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This week Trey is joined by Ken. In a surprise ending Trey and Ken deeply disagree! Before that the pair look at a potential hidden sentence in the inditement of Roger Stone. Then they turn to the Covington Catholic so-called smirk, focusing more on the complexities of social networking combined with constant recording making non-news events seemingly news worthy. Next Trey and Ken turn their attention to Giuliani and ask if there might not be a coherent strategy to his seemingly unending number of statement walk backs. Finally the pair end on a heavy bit of discord as the two disagree over not only the blame of the shutdown, but the normative and ethical requirements of budgets for an exciting show close!
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I listened to your podcast for the first time today and you sounded like intelligent, reasonable men, which is why I found your comments on the Covington Catholic story to be particularly disappointing. It’s true that further context revealed that the CC boys weren’t the only ones who behaved badly that day, but that in no way diminishes how reprehensible their actions were. We may all have our share of youthful indiscretions in our past, but mocking and ridiculing people from different racial or cultural groups wasn’t among mine, and I’m guessing it wasn’t among yours, either. Teenage boys who treat people that badly usually grow up to be men who treat people that badly. As an African-American man, I can tell you that people of color face that kind of smirking, racially superior attitude more often than you probably imagine, and what makes it worse is the way so many white people find a way to minimize it or rationalize it, or as you both did, even chuckle at the insignificance of it. That story was newsworthy because it was an example of the kind of racist attitudes that are displayed somewhere in this country every day. There was a time when white people minimized these kinds of incidents because there were no cameras there to record them. Now, even when presented with video proof, many people STILL find a way to minimize them. I think you both were guilty of that on your podcast, and I urge you to think more deeply about the way you framed the Covington Catholic story and the message you sent. Thank you.
Phil Taylor
Thanks for taking the time to comment. While I wasn’t on the show this week, my take is that while this can be seen as ‘teenage boys being teenage boys’, I think it’s important to understand it in the larger context of white male privilege. It’s easy for me, as a white male, to forget – or never appreciate in the first place – all of the advantages I take for granted, and from my privileged position it can sometimes be hard to appreciate how things I would shrug off as ‘no big deal’ are absolutely a big deal for people who, unlike me, have experienced systemic, ongoing discrimination. Thanks for bringing in your perspective on this. – Mike