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Darts and Letters

Darts and Letters

Cited Media

This is about ‘arts and letters,’ but for the kind of people who might hack a dart. We cover public intellectualism and the politics of academia from a left perspective. Each week, we interview thinkers about key debates that are relevant to the left. We discuss politics, culture, and intellectual history.

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Top 10 Darts and Letters Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Darts and Letters episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Darts and Letters for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Darts and Letters episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Darts and Letters - EP75: The Hippie High-Rise

For seven years, from 1968 to 1975, one eighteen story high-rise was the heart of Canada’s counterculture. Rochdale College in Toronto, ON, was jammed full with leftist organizers, hippies, draft dodgers, students, artists, and others just looking for a good time. Although, Rochdale wasn’t really a “college.” It was something much bigger: a political, educational, communal, artistic, and psychedelic experiment. During its time, it was endlessly lambasted by conservatives and leftists alike–until it reached its inglorious end.

Today, like much of the counterculture, it’s often remembered for its problems: its ideological contradictions, drug-addled hedonism, bourgeois individualism, sexism, suicide, and more. However, is that the whole story? Were the kids in the hippie highrise onto something, ...or was it indeed just one giant waste of time? We investigate with a special documentary presentation, produced by Marc Apollonio.

This is a production of Cited Media. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It is part of a series of episodes on the relationship between activism and academia. Our scholarly advisors on this series are Professors Lesley Wood at York University, Sigrid Schmalzer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as well as Sharmeen Khan, Sami McBryer, and Susannah Mulvale. For a full list of credits, contact information, and more, visit our about page.

For seven years, from 1968 to 1975, one eighteen story high-rise was the heart of Canada’s counterculture. Rochdale College in Toronto, ON, was jammed full with leftist organizers, hippies, draft dodgers, students, artists, and others just looking for a good time. Although, Rochdale wasn’t really a “college.” It was something much bigger: a political, educational, communal, artistic, and psychedelic experiment. During its time, it was endlessly lambasted by conservatives and leftists alike–until it reached its inglorious end.

Today, like much of the counterculture, it’s often remembered for its problems: its ideological contradictions, drug-addled hedonism, bourgeois individualism, sexism, suicide, and more. However, is that the whole story? Were the kids in the hippie highrise onto something, ...or was it indeed just one giant waste of time? We investigate with a special documentary presentation, produced by Marc Apollonio.

This is a production of Cited Media. This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It is part of a series of episodes on the relationship between activism and academia. Our scholarly advisors on this series are Professors Lesley Wood at York University, Sigrid Schmalzer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as well as Sharmeen Khan, Sami McBryer, and Susannah Mulvale. For a full list of credits, contact information, and more, visit our about page.

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03/13/23 • 66 min

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Darts and Letters - EP71: MAID in Canada (ft. Nipa Chauhan, Trudo Lemmens & Dr. Derryk Smith)

Forced by the courts, the Canadian government has recently instituted an expansive Medical Assistance in Dying regime (MAID). You need not be terminal to seek MAID, and in March, 2023, you might even be able to seek MAID for mental health issues.

The usual Left impulse on MAID has been to honour people’s wishes, and afford them dignity and autonomy over their own bodies. Yet, a string of cases in Canada has troubled this impulse. There have been news reports of at least 14 cases in which patients seek MAID because they lack access to proper housing, health care, or disability supports. This means that MAID is not just being used to address the suffering resulting from illness–it is being used to address the suffering from poverty.

Is MAID letting the government off the hook from providing what they should be providing? Should we respect people’s choices on harm reduction grounds, even if those choices are severely constrained by an unjust social and political context? Should we give doctors this power over the mentally ill and disabled, given the racist and ableist nature of our crumbling health care system?

We’ll debate this and more, with perspectives from either side. Professor Trudo Lemmens argues that MAID sends a disturbing message: disabled lives aren’t worth living. Next, Dr. Derryk Smith of Dying with Dignity says just the opposite: excluding certain people from this civil liberty is tantamount to stigmatization.

This is first in a series of episodes we’ll be releasing, from time to time, on medical controversies and the politics of medical expertise. This series is receiving funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Dr. Maya Goldenberg and Dr. Maxwell J. Smith are scholarly advisors, with research from Yoshiyuki Miyasaka. For a full list of credits of Cited Media staff, visit our about page.

Forced by the courts, the Canadian government has recently instituted an expansive Medical Assistance in Dying regime (MAID). You need not be terminal to seek MAID, and in March, 2023, you might even be able to seek MAID for mental health issues.

The usual Left impulse on MAID has been to honour people’s wishes, and afford them dignity and autonomy over their own bodies. Yet, a string of cases in Canada has troubled this impulse. There have been news reports of at least 14 cases in which patients seek MAID because they lack access to proper housing, health care, or disability supports. This means that MAID is not just being used to address the suffering resulting from illness–it is being used to address the suffering from poverty.

Is MAID letting the government off the hook from providing what they should be providing? Should we respect people’s choices on harm reduction grounds, even if those choices are severely constrained by an unjust social and political context? Should we give doctors this power over the mentally ill and disabled, given the racist and ableist nature of our crumbling health care system?

We’ll debate this and more, with perspectives from either side. Professor Trudo Lemmens argues that MAID sends a disturbing message: disabled lives aren’t worth living. Next, Dr. Derryk Smith of Dying with Dignity says just the opposite: excluding certain people from this civil liberty is tantamount to stigmatization.

This is first in a series of episodes we’ll be releasing, from time to time, on medical controversies and the politics of medical expertise. This series is receiving funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Dr. Maya Goldenberg and Dr. Maxwell J. Smith are scholarly advisors, with research from Yoshiyuki Miyasaka. For a full list of credits of Cited Media staff, visit our about page.

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12/23/22 • 65 min

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Darts and Letters - EP63: Who Researches the Researchers?

Researchers with the best of intentions still get things wrong. “Who made you the expert” is a valid question that research subjects might ask... and frankly, they’re right to ask that. If you’re, say, a drug user in Vancouver’s downtown east side you probably don’t want some guy from Harvard telling you what paternalistic research he’s doing on you. You want to be a partner in research done with you.

So what does it look like when the old paternalistic ways are dispensed of? Garth Mullins hosts Crackdown, a podcast about the drug war in Vancouver covered by the drug users themselves. Gordon talks to him about being the researcher and the researched in the downtown east side, a place where activists and academics have come together to develop better methods.

We also talk to Michelle Fine of City University of New York. She’s a leading proponent of “critical participatory action research“. That’s a way of researching that de-centres the academic. We find out the theory, and what that means for expertise more broadly.

Special thanks to Samona Marsh, one of the authors of Research 101: A process for developing local guidelines for ethical research in heavily researched communities, and also to Liz Dozier of Chicago Beyond. Liz and Samona’s work was really important to this episode even if we couldn’t get their voices to air.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.

Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

For a full list of credits, contact information, and more, visit our about page.

Researchers with the best of intentions still get things wrong. “Who made you the expert” is a valid question that research subjects might ask... and frankly, they’re right to ask that. If you’re, say, a drug user in Vancouver’s downtown east side you probably don’t want some guy from Harvard telling you what paternalistic research he’s doing on you. You want to be a partner in research done with you.

So what does it look like when the old paternalistic ways are dispensed of? Garth Mullins hosts Crackdown, a podcast about the drug war in Vancouver covered by the drug users themselves. Gordon talks to him about being the researcher and the researched in the downtown east side, a place where activists and academics have come together to develop better methods.

We also talk to Michelle Fine of City University of New York. She’s a leading proponent of “critical participatory action research“. That’s a way of researching that de-centres the academic. We find out the theory, and what that means for expertise more broadly.

Special thanks to Samona Marsh, one of the authors of Research 101: A process for developing local guidelines for ethical research in heavily researched communities, and also to Liz Dozier of Chicago Beyond. Liz and Samona’s work was really important to this episode even if we couldn’t get their voices to air.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.

Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

For a full list of credits, contact information, and more, visit our about page.

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08/12/22 • 55 min

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Darts and Letters - EP40: War Games (ft. Tanner Mirrlees)

Why are there so many war games? They exploded in popularity post 9/11. Maybe you’ve played some of them. Or all of them. SOCOM: US Navy Seals. Call of Duty. Battlefield. Splinter Cell—and the entire deep library of Tom Clancy games. There’s plenty more, too. This ain’t just a story about the free market and our own proclivities—it’s the state. Games have a long history of being developed by, with, and for the military. From the earliest DARPA-funded projects at public universities, to today’s DOD-subsidized military/corporate partnerships. This week on Darts and Letters, Tanner Mirrlees, associate professor in the Communication and Digital Media Studies Program at Ontario Tech University and author of Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Culture Industry, joins us as we plunge headlong into the history of the militainment industrial complex, to understand the militarization of gaming and the gamification of war.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.

Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week.

If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes.

Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.

This is a production of Cited Media. And we are backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism. The founding academic advisor of the program is Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia. This episode was also part of a wider series looking at the politics of video games, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and housed at the University of British Columbia and Waterloo University.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

Why are there so many war games? They exploded in popularity post 9/11. Maybe you’ve played some of them. Or all of them. SOCOM: US Navy Seals. Call of Duty. Battlefield. Splinter Cell—and the entire deep library of Tom Clancy games. There’s plenty more, too. This ain’t just a story about the free market and our own proclivities—it’s the state. Games have a long history of being developed by, with, and for the military. From the earliest DARPA-funded projects at public universities, to today’s DOD-subsidized military/corporate partnerships. This week on Darts and Letters, Tanner Mirrlees, associate professor in the Communication and Digital Media Studies Program at Ontario Tech University and author of Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Culture Industry, joins us as we plunge headlong into the history of the militainment industrial complex, to understand the militarization of gaming and the gamification of war.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.

Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel, where some videos of these interviews will be available next week.

If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop is our research assistant and wrote the show notes.

Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.

This is a production of Cited Media. And we are backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism. The founding academic advisor of the program is Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia. This episode was also part of a wider series looking at the politics of video games, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and housed at the University of British Columbia and Waterloo University.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.

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11/12/21 • 50 min

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Darts and Letters - EP4: The Conquest of Bread [Rebroadcast]

Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites.

You know McKinsey and Co. They worked for a company that was fixing the price of bread in Canada. They helped on Trump’s immigration policies, but their ideas were too extreme even for ICE. More recently, they proposed that Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” their sales of OxyContin by offering $14,810 rebates for ODs. Yeah, that’s McKinsey.

We could go on and on. They have a long and sordid record as ‘capitalism’s willing executioners,’ to quote a Current Affairs article by an insider. Now, they’re coming onto our turf: higher education. So, we take a closer look. What is even is management consulting, and is there anything to the methods?

  • First, in his opening essay, host Gordon Katic reminds listeners of the infamous case of General Motors and the side saddle gas tank defect of the 1970s and 80s. This story takes us to the world of cost-benefit analysis; a cold, hard logic that puts profits above people.
  • Next (@9:43), Kate Jacobson is co-host of the podcast Alberta Advantage, a left-wing podcast in the heart of Canadian conservatism. She warns us that Premier Jason Kenney is using McKinsey as a pretext for his slash-and-burn approach to higher education.
  • Then, (@32:22) Matthew Stewart turned away from a potential career in academic philosophy to enter the world of management consulting. His tell-all book The Management Myth: Debunking the Modern Philosophy of Business takes us through his own time in consulting, and the broader intellectual history of management science—AKA the art of wringing every last ounce of labour from workers.
  • Finally (@55:02), Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa. His work asks the basic, core question “what is education for?” He thinks McKinsey does not know how to measure what really counts about education—because ‘not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’

—————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.

Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn. The lead research assistant on this episode was Franklynn Bartol, with support from our research coordinator David Moscrop.

Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.

This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Professor Spooner provided research consulting on this episode.

This show is produced by Cited Media, which makes other great shows like

Note: Hey all, We’re on break this week as we rest up and prepare for more top-notch programming, so this week’s episode is a rebroadcast of one of our favourites.

You know McKinsey and Co. They worked for a company that was fixing the price of bread in Canada. They helped on Trump’s immigration policies, but their ideas were too extreme even for ICE. More recently, they proposed that Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” their sales of OxyContin by offering $14,810 rebates for ODs. Yeah, that’s McKinsey.

We could go on and on. They have a long and sordid record as ‘capitalism’s willing executioners,’ to quote a Current Affairs article by an insider. Now, they’re coming onto our turf: higher education. So, we take a closer look. What is even is management consulting, and is there anything to the methods?

  • First, in his opening essay, host Gordon Katic reminds listeners of the infamous case of General Motors and the side saddle gas tank defect of the 1970s and 80s. This story takes us to the world of cost-benefit analysis; a cold, hard logic that puts profits above people.
  • Next (@9:43), Kate Jacobson is co-host of the podcast Alberta Advantage, a left-wing podcast in the heart of Canadian conservatism. She warns us that Premier Jason Kenney is using McKinsey as a pretext for his slash-and-burn approach to higher education.
  • Then, (@32:22) Matthew Stewart turned away from a potential career in academic philosophy to enter the world of management consulting. His tell-all book The Management Myth: Debunking the Modern Philosophy of Business takes us through his own time in consulting, and the broader intellectual history of management science—AKA the art of wringing every last ounce of labour from workers.
  • Finally (@55:02), Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa. His work asks the basic, core question “what is education for?” He thinks McKinsey does not know how to measure what really counts about education—because ‘not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’

—————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content.

Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to write us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn. The lead research assistant on this episode was Franklynn Bartol, with support from our research coordinator David Moscrop.

Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.

This episode received support by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina. Professor Spooner provided research consulting on this episode.

This show is produced by Cited Media, which makes other great shows like

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08/05/21 • 78 min

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Darts and Letters - EP30: Summer in the City (ft. Sandra Fairbank & Daniel Aldana Cohen)

In late June, the Pacific Northwest experienced extreme weather by way of a heat dome that settled over the region, driving up temperatures, and setting heat records. In Portland, the temperature reached 112F (44C) while Lytton, B.C. broke Canada’s heat record three days in a row before burning to the ground on the fourth day. More common and extreme heat like this is an effect of climate change. This week, Darts and Letters talks about what that extreme weather means for some of the most marginalized among us — those experiencing homelessness — and digs into what is being done, and not done, to tackle the climate crisis.

  • First (@7:12), Sandra Fairbank is a community advocate, volunteer with Cultivate Initiatives, and a person experiencing homelessness. She runs a shower truck in Portland, Oregon that serves the homeless in her community. She talks about that service, what it means to people, and a day in her life during the heatwave.
  • Then (@25:27), Daniel Aldana Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley where he directs the Socio-Spatial Climate Collective. He discusses the impacts of extreme weather, the social costs of climate change, and why we need a Green New Deal

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————-

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

—————————PRODUCTION UPDATE—————————

Now we are going to take a brief reprieve. Next week we’ve got a re-run. And then until September we’re moving to a lighter one-interview episode format. Still the same good stuff, just, not quite as ambitious from a production standpoint. We’ll be back with full, multi-interview episodes in September.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.

This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat P...

In late June, the Pacific Northwest experienced extreme weather by way of a heat dome that settled over the region, driving up temperatures, and setting heat records. In Portland, the temperature reached 112F (44C) while Lytton, B.C. broke Canada’s heat record three days in a row before burning to the ground on the fourth day. More common and extreme heat like this is an effect of climate change. This week, Darts and Letters talks about what that extreme weather means for some of the most marginalized among us — those experiencing homelessness — and digs into what is being done, and not done, to tackle the climate crisis.

  • First (@7:12), Sandra Fairbank is a community advocate, volunteer with Cultivate Initiatives, and a person experiencing homelessness. She runs a shower truck in Portland, Oregon that serves the homeless in her community. She talks about that service, what it means to people, and a day in her life during the heatwave.
  • Then (@25:27), Daniel Aldana Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley where he directs the Socio-Spatial Climate Collective. He discusses the impacts of extreme weather, the social costs of climate change, and why we need a Green New Deal

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————-

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

—————————PRODUCTION UPDATE—————————

Now we are going to take a brief reprieve. Next week we’ve got a re-run. And then until September we’re moving to a lighter one-interview episode format. Still the same good stuff, just, not quite as ambitious from a production standpoint. We’ll be back with full, multi-interview episodes in September.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.

This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat P...

play

07/23/21 • 50 min

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Darts and Letters - EP35: The Bland Corporation (ft. Daniel Bessner)

There’s a foreign policy intellectual blob that serves as the architects for empire. They’re at academic departments, quasi-academic think tanks, and places like the RAND Corporation–famously lampooned in Dr. Strangelove as the BLAND Corporation. These boring calculator men are part of why we have forever war. These people are part of a long tradition that sees citizens as a problem to be managed.

The national security state is particularly contemptuous of the people it ostensibly serves. Left, right, doesn’t matter. The technocrats rule, making life and death decisions for home and abroad. And if you don’t like it? Too bad. No one asked you anyway.

On this episode, host Gordon Katic speaks with Daniel Bessner, Associate Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Relations at the University of Washington, author of Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual, and co-host of the podcast American Prestige. Daniel explains how the ideas and ideology of the technocratic national security state came to be, who carries them, and how the defense-intellectual complex keeps it standing from the media to quasi-academic think tanks to academic departments and beyond.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel featuring extended interviews with our guests. More to come! So subscribe today.

If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our assistant producer is Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio

There’s a foreign policy intellectual blob that serves as the architects for empire. They’re at academic departments, quasi-academic think tanks, and places like the RAND Corporation–famously lampooned in Dr. Strangelove as the BLAND Corporation. These boring calculator men are part of why we have forever war. These people are part of a long tradition that sees citizens as a problem to be managed.

The national security state is particularly contemptuous of the people it ostensibly serves. Left, right, doesn’t matter. The technocrats rule, making life and death decisions for home and abroad. And if you don’t like it? Too bad. No one asked you anyway.

On this episode, host Gordon Katic speaks with Daniel Bessner, Associate Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Relations at the University of Washington, author of Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual, and co-host of the podcast American Prestige. Daniel explains how the ideas and ideology of the technocratic national security state came to be, who carries them, and how the defense-intellectual complex keeps it standing from the media to quasi-academic think tanks to academic departments and beyond.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, we have a new YouTube channel featuring extended interviews with our guests. More to come! So subscribe today.

If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our assistant producer is Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio

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10/01/21 • 42 min

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Darts and Letters - The Rationality Wars #1: The (ir)Rational Mob

Every protest movement has been dismissed as a mere ‘mindless mob,’ caught in a psychological frenzy. Where did this idea come from, and why does it last?

As we mentioned last week, we are returning as Cited Podcast with a new season called the Rationality Wars. It tells stories about the political and intellectual battles to define rationality and irrational. You will find the first few episodes of our new season here, but not the entire season. For the rest of the series, visit citedpodcast.com. You will be able find this on all the relevant podcatchers (Apple, Spotify, etc.). If you use something else or you cannot find our feed, you can manually add our RSS feed.

Every protest movement has been dismissed as a mere ‘mindless mob,’ caught in a psychological frenzy. Where did this idea come from, and why does it last?

As we mentioned last week, we are returning as Cited Podcast with a new season called the Rationality Wars. It tells stories about the political and intellectual battles to define rationality and irrational. You will find the first few episodes of our new season here, but not the entire season. For the rest of the series, visit citedpodcast.com. You will be able find this on all the relevant podcatchers (Apple, Spotify, etc.). If you use something else or you cannot find our feed, you can manually add our RSS feed.

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06/24/24 • 53 min

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Darts and Letters - Summer Bonus EP: Decolonizing Marxism (w/Boaventura de Sousa Santos)

Writing in 19th century Europe, Karl Marx was reflecting a time and place: Europe in the wake of the closing years of the Industrial Revolution. Marx himself, later in life, recognized that his crowning work, Das Kapital, had a limited scope, fitted for Europe but not for the rest of the world. In the 21st century, Marxism must speak to the experiences and context of contemporary colonialism and Indigenous politics if it is to remain current, internationalist, and anti-colonial. On this summer bonus episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Boaventura de Sousa Santos, a global Marxist thinker, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He argues for a contemporary, decolonial Marxism that operates on a deeper conception of power and oppression that includes analyses of colonialism, gender, and race across borders.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

This week, Darts and Letters is co-hosted by Jay Cockburn, who is also our lead producer. The producer for this episode is Ren Bangert. Our editor, usual host, and co-host for this episode is Gordon Katic. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes.

Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.

This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Writing in 19th century Europe, Karl Marx was reflecting a time and place: Europe in the wake of the closing years of the Industrial Revolution. Marx himself, later in life, recognized that his crowning work, Das Kapital, had a limited scope, fitted for Europe but not for the rest of the world. In the 21st century, Marxism must speak to the experiences and context of contemporary colonialism and Indigenous politics if it is to remain current, internationalist, and anti-colonial. On this summer bonus episode of Darts and Letters, we speak with Boaventura de Sousa Santos, a global Marxist thinker, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He argues for a contemporary, decolonial Marxism that operates on a deeper conception of power and oppression that includes analyses of colonialism, gender, and race across borders.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca or tweet Gordon directly. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW——————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

This week, Darts and Letters is co-hosted by Jay Cockburn, who is also our lead producer. The producer for this episode is Ren Bangert. Our editor, usual host, and co-host for this episode is Gordon Katic. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop wrote the show notes.

Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.

This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, which provided us a research grant to look at the concept of “public intellectualism.” Professor Allen Sens at the University of British Columbia is the lead academic advisor. This is also part of a wider project looking at neoliberal educational reforms, led by Professor Marc Spooner at the University of Regina.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

play

09/03/21 • 43 min

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Darts and Letters - EP59: January 6th and the Myth of the Mob (ft. James Jasper and Joy Rohde)

The January 6th hearings continued this week, so we took it as an opportunity to revisit how academics tried to explain the events. Many likened it to a kind of psycho-social pathology; terms like deindividuation, psychosis, groupthink, and mob mentality were thrown around liberally. This is basically crowd theory, a line of thought developed in the 19th century by French physician Gustave Le Bon.

However, Le Bon was a reactionary bigot. He feared the masses, derided popular intelligence, and condemned democratic rule. Plus, his ideas are largely discredited. Left wing scholars do not like Le Bon–at least not when it comes to understanding leftwing movements. Yet, when it comes to the right, something changes. Is it OK to apply reactionary ideas to reactionary movements, out of political expediency? We think no, because these ideas will end up inevitably being applied to movements for social justice. In fact, they long have been.

On this episode, we explore why academic always fear the mass, whatever the politics. First, social movement theorist James Jasper takes us on an intellectual journey — throughout the western philosophical canon, to Le Bon and beyond — revealing how publics have long been seen as irrational and emotional. Next, historian Joy Rohde takes us into the academic-military-industrial complex. The US military has played a major role funding these kinds of ideas, because they serve the interests of empire, white supremacy, and elite control.

——————FURTHER READING, LISTENING, & WATCHING————————-

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. The lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our assistant producer is Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and we have marketing and video editing from Ian Sowden.

This is a production of Cited Media. This episode received support f...

The January 6th hearings continued this week, so we took it as an opportunity to revisit how academics tried to explain the events. Many likened it to a kind of psycho-social pathology; terms like deindividuation, psychosis, groupthink, and mob mentality were thrown around liberally. This is basically crowd theory, a line of thought developed in the 19th century by French physician Gustave Le Bon.

However, Le Bon was a reactionary bigot. He feared the masses, derided popular intelligence, and condemned democratic rule. Plus, his ideas are largely discredited. Left wing scholars do not like Le Bon–at least not when it comes to understanding leftwing movements. Yet, when it comes to the right, something changes. Is it OK to apply reactionary ideas to reactionary movements, out of political expediency? We think no, because these ideas will end up inevitably being applied to movements for social justice. In fact, they long have been.

On this episode, we explore why academic always fear the mass, whatever the politics. First, social movement theorist James Jasper takes us on an intellectual journey — throughout the western philosophical canon, to Le Bon and beyond — revealing how publics have long been seen as irrational and emotional. Next, historian Joy Rohde takes us into the academic-military-industrial complex. The US military has played a major role funding these kinds of ideas, because they serve the interests of empire, white supremacy, and elite control.

——————FURTHER READING, LISTENING, & WATCHING————————-

——————-SUPPORT THE SHOW————————-

We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patreon subscribers usually get the episode a day early, and sometimes will also receive bonus content. Don’t have the money to chip in this week? Not to fear, you can help in other ways. For one: subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. It helps other people find our work.

—————————-CONTACT US————————-

To stay up to date, follow us on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’d like to write to us, email darts@citedmedia.ca.

—————————-CREDITS—————————-

Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. The lead producer is Jay Cockburn, and our assistant producer is Ren Bangert. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and we have marketing and video editing from Ian Sowden.

This is a production of Cited Media. This episode received support f...

play

06/19/22 • 68 min

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FAQ

How many episodes does Darts and Letters have?

Darts and Letters currently has 107 episodes available.

What topics does Darts and Letters cover?

The podcast is about News, News Commentary, Podcasts and Education.

What is the most popular episode on Darts and Letters?

The episode title 'EP71: MAID in Canada (ft. Nipa Chauhan, Trudo Lemmens & Dr. Derryk Smith)' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Darts and Letters?

The average episode length on Darts and Letters is 62 minutes.

How often are episodes of Darts and Letters released?

Episodes of Darts and Letters are typically released every 7 days, 3 hours.

When was the first episode of Darts and Letters?

The first episode of Darts and Letters was released on Nov 17, 2020.

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