24 Comments
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Veritas Praevalebit's avatar

Will this be available after the fact? I came in an hour late and can't back-track to watch from the beginning.

958189's avatar

The topic ( which may have been the “ non sequitur” character of public news or information) is interesting but the discussion/ interview didn’t produce any coherent narrative , or not one I could follow or describe. Journalists talking about being journalists isn’t why Viewers subscribe. But that’s how the exchange sounded. Turned off at 35 minutes to do plumbing repairs.

steven t koenig's avatar

Matt is running for president

Heather L Reynolds's avatar

I appreciate Matt’s dedication to authentic journalism over shallow, partisan ‘journalactivism.' This Szeps-Taibbi conversation offered much thoughtful analysis about the media and American culture and democracy. Given the context (and partly new audience), it made sense to me that some old ground (for those familiar with Matt’s work) was covered. Nonetheless, the conversation was overall interesting, informative, and compelling all the way through. There were a few brief instances where the conversation didn’t quite satisfy. I wonder if others agree and would appreciate knowing Matt’s thoughts on these points in future. 1) Blithe dismissal of a possible Israel connection to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Rather than out of hand dismissal of alternative views about this case (or any so-called ‘conspiracy theory’), authentic journalism and good faith conversation require spelling out key problems with alternative views / why the government case is rock solid. 2) Conflating criticism of Israel government policy with anti-semitism. Matt alluded to the difference between the two, but the distinction was not emphasized enough, IMO. 3) In the discussion of free speech towards the end, Josh mentioned multiculturalism in the context of why constraints might need to be put on free speech. This could have led to important discussion about multiculturalism (wherein cultural differences are prioritized) vs. cultural pluralism (wherein shared culture and national identity are prioritized, even while understood to be forged from multi-ethnicity). A 1994 paper by Jane Barnes Mack entitled ‘Cultural pluralism and multiculturalism: E pluribus unum or Ex uno plura?’ speaks to this dichotomy.

Carlos Marighella's avatar

Not bad. What you guys talked about didn't really cover any new ground, but hopefully that will change soon.

Jane's avatar

Great conversation. Thanks.

Dickensian's avatar

Love you Matt, but I don't need another podcast.

Ellen Evans's avatar

I just need America This Week back. That's the only podcast I've ever liked.

Bob Currie's avatar

Will Micheal Tracey be a surprise guest?

Carlos Marighella's avatar

I would recommend stopping by Manitoba's, but that place shut down years ago due to its namesake being a bit of an asshole.

You could also stop by the Bowery Palace, which is just a few doors down from where CBGB used to be.

WHYdidntEYEtakeTHEbluePILL's avatar

good conversation.

matt masterfully answered the absurd question from josh about russiagate's origin.

i will paraphrase as: the Australian ambassador (alexander downer also the word josh was searching for is 'high commissioner') to the usa met with a member of the trump campaign (g papadopolis) who said he (paopdopolis) met with russians around influencing the usa presidential election so downer, feeling duty bound, reported it to the fbi. what was the fbi to do, they had to do something! so they used the most invasive tools and lows available to spy on trump and his entire campaign and it is justified.

maybe josh took too many covid shots...

Ken Del Signore's avatar

If you have more podcasts with Tracey, you could have an AI assistant running in the chat, and when some detail, like which war Bastogne was in, gets stumbled, the AI bot can do an errata and everyone would see it in real time and be better off from that instant onward.

Sweatpants's avatar

Big fan of you and Josh. Many, many years ago he would sub in for Pete Dominick’s SiriusXM’s radio show, and I believe he interviewed you then as well.

Dan's avatar

Don’t see a link on Racket?

Michelle Robbins's avatar

Click on the Racket News logo at top left of your window and it will take you there.

Carlos Marighella's avatar

Thanks for the advice.

ann & stanley's avatar

cannot figure out how to watch without subscribing to Szeps