The most informative and entertaining podcast about society, culture, and everything in between!
Previous guests include Noam Chomsky, Sibel Edmonds, Michael Ruppert, and many others! Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or via RSS today!
Kenny Steven Fuentes is a freelance actor/director, activist, and blogger who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. He recently penned an article for SmellsLikeHumanSpirit.comdiscussing his reaction to the Boston bombings; and in this episode, discusses with Guy Evans the article itself, some recent political scandals, and more. Enjoy!
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What does it mean to be a leader? According to Edward Bernays, the 'Father of Public Relations', a leader is most effective when acting as a dictator. In this episode of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast, Guy Evans begins to break down Chapter 6 of Bernays' magnum opus 'Propaganda' - revealing the author's distorted view of leadership, and his widely shared belief that the public's apathy results in their own oppression. A great episode as ever so download, share with your friends, and peace!!!
Subscribe to the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast on iTunes, follow us on Twitter @smellslikepod and 'like' our Facebook page at FB.com/SmellsLikeHumanSpirit for more great shows and news!
FURTHER READING:
Rushkoff, D. (2013). Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. Penguin Group: New York.
Goleman, D. (2009). Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything. Broadway Business: New York.
Torkildsen, G. (2005). Leisure and Recreation Management. Routledge: London.
'The Drunken Taoist' Daniele Bolelli joins Guy Evans for Episode 72 of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast. Mr. Bolelli is a University Professor, podcaster, martial artist, and author, most recently of 'Create Your Own Religion: A How-To Book Without Instructions'. In this interview, he answers some important universal questions about philosophy and the nature of life itself. War, religion, and politics are just a few of the topics that are covered in rapid-fire fashion in this latest episode. Enjoy, share, and peace!
Douglas Rushkoff is a media theorist, writer, lecturer, and author, with his most recent work being ‘Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now’. In this interview, he discusses with Guy Evans how technology has changed our relationship with time; social media and its tendency to prevent living 'in the moment'; challenging the concept of 'work'; and much more! Subscribe to the podcast, enjoy this episode, share with your friends, and peace!
"If you turn on a television set, you see in one minute that the goal of advertising is to create uninformed consumers making irrational choices." - Noam Chomsky
Episode 70 of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast examines Chapter 5 of Edward Bernays' 'Propaganda'. Chapter 5 features several recurring topics; notably, aspirational culture, the manufacture of new customers, and controlling the public mind. Guy Evans looks at each of these key themes, and with the help of Mad Men's Don Draper(!), investigates the strength of the emotional connection between ourselves and the products that we buy.
Subscribe to the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast on iTunes, follow us on Twitter @smellslikepod and 'like' our Facebook page at FB.com/SmellsLikeHumanSpirit for more great shows and news!
Our guest for Episode 69 of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast is Abraham Bolden. Mr. Bolden is a former United States Secret Service agent and author of ‘The Echo From Dealey Plaza’. He was personally appointed to the Secret Service White House detail by President John F. Kennedy after meeting him on April 28th 1961, and as a result became the first African-American to achieve this honor.
Following the President’s assassination, Mr. Bolden became disenchanted with what he saw to be severe misconduct and corruption among his peers. He traveled to Washington in the Spring of 1964 to tell the staff of the Warren Commission about a secret Chicago assassination plot against JFK. Shortly thereafter he was arraigned on federal charges that he had solicited a bribe from a counterfeiting ring that he had helped break, and subsequently spent six years in prison. In this interview, he discusses his incredible story and other related topics. Enjoy!
Kenny Steven Fuentes is a freelance actor/director, activist, and blogger who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. His work can be seen on 'The Activationist' blog at Kennystevenfuentes.wordpress.com, and periodically he will also be sharing his ideas here at SmellsLikeHumanSpirit.com. Look for Kenny to appear on an upcoming podcast, follow him on Twitter @kentesian, and enjoy his first article:
It's been several weeks since the bombings in Boston, and I've had some time to reflect on the collective response from the media, the public, and especially my fellow Bostonians and expats: the memes, the tweets, the radio broadcasts, the Red Sox caps, etc. It's very clear that during times of crisis, particularly those that involve an attack on our institutions, we have a tendency to gravitate towards and seek comfort in the institutions that we otherwise dislike, criticize or perhaps just simply don't care for either way.
This reaction is predictable, though not insincere. It would be really easy to devolve into warring camps, but I have no interest in that. I made a conscious decision to pick my battles over the social media (though if we spoke in person, you got the full story). But some time has passed, and there's a few things about our collective response to the marathon bombings that bothered me. We've heard plenty about the media response (spoiler alert: it was terrible), and the human interest stories. But there are a few things I feel have been left unsaid.
I have a really hard time being angry at the Tsarnaev brother. At the time, I was afraid to admit it I have a logical and well-reasoned analysis for why I'm not particularly angry, but I felt guilty and struggled to express myself. I read and listened to statements like "We should hang them" or "These people are cowards," but I couldn't get into it. I just couldn't. I think I understand now why I couldn't get on board, but I feared that I'd be excommunicated before my first sentence finished.
I remember the period following the 9/11 attacks and recall the vitriol expressed towards many individuals who expressed anything but patriotic contempt for the attackers. It was a period of time when critical decisions with long lasting repercussions would be made. That was a period of time when hard questions needed to be asked, but many of those who asked hard questions were accused of lack of patriotism and made into pariahs.
In the aftermath of this period of temporary insanity, we launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, engaged in extraordinary rendition and torture programs to extract information, and began an assault on civil liberties that continues to this day. One wonders: had we listened to the dissenting opinions of the period, would we have acted differently? You'd be hard pressed to find someone now who thinks that invading Iraq was a good idea, for example. False confessions under torture during extraordinary rendition were used to claim that al-Qaeda had received training in Iraq. As a people, we placed an incredible amount of faith in our institutions. We support our troops, we support our President.
The entire week, I kept thinking back to that period and all the injustice that we did in the name of our righteous indignation. And I say righteous without sarcasm. I'm not saying anger itself is bad, but I do fear that our anger often plays into larger trends that are bad.
Have we learned anything since then? Clearly, this isn't going to be as big an event as 9/11. We aren't going to invade Chechnya. But there are still some hard questions that were not asked by anyone but a few brave souls.
So here's my hard question: is our anger still righteous when we consent to atrocities committed in our name worldwide and on a daily basis? The keyword here is consent. Obviously, very few readers of this blog have ever perpetrated a war crime. But one doesn't have to participate in an atrocity to consent to it.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me focus on one example. One of the aspects of the Boston bombing that upset people was the idea that there were two bombs set off, one after the other. Many claim that this is "double-tap" style attack. Time them moments apart, hit the same basic area. Create the expectation that the area will be attacked again, discourage people from coming to the scene to help.
I agree. This is an awful practice. But under the Obama administration, it appears to be policy. It's common practice for drones to hit a target twice. As a result, civilians and medical personnel do not attempt to help the wounded because they know it’s possible there will be an additional strike. Remember how much we praised our first responders for running towards the explosion? Every time I heard this sentiment expressed, all I could think about was Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, etc. We praise first responders at home, while our government targets them abroad.
Moreover, it’s not entirely clear how many of the dead are al-Qaeda, local fighters engaged in local conflict, or outright innocent civilians. The Obama guidelines for who gets counted as an armed combatant includes all fighting age males in the target area. In essence, if you’re a teenage or 20-something male, and you’re near the target area, you’re considered fair game.
These are just a few aspects of our foreign policy that upset me. Here's the full NYU/Stanford report on drones if you're interested. Moving on...
When I saw the fear expressed by my friends who are still living and working in Boston, I felt two strong emotions: 1) Concern for their well-being and 2) Frustration that many aren't concerned about violence until it happens near them.
The fear they felt last week is the fear that many people on the other side of the world feel everyday. Our taxes pay for it. There is growing opposition to the drone policy, but for the most part people don't care. It brings to mind a quote from Boyz in the Hood:
Last fall, I got into a bit of a social media storm with some liberal friends of mine over a photo I posted on Facebook. I know, I know... Facebook flame wars are lame, but they do happen. Deal with it.
Once this photo was posted, many election season hissy-fits were had. I probably had the biggest one, in all fairness. But I stand by the sentiment. I offended some of my Democrat friends. That's really too bad, because I refuse to consent, and I will not ignore atrocities conducted in my name. I will rabble rouse. I will share information with those who will listen. I will NOT vote Democrat or Republican.
And, hopefully, I am also educating. As you can see, my refusal to consent hasn't accomplished much. But maybe if you refused, too... And a few more people...
I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just asking that you learn, think, and act. I don't believe that most Americans would think the drone policy moral if they actually learned what was going on. When I first heard about the policy, I was also an apologist. Initially, I bought the argument that we were carefully targeting only the worst of the worst and minimizing civilian casualties. But as I did more research, read more reports and articles, I came to realize that our drone policy is little more than terrorism with a budget.
Hate the Tsarnaev brothers all you want. But recognize that justice is not an American privilege. An injury to one is an injury to all!
This one is for the 'old school' supporters of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast! For those of you that have been listening since Day One, you will remember that initially this show featured, almost exclusively, a conversational format where Guy Evans discussed a wide variety of topics with James Wilson. As May 4th 2013 marks one year since the launch of the podcast, Guy called up James to discuss the formation of the show, lost episodes, and some recent news. Enjoy!
To get these episodes as soon as they are published, subscribe to the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast on iTunes or via RSS, and peace!
"If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it?" - Edward Bernays
Chapter 4 of 'Propaganda' by Edward Bernays is held under the microscope this week in Episode 67 of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast. Guy Evans examines how Bernays learned from his peers - Walter Lippmann, Gustave Le Bon, Graham Wallas, and Wilfred Trotter in particular, and subsequently advised governments to exclude their people from important affairs. Instead of encouraging active political participation, he adopted new theories on mass psychology that would reduce individuals to nothing more than consumers, never happy, and never satisfied. A great show as ever so enjoy, and peace!
Subscribe to the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast on iTunes, follow us on Twitter @smellslikepod and 'like' our Facebook page at FB.com/SmellsLikeHumanSpirit for more great shows and news!
Ringelmann, M. (1913). "Recherches sur les moteurs animés: Travail de l'homme" [Research on animate sources of power: The work of man], Annales de l'Institut National Agronomique, 2nd Series, 12, p. 1-40.
Dr. Michael Parenti is an internationally-renowned lecturer and author, most recently of 'The Face of Imperialism'. In this interview, he discusses the use of entertainment media as propaganda, and the relationship between government agencies and the production of such content. Later on in the talk, Dr. Parenti also provides his take on the media's coverage of the Obama Administration's escalating use of drones, and the recent death of Margaret Thatcher. A great listen as always so enjoy, spread the word, and peace!
Note: Dr. Parenti previously appeared on the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast last August (click here to download that interview).
