September 24, 2018
THE LIST
There is never a bad time to remember the supreme awesomeness that was Steve Nash on a basketball court. With a new NBA season just around the corner (media day starts today with training camp and the preseason following quickly thereafter), bask in the glory of a sports icon dishing on basketball and his forays into the world of pro soccer.
Hi-Phi Nation host Barry Lam guest stars in this episode breaking down some seemingly inalienable truths tied to gender in the military. We accept that men are dominant physically, as a whole, but this does not acknowledge the end of spectrums overlapping. Is the strongest woman really weaker than the weakest man? Newsflash: the patriarchy damages men, too.
The first season of Serial took on the voice of the wrongly accused (and launched a thousand think-pieces that anoint it is heralding the dawn of modern podcasting). The second season made militaristic power structures the object of its desire. Now, in perhaps the most deceptively ambitiously angle yet, season three is back to tackle the American justice system via a courthouse in Cleveland. And two episodes in, it’s pretty good.
HONORABLE MENTION
SOMETHING NEW
Podcasts dealing with cults are having a bit of a moment in 2018. (See, amongst others, Dear Franklin Jones, Heaven’s Gate, You Must Remember Mansion, this episode of Love and Radio.) This isn’t surprising, given the tantalizing voyeurism such source material promises and the intimacy that can be captured with podcasting. But a lot of these shows focus on some shocking story ripped from historical headlines. Wouldn’t it be better to try and understand these communes while charismatic leaders are still indoctrinating followers? Bundyville, a collaboration between Longreads and Oregon Public Broadcasting, might do just that in their 7-parter about the controversial family taking on the federal government.
The fringe tendencies of the Bundys make them an easy target for comic treatment (look no further than The Dollop), and it’s tempting to rest contentedly in this view. Bundyville drives past the easy caricatures, initially giving a bit too much legitimacy to the embattled clan. Episode 1 details the list of casualties that have followed clashes between clandestine sects and government agencies, hinting that interference produced violence that might not otherwise have transpired. Episode 4 features an interview with Cliven Bundy that gives wider attention to the man's personal views than some journalistic outlets might be comfortable airing. The threat that private citizens pose to bureaucratic authority almost starts to feel justifiable. By the time episode 6 rolls around, shards of subversive truth telling fades as the real impacts of anti-authority hardliners are brought fatally into focus.
As we’ve seen in post-2016-election America, the plight of the rural working class is something worth examining. There is a little bit of that back-against-the-wall mentality at play here, as the Bundys are in some sense hard working people struggle to maintain a lifestyle at odds with globalization and the turning tides of the modern world. In this context the struggle is not about the lack of jobs but of a seemingly ambivalent mystic seizing the means of production - a more epic villain, in other words. Still, this variety of despair is more a product of intentional self-segregation than it is about the aftermath of a merciless economy. Those who rage against government overreach should perhaps reexamine the reality of 99% of the rest of the country. So many people manage to peacefully coexist with minor gripes about the government, implicitly honoring the compromise inherent to being a citizen.
Ultimately Bundyville does a good job of portraying a family in the national spotlight as an outlier, not as a projection of what it means to be an average American, all while sustaining a portrait of a distinctly nationalistic self-determination. Do I understand the Bundy family after listening to this series? Not totally. But I do see how they could perceive themselves as persecuted, which I suppose means I have more empathy for them and their disciples than I previously thought possible. There’s an unquestionable volatility packaged up with the worldview they embody, and a propensity to incite violence (intentionally or not!) that I cannot possibly endorse. Still, the fact that I could have my preconceived notions upended even a little bit is a testament to perhaps the best gift an investigative podcast can offer: conveying the truth of a lived experience while not compromising an objective view of the facts of the world as it exists. In a podcast detailing what some would describe as a cult, this is all the more impressive.
The fringe tendencies of the Bundys make them an easy target for comic treatment (look no further than The Dollop), and it’s tempting to rest contentedly in this view. Bundyville drives past the easy caricatures, initially giving a bit too much legitimacy to the embattled clan. Episode 1 details the list of casualties that have followed clashes between clandestine sects and government agencies, hinting that interference produced violence that might not otherwise have transpired. Episode 4 features an interview with Cliven Bundy that gives wider attention to the man's personal views than some journalistic outlets might be comfortable airing. The threat that private citizens pose to bureaucratic authority almost starts to feel justifiable. By the time episode 6 rolls around, shards of subversive truth telling fades as the real impacts of anti-authority hardliners are brought fatally into focus.
As we’ve seen in post-2016-election America, the plight of the rural working class is something worth examining. There is a little bit of that back-against-the-wall mentality at play here, as the Bundys are in some sense hard working people struggle to maintain a lifestyle at odds with globalization and the turning tides of the modern world. In this context the struggle is not about the lack of jobs but of a seemingly ambivalent mystic seizing the means of production - a more epic villain, in other words. Still, this variety of despair is more a product of intentional self-segregation than it is about the aftermath of a merciless economy. Those who rage against government overreach should perhaps reexamine the reality of 99% of the rest of the country. So many people manage to peacefully coexist with minor gripes about the government, implicitly honoring the compromise inherent to being a citizen.
Ultimately Bundyville does a good job of portraying a family in the national spotlight as an outlier, not as a projection of what it means to be an average American, all while sustaining a portrait of a distinctly nationalistic self-determination. Do I understand the Bundy family after listening to this series? Not totally. But I do see how they could perceive themselves as persecuted, which I suppose means I have more empathy for them and their disciples than I previously thought possible. There’s an unquestionable volatility packaged up with the worldview they embody, and a propensity to incite violence (intentionally or not!) that I cannot possibly endorse. Still, the fact that I could have my preconceived notions upended even a little bit is a testament to perhaps the best gift an investigative podcast can offer: conveying the truth of a lived experience while not compromising an objective view of the facts of the world as it exists. In a podcast detailing what some would describe as a cult, this is all the more impressive.
From: Oregon Public Broadcasting/Longreads
Recommended for: Reasonable people looking for a little bit of understanding amidst the titillation of tribalistic warfare.
Drop Schedule: Seasonal:One-off (all episodes available now).
Average episode length: 30 minutes
Rating: Make It Work
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