The Austin City Councilman

Brad does a magnificent job tracking down Austin’s leaders and discussing critical local issues. He covers topics and talks to people the Austin American Statesman and local newscasts don’t. Well done Brad.

Swail usually comes off like a “get off my lawn” crotchety old man. Even on issues that seem inane he gets worked up, starts cursing, etc. Also I hate to say it because it’s the backbone of the show but I (and probably others) don’t have any desire to listen to HOUR PLUS long interviews with local leaders we’ve never heard of on issues that are difficult to grasp. These should be 25 minutes tops for ease of understanding. 3 stars because I appreciate that someone is tackling local issues.

Good to know there are normal people in Austin who wants to live a safe and secure life

I moved to Texas six months ago with my partner, after she got a job here, and have found it to be a beautiful state populated by some of the friendliest people I’ve met anywhere in the world. One thing that has surprised and, frankly, disappointed me is the lack of quality local news coverage. Every other big city I’ve lived or spent much time in has had a surfeit of sharp and dedicated reporters providing vital coverage on city, regional, and national news, and usually you’ll find a number of neighborhood- or topic-focused blogs or weeklies (e.g. transit, arts, city hall, or sports). Austin has KUT (which is great! although they clearly lack the funding of other NPR stations I’ve supported) but frustratingly seems to have few others, and fewer still of quality. Imagine how happy I was, then, to discover this podcast—a daily pod for wonks in Austin! Coverage of city hall and other local news, produced by an articulate, well-connected guy who seems to have strong local roots. I figured it would hew to the center, because while quality journalism by its nature will always be more progressive than conservative (don’t @ me), this is a staggeringly conservative state and I figured it would sit on or near that fence of “enlightened” centrism. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Brad Swail and his buddies are some of the most dangerous sort of people with platforms—they’re articulate and informed enough to sound educated and trustworthy, while they confidently voice opinions predicated on ignorant emotion and solipsism—in other words, they talk loud good words with a total lack of empathy for other human beings. While I enjoy engaging with people with whom I disagree—I firmly believe that it is the responsibility of the informed citizen to do so—I place no value on people who cannot or will not treat human lives with the dignity that we all inherently deserve. For Swail, this dismissive, self-centered, ignorance-celebrating attitude is rote. In the 3 episodes I’ve listened to at least part of, topics that I’ve heard Mr. Swail demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of or empathy towards include (not a complete list): - homelessness - racial justice - policing - urbanism - traffic safety - voting rights - sexism - the efficacy of masks - the pandemic / respect for human life in general. Conservative culture war parrot points 101, in other words. I made it about 20 minutes into today’s episode when I had to stop to write down my thoughts. Swail and his guest Teddy were whinging about their rights being trampled due to the city returning to Phase 4 of their pandemic response, which involves asking people to stay home, and to wear masks sometimes, out of consideration for the health of others. The intrepid podcasters took this as an excuse to proudly broadcast their dangerous and insipid conservative fantasies at a time when we should be working together to fight against a global crisis. I thought it would be prudent to add at least one critical voice to the fray. The amount of snowflakey narcissism required to grow indignant over being asked to wear a face covering out of respect for the well-being of other people is beyond my comprehension. The amount of cynicism required to see it as a power move by government leaders is incredibly disheartening. The callousness required to dismiss the hundreds of thousands of Americans that have lost their lives to this virus, rather than considering that even one life saved by the tiniest of inconveniences might be worth it… folks like Swale don’t have the empathy in them to consider that perhaps mask requirements aren’t a sinister plot by the People’s Communist Republic of Local Government; that perhaps these draconian impositions don’t have any deeper motive than “hey guys, let’s maybe mildly inconvenience ourselves to protect each other, ok?” Bred and co use these complaints to show us their impressive (lack of) character—not to mention their gaping void of knowledge of, and education on, science and health. Rather than talking constructively about what the government could be doing better to help the people and businesses impacted by closures in the name of public health, they wring their hands over how *hard* it is for them, while continuing to dismiss the severity of a pandemic that will surely go down in the annals as one of the darkest periods in modern history. This dangerous, selfish, mind-numbing weakness is a perfect encapsulation of much of what is deeply troubling about America today. If I come across as angry in this review, it is because I am angry. Despite being bombarded by a growing cacophony of hateful ignorance for the past few years, I continue to (somehow) cling to optimism that the powers of hate and ignorance will eventually dissipate. But it does not, and so I grow angry, because I want humanity to thrive, while these cynical, uneducated doofuses apparently just want to watch the world burn, as long as they’re comfy while it happens. My rating is two stars, because while I find the opinions of the host and his guest kind of a blight on humanity, there are some positives that, in fairness, I must acknowledge: - I appreciate that they’re making a podcast focused on local news five days a week. - He has had at least one guest who was more progressive than he is, so he is at least paying lip service to the idea of political debate. - To his credit, Bread regularly utters sentences that follow the structure “I don’t know ____, but….” so he does often acknowledge his ignorance on the topics he wags his tongue over. You’ll get better local news by walking down 6th wasted at 3am and asking people on the street what’s going on. My search for quality local political coverage continues.