1 hr 19 min
E36: re:joinder - Give me liberty AND give me death! re:verb
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- News
In this timely re:joinder episode, Sophie, Calvin, and Alex gather over Zoom to engage with some truly vile COVID-19 takes -- so you don't have to!
Calvin shares "The Media Are Embarrassing Themselves Over Trump's Use of 'Chinese Virus'", written by a guy named John at the conservative Federalist magazine, which apologizes for President Trump's strategic framing of the virus as inherently Chinese. In denying and obfuscating Trump's racist language, John makes some mind-bogglingly context-stripped and hypocritical claims, such as accusing "the media" (reminder: The Federalist is a media outlet) of doing performative outrage. Yet, as we point out, The Federalist is only able to publish many of these arguments because the corporate media has generally done a terrible job of frame-checking (Cloud, 2018) the administration and its rhetorical allies. Nevertheless, reporters are asking valid questions about Trump's language in this case, we argue.
Then, Alex brings in "Freedom Means Letting People Make Risk Calculations About Coronavirus" by Chuck Devore, a piece ALSO published in The Federalist, which makes a circuitous, scattershot argument for science denialism out of fealty to "the free market." Devore decries social distancing, emphasizes the effects of "the Wuhan flu" on the restaurant industry, and endorses some of Trump's favorite questionable treatment options (e.g. hydrochloroquine) and the far-right Internet's favorite anti-Chinese conspiracy theories. Concluding on a ceremonial note, he invokes the classic Patrick Henry quote "give me liberty or give me death!" as he predicts that our "competition"-oriented healthcare system will ultimately save us from this crisis, while simultaneously implying that re-opening Applebee’s should be our national priority.
Lastly, Sophie shares some awful tweets from Matthew John Dowd and Buck Sexton, both of whom argue that social distancing is doing more harm than the mass death which would surely follow abandoning social distancing. A few days later, Sexton tweets a friend's report of devastation in a New York hospital, demanding that his followers "pray" for the victims. Across all of these takes, we notice a consistent theme of moral vanity, nihilism, and sacrificial devotion to the capitalist economy. In response, we propose that after COVID-19, the economy might just need to change a little!
Texts Analyzed in this Episode
J. (Mar. 19, 2020). The Media Are Embarrassing Themselves Over Trump’s Use Of ‘Chinese Virus’. The Federalist.
Devore, C. (Apr 6, 2020). Freedom Means Letting People Make Risk Calculations About Coronavirus. The Federalist.
https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd/status/1242197861170847744
https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3861001
https://twitter.com/BuckSexton/status/1243656276997033985
In this timely re:joinder episode, Sophie, Calvin, and Alex gather over Zoom to engage with some truly vile COVID-19 takes -- so you don't have to!
Calvin shares "The Media Are Embarrassing Themselves Over Trump's Use of 'Chinese Virus'", written by a guy named John at the conservative Federalist magazine, which apologizes for President Trump's strategic framing of the virus as inherently Chinese. In denying and obfuscating Trump's racist language, John makes some mind-bogglingly context-stripped and hypocritical claims, such as accusing "the media" (reminder: The Federalist is a media outlet) of doing performative outrage. Yet, as we point out, The Federalist is only able to publish many of these arguments because the corporate media has generally done a terrible job of frame-checking (Cloud, 2018) the administration and its rhetorical allies. Nevertheless, reporters are asking valid questions about Trump's language in this case, we argue.
Then, Alex brings in "Freedom Means Letting People Make Risk Calculations About Coronavirus" by Chuck Devore, a piece ALSO published in The Federalist, which makes a circuitous, scattershot argument for science denialism out of fealty to "the free market." Devore decries social distancing, emphasizes the effects of "the Wuhan flu" on the restaurant industry, and endorses some of Trump's favorite questionable treatment options (e.g. hydrochloroquine) and the far-right Internet's favorite anti-Chinese conspiracy theories. Concluding on a ceremonial note, he invokes the classic Patrick Henry quote "give me liberty or give me death!" as he predicts that our "competition"-oriented healthcare system will ultimately save us from this crisis, while simultaneously implying that re-opening Applebee’s should be our national priority.
Lastly, Sophie shares some awful tweets from Matthew John Dowd and Buck Sexton, both of whom argue that social distancing is doing more harm than the mass death which would surely follow abandoning social distancing. A few days later, Sexton tweets a friend's report of devastation in a New York hospital, demanding that his followers "pray" for the victims. Across all of these takes, we notice a consistent theme of moral vanity, nihilism, and sacrificial devotion to the capitalist economy. In response, we propose that after COVID-19, the economy might just need to change a little!
Texts Analyzed in this Episode
J. (Mar. 19, 2020). The Media Are Embarrassing Themselves Over Trump’s Use Of ‘Chinese Virus’. The Federalist.
Devore, C. (Apr 6, 2020). Freedom Means Letting People Make Risk Calculations About Coronavirus. The Federalist.
https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd/status/1242197861170847744
https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3861001
https://twitter.com/BuckSexton/status/1243656276997033985
1 hr 19 min