public. . . “Socialism”, “Communism”, “Marxism” . . . makes Republican drones tremble! They don’t know what those words mean, of course. They just know that they’re bad.

In normal human beings, the word “liberal” evokes connotations of generosity and broad-mindedness. But to Republicans . . . it’s an insult. Sticks and stones, right? Wrong! Words matter.

Oculus Avoidus

Why do women refuse to make eye-contact with men? I’m not talking about street harassment or pick-up artists or anything like that. I’m talking about regular social situations where people are supposed to talk, and laugh and shake hands and hug and . . . well, you know, act like normal people.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a house party, or a church function, or a support group, or a networking event, where I’m reaching out to people, trying to meet them, talk to them, connect with them in some kind of meaningful way . . . let’s just say, I like to work a room, okay? And it’s happened so often that the one or two people in the room who refuse to acknowledge my presence with so much as a superficial glance when I’m right in front of them . . . or who look at my shoes or my hands, but not my eyes . . . or who walk briskly away when I turn to them . . . these people are ALWAYS women!

A Still, Small Scratching

And we attend a reading at the historic Fitzgerald’s Night Club in Berwyn, Illinois, where I presented a story about escaping from a deadly situation.

You Complete Me

Can men and women every really understand one another?