Conversation #13: Dude, Do You Even Protest? (September 3, 2017)
Grace and I discuss protest, using as a jumping-off point Nathan Heller’s book review article from the August 21st issue of The New Yorker. We start off a bit incoherently, cherry-picking some points made and quotes included from the books Heller is reviewing, before settling on a real critique of the author’s actual take on the issue, which is surprisingly vacuous. Nevertheless, questions of whether and how to protest, and whether it is effective in the modern era, still interest us, so we try to come to grips with them. Along the way Grace and I recount a little bit about our own histories of activism and dissent, in marches, on picket lines, and in our work, and try to answser the question “you criticize a lot of other people about their politics — but what are you doing to make a difference?”
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The full text of Nathan Heller’s New Yorker article is available here (at least it was when I wrote this).
Thank you Paul and Grace! I was so glad to hear your thoughts on this article, which I read with a really mixed response. Grace: I think that you mentioned 3 points early on in the podcast that you wanted to make about the article (or maybe it was that the article had three main sections), and perhaps I lost track but I only recall (1) connecting protests on the street to a larger movement that strategically uses disruptive action (did I even get that one right?) - as in the Civil Rights era. Can you articulate the other two points for me, please? I can't listen again right now and don't want to miss them. Paul: I really appreciate your candor regarding how it becomes more risky/costly to protest (as opposed to parade) when you have children and other responsibilities. I like the way you both finished: living in protest. I would love to hear more about that (a Pottscast on that topic maybe?). How it looks in your life, who it affects, what surprises you, what frustrates you, reflections on the trajectory of living a life in protest over time. Please consider it; I think it's not currently discussed enough because there is such a fast-paced schedule of events to attend, many of which go nowhere further than themselves (not to say that that isn't valuable), but over which people are pilloried if they don't participate. And please forgive the lack of grammar in that last sentence - hopefully you get the idea ;).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Vija. I had read the article about two weeks ago, then Grace read it and made some notes and highlights, then I skimmed through it and read it again and highlighted some parts moments before before we started recording. When we started, I was holding the magazine and Grace was holding baby Elanor, so she couldn't really look at her notes. Then we took turns with the baby. I think between the two of us we mentioned all the points we found interesting in the article, but I will ask her if there is anything she meant to mention, but didn't.
DeleteRight now we are trying to stick to a weekly show, uploaded Sunday night. We have decided to just avoid perfectionism and record a conversation even if we are a little unprepared or rushed, because if we don't, we probably won't be able to get anything recorded for another week.
I like the idea of "living in protest" as a topic. For me personally, I think of it in terms not so much as protest but as dissent. I'll see if Grace and I can come up with some things to say on that subject. Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any other show ideas! We are hoping to get show ideas from listeners rather than current events.
Thank you for your response, Paul. I can't recall the exact phrase that Grace used, it may not have been "living in protest". I look forward to the possibility of hearing more!
DeleteHi, Vija! In the beginning of the podcast, I was talking about the three things I wanted to cover about the article: Paul's highlights, what the author said in the article, and what I thought the point of the article was. I was not this clear in the podcast ;) But the part about connecting street protests to disruptive action, was mostly me paraphrasing some of the content. I took the point of the article to be directing folks to keep parading around in the streets, rather than take disruptive action.
DeleteAlso, I did say "living in protest".