Cited is no more. We had a great run — over 100 episodes of one sort or another, major awards, and stories we are really proud of — but it's time to move on. Still, Cited's legacy lives on through the new projects our team makes, including Crackdown and Darts and Letters. Today, we celebrate Cited and play you a recent episode of Darts & Letters called Derailed: The Crisis in Forensic Expertise. Subscribe today. Continue reading Goodbye from Cited and Hello from Darts & Letters →
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/citedmedia.ca/citedpodcast/season01/CPGoodbyeandDerailed.mp3
December 24, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
***This concludes our run of playing Darts and Letters on Cited. You will see the occasional episode cross-posted, but not each and every week. So now, if you've been listening to Darts and Letters here, it ends! You've got to subscribe to the new feed, otherwise you will miss out.***
What's the matter with Catholics? They are strangely over-represented in the conservative intellectual ranks. From William F. Buckley to Steve Bannon and many others, Catholics have long been the brains of the modern American right. On this holiday episode, we look at the Catholic intelligentsia, and the battle between left and right Catholic voices.
First, in host Gordon Katic's opening essay, he discusses his Catholic upbringing. The young atheistic Gordon waged a war of attrition against his parents, and eventually won. Now, he looks at his Catholic upbringing and the broader Catholic intelligentsia with a certain amount of pride, and a certain amount of shame.
Next (@), Kaya Oakes was raised Catholic, left the church, and then returned when she found Catholic leftists who did actually share her values. Today, Kaya is a writer, teacher, and essayist closely watching the contemporary battle for the soul of the church; battle between a well-funded Catholic right; and humble grassroots Catholic left.
Then (@), Patrick Allitt is an historian of the modern American conservative movement. He too has noticed Catholics dominate the intellectual ranks, and his first book was on this very subject. He discusses William F. Buckley and the anti-Communist conservative Catholics, and explains why Catholicism and conservatism has become a match made in heaven.
Finally, (@) Patrick O'Neill is a writer, journalist, and Catholic peace activist. On April 4th, 2018, he and 6 other Catholic activists broke into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia to symbolically disarm the nuclear weapons there. He faces 14 months in prison, which will begin in January 2021. It wouldn't be the first time. Patrick tells us the story of his midnight sleuthing, of being in prison, and the broader movements of left-wing Catholic peace activism.
——————-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 and Facebook. If you'd like to write us, email dartsandletterspod@gmail.com or tweet Gordon directly.
This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Alex de Boer and Gordon Katic. The lead research assistant on this episode was Isabelle Lemelin, with consulting and support from David Moscrop and Andre Gagne.
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. We are also supported by a wider project looking at the rise of far political ideologies – that project is run by Professors Andre Gagne., Ronald Beiner, and A. James McAdams.
This show is produced by Cited Media, which makes other great shows like Cited Podcast and Crackdown.
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.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/EP6_Cited_Version_Final.mp3
***We're continuing to play the first few episodes of our new show, Darts and Letters. We'll run this to the holidays. If you like Cited, you'll like this. So subscribe today.***
I can point you to mountains of research about prisons. I can also recommend at least a dozen Netflix documentaries, and highlight a handful of radical activists and scholars. There's a lot of intellectual work done about prison. But what about intellectual work done in prison?
First, in the opening essay, host Gordon Katic discusses the long history of radical intellectual though produced in prisons. From Thoreau to Gramsci, MLK, Oscar Wilde, Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, and even Wittgenstein.
Next, Chandra Bozelko served 6 years, three months, and 11 days in a women's prison in Connecticut. While inside, she started an award-winning newspaper column. She tells us what writing did for her, and what everyday prison intellectualism really looks like.
Then, Justin Piche edits one of the most amazing academic journals you will ever come across. It's called the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons. It has been around for over thirty years. In each and every edition, you will see brilliant scholarly work—it just so happens that this work is written by prisoners themselves
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.
Darts and Letters' lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Research and support from David Moscrop and Addye Susnick. 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.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/DAL_E5_Build_V1a_CitedFeed.mp3
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 their 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 over people.
Next, (@8:20) 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, (@31:07) 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 (@53:44), 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.'
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.
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.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/DAL_E4_Cited_Final.mp3
December 4, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
***We're continuing to play the first few episodes of our new show, Darts and Letters. If you like Cited, you'll like this. So subscribe today.***
You've seen hilarious videos of the evangelicals for Trump. You might be inclined to ignore them, mock their excesses, or dismiss their threat. But the evangelical right is a force to be reckoned with, even with Trump on his way out. So, who are these evangelicals? What do they believe?
For years, evangelicals have been plotting a political course, a far-right "theology" that includes Christian nationalism and spiritual warfare. It's paying off. And we need to understand why it works, and for whom. This is the first in a series of episodes we'll be releasing that examine the political philosophies of radical right-wing movements.
First (@8:16), Andre Gagne is a former evangelical, once "saved," who turned away from the light of the Church to become a professor. He talks about what he found in the church, the power of "narrative theology," why he left the church, and why so much of the evangelical experience is powerful – and disconcerting.
Then (@37:24), Chrissy Stroop is an author, activist, and former Christian who has gone from Jesusland to Twitterland. She shares her journey with Gordon, including her creation of #emptythepews, a hashtag that marks the stories of people leaving the church. She warns of the power of fundamentalist enclaves, powerful ecosystems that exist on their own but also reach into the world to draw entrants into them.
Finally (@1:03:21), Bradley Onishi is a pastor turned professor turned podcaster who Ben Shapiro calls "that religion professor." He takes on the so-called intellectuals of the far right through his academic research and the podcast he co-hosts with Dan Miller, Straight White American Jesus. Onishi doing his part to keep the discourse honest, a job that is as essential as it is Sisyphean.
This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn and Gordon Katic. The lead research assistant on this episode was Isabelle Lemelin, with support from David Moscrop, and consulting from Andre Gagne.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/DAL_E3_Final_Cited_Feed.mp3
Darts and Letters: Trump, interrupted
November 25, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
***We're continuing to play the first few episodes of our new show, Darts and Letters. If you like Cited, you'll like this. So subscribe today. We're now up on all the places.***
We can breathe a sigh of relief with Biden's victory, but it ain't time to check out and go to brunch. Because Trumpism is not going anywhere. In a razor-thin election, Trump expanded his base—despite his bungling of COVID-19. In light of that, we have to accept this plain fact: Trump is more popular than we thought, and to more people. And again, the DNC, the pollsters, and elite media establishment clearly missed the mark. So, what is Trumpism actually, and how can we defeat it?
First, in host Gordon Katic's opening essay, he sort of defends Trump. The media's attacks on him were all wrong, because they often missed the true dangers of Trump. Now, Trumpism is only interrupted, and little has been done to blunt its underlining appeal.
Next (@9:08), Mark Blyth is the plain-talking political economist for everyone. He has the superpower of predicting terrible things, including: the 2016 election, Brexit, and he even said of this election "Trump has a lot left in the tank." Mark tells us that Trumpism is a dangerous tribal anger; but there's another more productive side of anger, righteous anger. We find ways out of Trumpism in his new book, Angrynomics, co-written with Eric Lonergan.
Then (@39:13), Professor Andrea Benjamin gives us the view from local politics; she takes us from city council to the DNC, asking: how do minority voters mobilize on the ground, and what do they actually want? She tells us, the Democratic establishment better start asking those very same questions.
Finally (@55:14), Luke Savage is one of the most exciting voices in the Jacobin-left, and he breaks down the election results and what they mean for the future of the party. We also talk about the emerging left intellectual commentariat, and why it is so exciting right now.
This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn, Polly Leger, and Gordon Katic. Research and support from David Moscrop and Addye Susnick. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, and our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/DAL_E2_Build_V2_A_CitedFeed.mp3
Introducing: Darts and Letters
Introducing Darts and Letters, a show about intellectuals and the work that they do. But it's not just for the Ivy crowd, it's for everyone. Even people who hack darts, and people who wouldn't be caught dead with a New Yorker tote bag.
If you like Cited, you'll like this. We'll play the first few on the Cited feed. But, subscribe today.
In this first episode, we look at populism and anti-populism. It's one of the most intense divides in contemporary politics. You can basically describe it like this: do we like people, or do we hate them? This crosses the ideological divide– there's an emerging bi-partisan consensus that the people just suck. They are irredeemably stupid, racist, conspiratorial, reactionaries who can't be saved. But we disagree.
First, host Gordon Katic asks: what is an intellectual? Hard to say, but to quote the Supreme Court justice who tried to define pornography, "I know it when I see it."
Next (@10:48), we meet Daniel—the homeless bookseller of Bloor St, who might just be one of the most well-read people you've ever met.
Then (@21:26), journalist and historian Thomas Frank rights the distorted historical record and redefines "populism." We discuss his most recent book "The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism."
Finally (@47:32), critical educational scholar and dissident Henry Giroux celebrates academics who are true 'public intellectuals,' and he attacks the neoliberal educational reforms that have made that kind of work so difficult.
We need your support. If you like what you hear, chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters.
This week, Darts and Letters was produced by Jay Cockburn and Gordon Katic. Research and support from Addye Susnick.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Darts_and_Letters_EP1_Final_WithCitedIntro.mp3
#9: America's Chernobyl (2 of 2)
August 8, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
Hanford is the most-polluted place in America. On our last episode, you heard about the nuclear plant's largely-forgotten history–how it poisoned the people living downwind. On our season finale: a nuclear safety auditor tries to get it shut down, the downwinders struggle for justice, and we take you into the plant itself. The story of Hanford reveals that expertise is always a political battle, and never as straightforward as simply collecting facts–whether it's executives putting profit over a safety auditor's well-documented warnings, a community-based research pitted against government-backed studies, or turning a world-changing nuclear reactor into a dull scientific lecture.
———-MORE———-
You can also find related articles on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including articles by our research assistant, Nicole Yakashiro, including: a detailed Hanford timeline, as well as the colonial history of the Hanford site. Plus, a transcript.
———-PROGRAMMING NOTE———-
Sadly, this is the last episode of our season! We'll be back in Spring 2021, but we'll be launching a new show in the meantime. You'll find the first few episodes in this feed, so stay subscribed. The best way to stay abreast of our plans for our new season is to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You'll hear about it there first. Plus, while you're waiting, you might want to check out some of the other stuff that our team makes. Like Crackdown, a podcast about the drug war, covered by drug users as war correspondents.
———-FEEDBACK———
How did you like the season? Which was your favourite episode, which was your least favourite episode? What should we do next? Let us know! Email your feedback to info@citedmedia.ca–we might just read it on the show.
———-CREDITS———
This episode was produced Gordon Katic and Polly Leger. With editing support from Acey Rowe. Nicole Yakashiro was our research assistant, and Aurora Tejeida was our fact-checker.
We'd like to thank historian Sarah Fox author of "Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West," as well as Kate Brown, author of "Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters." Check those out, and also check out Michael D'Antonio's "Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America's Nuclear Arsenal." These books were indispensable to us, and we highly recommend them.
If you want to learn more about the Downwinder lawsuits against Hanford, we recommend: The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight For Atomic Justice. That's from Trisha T. Pritikin, with a forward from Karen Dorn Steele
Thanks to the many others we talked to along the way– including historians Linda M. Richards and Robert Franklin. As well as, Trisha Pritikin, Tom Carpenter, John Fox, and Maynard Plahuta. Thanks also to Karen Richards who helped record our interview with Patricia Hoover.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. It's part of a larger project on the politics of historical commemoration. Professor Eagle Glassheim at the University of British Columbia is the academic lead on that project.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Hanford_2_Final_Draft_mixdown.mp3
July 30, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
Richland, Washington is a company town that sprang up almost overnight in the desert of South Eastern Washington. Its employer is the federal government, and its product is plutonium. The Hanford nuclear site was one of the Manhattan Project sites, and it made the plutonium for the bomb that devastated Nagasaki. Here, the official history is one of scientific achievement, comfortable houses, and good-paying jobs. But it doesn't include the story of what happened after the bomb was dropped — neither in Japan, nor right there in Washington State. On part one of our two-part season finale, we tell the largely-forgotten story of the most toxic place in America.
Yes, Cited has an album. Our brilliant composer Mike Barber put it together, and you can find it on his website and on Bandcamp. Check it out.
Plus, we have branded mugs. And we're doing a very simple giveaway. Write a review of Cited on Stitcher or Apple Podcasts, and then email me us a photo to info@citedmedia.ca. We'll randomly pick three of the people who email, and send you a free mug.
———-FOLLOW CITED———
To keep up with Cited, Secondary Symptoms, and our upcoming show: follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Tweet at us, or email your feedback to info@citedmedia.ca–we might just read it on the show.
We'd like to thank historians Sarah Fox, author of "Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West," as well as Kate Brown, author of "Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters." Check those out, and also check out Michael D'Antonio's "Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America's Nuclear Arsenal." These books were indispensable to us. You can find links to those and others things at citedpodcast.com. But don't read anything until you hear next week's episode, because you might read some spoilers.
Thanks to the many others we talked to along the way– including historians Linda M. Richards and Robert Franklin. As well as, Pat Hoover, Trisha Pritikin, Tom Carpenter, John Fox, and Maynard Plahuta.
Secondary Symptoms #8: "Return to Normalcy"
The phrase "return to normalcy" has been thrown around a lot lately. It's actually a phrase that was popularized in 1920, in the wake of the WW1 and the Spanish Flu. But, as with the Spanish Flu, "returning to normalcy" means forgetting the conditions that brought us COVID-19, and perhaps even forgetting COVID-19 itself. On this last episode of Secondary Symptoms, we focus on the politics of pandemic memory. We're still in the thick of it, but many already seem like they want us to forget; yet, we will never forget.
Gordon Katic talks to Andrew Stoeten (11:00), baseball writer at the Athletic and co-host of the Birds all Day podcast, about baseball's dubious return plans. MLB's commissioner claims the game will help us "return to normalcy," but — with piped-in crowd noise and cardboard cut-out fans — there is nothing normal about these games. Next, historian Nancy Bristow (23:07) talks about her book, American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influence Epidemic. She explains why officials wanted the public to forget the epidemic, even while it was still happening. However, Nancy also argues that regular people simply couldn't forget. In that spirit, we ask a number of folks one simple question: what will you remember about COVID-19? Finally, even though there are no memorials to the Spanish Flu, it is memorialized in one place: the blues. To close out the show, Mike Rugel (56:33) from the podcast Uncensored History of the Blues, plays us a few classic songs of pandemics and disease.
UPDATE: Since speaking with Andrew Stoeten, MLB's Miami Marlins have suffered a coronavirus outbreak. A number of games have been postponed, and many are wondering if the season may already be in jeopardy—less than one week after beginning.
To read more about Harding's "return to normalcy," check out the article by historian William Deverell in the Smithsonian Magazine.
Also, check out our Spotify Playlist to hear the songs in full. They were: Jesus is Coming Soon, by Blind Willie Johnson; Memphis Flu, by Elder Curry; the 1919 Influenza Blues, by Essie Jenkins; Dyin' Flu, by Albert Collins; and Don't Let the Corona Get on Ya, by Deacon Otis Wicknine.
———-PROGRAMING NOTE———-
This is the last episode of Secondary Symptoms. Don't fear, though; we'll be bringing it back as a new, standalone show. The new show will be here in a month or two, and you'll see the first few episodes in this feed.
This episode was produced by Jay Cockburn and Gordon Katic.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This is part of wider project looking at trends in the politics of historical commemoration. Professor Eagle Glassheim at the University of British Columbia is the academic lead on that project.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/SS8_Return_to_Normalcy.mp3
The Heroin Clinic (Rebroadcast)
At Crosstown Clinic, doctors are turning addiction treatment on its head: they're prescribing heroin-users the very drug they're addicted to. This is the story of one clinic's quest to remove the harms of addiction, without removing the addiction itself.
This is one of the best episodes in our archive. It was broadcast March 9th, 2017, and was honoured with a 2017 Jack Webster Foundation award for excellence in feature reporting in radio. The Jack Webster Awards are BC's most prestigious journalism awards.
Our next original documentary will be out next week.
The Heroin Clinic was made in partnership with the Vancouver newspaper The Georgia Straight and the podcast Life of the Law. Check out the companion piece we produced with Travis here.
If you want to hear more stories about the drug war, check out our other podcast Crackdown. Recently, Crackdown produced an episode commemorating longtime Vancouver drug user activist, Dave Murrary. Dave is pretty much the only reason this heroin clinic ever took off, and his story is chronicled in more detail on Crackdown.
To keep up with Cited, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Tweet at us, or email your feedback to info@citedmedia.ca–we might just read it on the show.
This radio documentary was produced by Gordon Katic, Sam Fenn, Alex Kim, and Travis Lupick. With editing from Nancy Mulane.
We'd like to thank Life of the Law for their editorial support, Dan Reist for academic mentorship, Josh GD for editorial input, as well as Lauryn Rohde and Jenn Luu for research and marketing help.
Dakota Koop is our graphic designer. Our production manager is David Tobiasz, and executive producers are Gordon Katic and Sam Fenn.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Heroin_Clinic_Rerun_mixdown.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #7: Medical Imaginaries
July 8, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
Our whirlwind tour of the pharmaceutical industry ends this week. We've shown you the dysfunction, now we look for a better way. For some reason, the political vision is so curtailed here. Where is the manifesto for a new system? Even on the Bernie wing of the left, much of the focus is on negotiating better prices and importing pharmaceuticals from other countries. Today, we look at ways we can fundamentally change the industry, and medicine itself.
On this episode of Secondary Symptoms, Gordon Katic interviews economist Dean Baker on his simple idea for how to overhaul the dysfunctional pharmaceutical industry: change the patent system. Then, Jayasree K. Iyer of the Access to Medicine Foundation reminds us that other viral infections — HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria — will surge because of COVID-related disruptions. Finally, we end with Cambridge philosopher Jacob Stegenga. His polemical book Medical Nihilism speaks to the limits of medicine. Perhaps the simple but more overlooked interventions — access to good food, clean air, healthy neighbourhoods — may offer more than the elusive 'magic bullets' of medicine.
This episode is meant to accompany a wider series that we are doing this season about COVID-19 and the pharmaceutical industry. If you are interested in this episode of Secondary Symptoms, you would certainly be interested in a recent Cited documentary: the Tamiflu Trials. You can find it in this feed.
You can also find related articles on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including articles by our research assistant, Franklynn Bartol, on topics like: industry funding of patient advocacy groups, the meaning (and limitations) of 'evidence-based medicine,' and the broader research literature on industry funding and why it's a problem.
This episode was produced by Jay Cockburn and Gordon Katic. Franklynn Bartol was our research assistant.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This is part of wider project looking at trends in pharmaceutical research and policy. Dr. Joel Lexchin at the University of Toronto and Professor Sergio Sismondo at Queens University in Kingston are the research advisors on that project.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/SS7_Medical_Imaginaries.mp3
#7: The Poison Paradigm
On a daily basis, we are exposed to thousands of toxic chemicals. This is no accident; it is by design. They are everywhere – coating our consumer products, in our food packaging, being dumped into our lakes and sewers, and in countless other places. However, for the most part, regulators say that we need not worry.
That assessment is based on a simple 500-year-old adage, "the dose makes the poison." The logic is simple: anything is poisonous, depending on how large a dose. Dosing yourself with a minuscule amount of lead will cause no harm; while drinking an enormous amount of water will kill you. Regulators then try to find safe exposure levels for these chemicals—and they assume a simple, direct relationship (less is fine, more is worse). So, no matter how toxic the chemical, you only need to worry if it passes a certain exposure threshold.
However, what if their approach is all wrong? A revolutionary group of scientists are challenging this 500-year-old paradigm. They argue that some chemicals behave in erratic and unpredictable ways, and they can mess with us even at minuscule doses. If they're right, then the chemicals around us are causing irreparable harm, and everything must change. We sort out this battle of paradigms through the lens of one of their most-hated chemicals, BPA.
You can also find related articles on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including articles by our research assistant, Franklynn Bartol, including: a detailed overview of the two paradigms, the low-down on CLARITY-BPA, and a description of how policies are changing in the EU. Plus, a transcript.
This episode was produced by Irina Zhorov. Editing from Acey Rowe and Gordon Katic. Franklynn Bartol was our research assistant, with fact checking from Polly Leger.
Special thanks to the scientists who helped us understand this story, including: Laura Vandenberg, Daniel Dietrich, Rich Giovane and Savannah Johnson.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. It's part of a larger project that examines the roles of values in science, lead by Professor Gunilla Oberg at the University of British Columbia. Professor Oberg also provided research guidance to the project, though this episode does not necessarily reflect the view of Professor Oberg or her project
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/BPA_Final_Draft_with_Music_mixdown.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #6: Pandemic Fat Cats
June 25, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
There's another coronavirus. This one, causing horrific swelling in cats, even killing them. Gilead Pharmacueticals might have a drug that can cure this feline coronavirus. Yet, they're not sharing that drug, possibly because they're scared it might harm their chances with another drug: Remdesivir. You may have heard of it; it's the supposed 'gold standard' of care for COVID-19. The story of Remdesivir (and of the black market cat drug sibling) reveals how pharmaceutical companies do their research, and the lengths they go to protect their profits.
On this episode of Secondary Symptoms, Gordon interviews Atlantic writer Sarah Zhang about her article on the strange story of feline coronavirus and its possible black market cure, GS-441524. Then, investigative journalist Sharon Lerner of the Intercept tells us about her reporting on GS-441524's sibling, Remdesivir–no black market necessary. Also on the program, Shannon Brownlee of the Lown Institute, on how to make sense of drug research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, Professor Sergio Sismondo talks about his book Ghost-Managed Medicine, which pulls back the curtain on medical ghostwriting and the other invisible ways that the industry shapes pharmaceutical knowledge.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/SS6_Pandemic_Fat_Cats_Final.mp3
#6: The Tamiflu Trials
Medical experts are rushing to see which drugs might help treat COVID-19. There are dozens of candidates: Remdesivir, Hydroxycloroquin, Actemra, Kevzara, Favipiravir, the list goes on. They better pick the right one; because billions of dollars of public money is at stake, not to mention 100s of thousands — if not millions — of lives.
We don't know what will happen with COVID-19 drug research. But the story of past pandemics might give us a clue. To prepare for Swine Flu and Bird Flu, governments spent billions stockpiling a drug called Tamiflu. You'd think governments used the best evidence-based advice, but the story of Tamiflu raises questions about how money shaped the process.
On this episode, we open up the black box of pharmaceutical and public health expertise. We tell the story of a drug, from its days as middling flu treatment through its meteoric rise to international blockbuster. How do experts decide what makes a good drug, and how do pharmaceutical companies make billions from pandemic panic?
This episode has loads more information, citations, and resources. You can also find related articles on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including articles by our research assistant, Franklynn Bartol, on topics like: industry funding of patient advocacy groups, the meaning (and limitations) of 'evidence-based medicine,' and the broader research literature on industry funding and why it's a problem.
———-CORRECTION———-
An earlier version of this podcast said that drug companies now must publish all their trial data before a drug goes to market. In fact, the FDA requires that the companies must register their trial data on a government website, ClinicalTrials.gov. This excludes non-randomized observational trials and a few other earlier, prospective studies. The script was changed to reflect that correction.
To keep up with Cited, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Plus, send us your feedback to info@citedmedia.ca–we might just read it on the show. We're also doing a mug giveaway this episode. If you'd like one (for free), please do us a favour: tell one of your friends about Cited. Email or text them and send me a screengrab. We'll randomly pick three of the people who email me, and you'll get a free Cited mug.
This episode was produced by Audrey Quinn and Gordon Katic. Editing from Acey Rowe and Gordon Katic. Franklynn Bartol was our research assistant, with fact checking from Aurora Tejeida and Polly Leger. Dr. Joel Lexchin and Professor Sergio Sismondo provided research guidance.
Thanks to Hannah Arbour for Japanese translation, and Shungo Kano for voicing.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Tamiflu_Final_Draft.mp3
What are Canadian Police (Still) Trying to Hide? (Rebroadcast with Update)
In the wake of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis, millions of protesters around the world have marched against racism and police violence.
In Canada, we know that Indigenous and Black bodies are incarcerated at far higher rates than their white counterparts, despite making up a minority of the country's population. But when it comes to actual police interactions — from who gets street checked to who the police use force against — the data is scarce.
When researchers and activists ask for those numbers, Canadian police forces refuse. We made an episode about this in June, 2017.
Author and anti-racist activist Desmond Cole weighs in. Scot Wortley, one of Canada's leading researchers of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, talks about how not having systematic records on anything —from police checks, to charges, to bail outcomes—has dramatically hampered criminal justice research. However, Ron Melchers, a University of Ottawa criminologist says we shouldn't keep this data— and he calls racial profiling a media myth. Things get heated.
———-UPDATES———-
Since this episode first aired, there have been some changes.
First of all, guest Desmond Cole published his book "The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power"
This fall, Ontario's Special Investigations Unit — the body that investigates police interactions involving serious injury, death or sexual assault — will start gathering race-based data, including Indigenous identity as well as ethnicity and religion. Ontario's Office of the Independent Police Review Director — which looks at complaints against the police from the public– announced this April that it was going to collect similar data. And the Toronto Police Department has said it will now collect and publicly release this data as well. This comes after a 2018 interim report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which hired criminologist Scot Wortley to look at racial bias in policing in Toronto. His work found that Black Torontonians are 20 times more likely to be killed by Toronto police than their white neighbours. Scot's full report is set to be released this fall.
Scot was also hired by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to look at race-based street-checks in Halifax. He found Black residents were 6 times more likely to be stopped by the Halifax Regional Police than white residents. The Province has since banned the practise of street checks, or carding, but residents say the process continues.
This pattern continues across the country. In the three years since our episode first aired, independent reviews of police practises consistently showed that Black and Indigenous Canadians are over-represented in police interactions, including street checks and use of force.
In Vancouver — the VPD stopped Indigenous people for street checks 7 times more than the rest of the population, and black people about five times more. Edmonton, same story.
But most cities still don't collect his data, despite rising calls to do so — from policing, access to housing, and medical care — as Covid-19 appears to be hitting Black and Indigenous communities at an overwhelming rate.
In this episode, we reconnect with Scot Wortley for an update, before revisiting our original broadcast, "What are Canadian Police Trying to Hide?"
This episode was produced by Gordon Katic.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Cited is produced out of the Centre of Ethics at the University of Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. Cited is also produced out of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia — that's on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/What_are_Canadian_Police_Trying_to_Hide_Rerun.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #5: I Can't Breathe
June 6, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
The brutal public lynching of George Floyd has sparked a rebellion against police violence and systematic racism. The mostly peaceful protests are courageously rising up, while the police respond with unrelenting force. This all-out war against the American people tells us much about the government's priorities; while nurses struggle to get basic protective equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, over-funded police forces patrol American streets in expensive military gear.
"I can't breathe" is really the perfect chant for this moment. African Americans can't breathe because the police put knees on their neck, but African Americans also can't breathe because they die disproportionately from Covid-19. That's the direct result of environmental racism; that's toxic dumping and pollution, food deserts, and disinvestment in African American communities. This week, we connect police brutality, environmental racism, and Covid-19. And we ask: what does this mean for the environmental movement?
First, we call Robert Bullard, the father of environmental justice, and have him connect the dots for us. Then, Emily Atkin, climate journalist and writer/podcaster at Heated, calls out the mainstream environmental movement for its history of anti-black racism. Finally, Bill McKibben, perhaps the most influential environmentalist on the planet, tells us what Covid-19 means for the future of the planet.
For more, follow Cited on Twitter, Facebook, and citedpodcast.com. Plus, send us your feedback to info@citedmedia.ca–we might just read it on the show.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This is part of wider project challenging ideas in liberal environmental thought. The project was advised by Jessica Dempsey at the University of British Columbia, and Rosemary Collard from Simon Fraser University.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/SS_EP_5_I_Cant_Breath.mp3
The Battle of Buxton (Rebroadcast)
May 27, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
The town of Buxton, North Carolina loves their lighthouse. But in the 1970s, the ocean threatened to swallow it up. For the next three decades, they fought an intense political battle over what to do. Fight back against the forces of nature, or retreat? It's a small preview of what's to come in a time of rising seas. We team up with 99% Invisible to tell the story.
This is a rebroadcast from January 2018. We'll have a new episode of Cited for you next week.
Today's episode was produced by Gordon Katic, and edited by 99% Invisible's Delaney Hall and Cited's Sam Fenn.
Also from 99% Invisible's staff: mix and technical production from Sharif Yousef, music by Sean Real, and the text from this post is from their digital director Kurt Kohlstedt. The rest of the staff includes Katie Mingle, Avery Trufleman, Emmiett Fitzgerald, Taryn Mazza, and Roman Mars. From Cited, Josh GD, Alexander B. Kim, and John Woodside assisted in the production.
Special thanks to Mike Booher, Phil Evans, and Stavros Avromeedees. Thanks to WRAL-TV for letting us use their documentary. "The Cape Light: Away from the Edge."
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Lighthouse_Rerun_mixdown.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #4: The Covid Kings
This week, we put the pieces together and solve a different kind of mystery at the heart of Tiger King.
I liked the show so much because it felt like the escapism I needed during a brutal pandemic. But actually, it wasn't escapist at all. Because according to our best theories, Covid-19 is the result of unsafe practices in the exotic animal trade. So we were all watching a documentary about the very industry that put us in isolation, and we didn't seem to realize it!
Labour studies scholar Kendra Coulter did realize this. She hopes that Covid-19, and Tiger King, just might change the way we think about zoonotic diseases. We have a wide-ranging conversation about animal welfare and workers rights, and what that has to do with Covid-19.
We also talk factory farms with Alex Blanchette, author of the new book Porkopolis. It's a dystopian ethnography of a small company town that is home to an enormous pork processing plant. This is not what you expect; it's not a searing expose of abuse, but rather a description of business as usual. Alex reveals the grand technoscientific ambitions of these companies; how they hope to exert total control over the pig, and over the workers who process them.
You can find a transcript of this episode here.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Secondary_Symptoms_E4_build_V2_mixdown_1_.mp3
#5: Made of Corn
When genetically modified corn was found in the highlands of Mexico, Indigenous campesino groups took to the streets to protect their cultural heritage, setting off a 20-year legal saga.
This two of our series on genetically modified maize. If you haven't already, listen to the first episode first. You can find it in this feed.
This episode has loads more information, citations, and resources. You can find those on our website, citedpodcast.com. Research assistant James Rhatigan has an article on the promise and limitations of the precautionary principle, and another on the intellectual history of liberal environmental thought. Also, we have a transcript.
This episode was produced by James L. Frederick and Polly Leger. Editing by Acey Rowe and Gordon Katic. James Rhatigan was our research assistant. Fact checking by Aurora Tejeida
Thank you to: Ana de Ita Rubio , Santiago Muñoz and Daniela Moreno from the Maizajo tortilla shop, Silvia Ribeiro from ETC Group, and Natasha Pizzey Siegert.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Maize_2_Final_Draft.mp3
#4: Modifying Maize
How the accidental finding of genetically modified corn in the highlands of Mexico set off a twenty-year battle over scientific methods, academic freedom, Indigenous rights, environmental law and international trade. Part one of two.
This episode was produced by Polly Leger and James L. Frederick. Editing by Acey Rowe and Gordon Katic. James Rhatigan was our research assistant. Fact checking by Aurora Tejeida
Thank you to: Ana de Ita Rubio, Santiago Muñoz and Daniela Moreno from the Maizajo tortilla shop, Silvia Ribeiro from ETC Group, Topher Routh at Berkeley Advanced Media Studio for recording assistance, and Martin Gepp, Benji Shieh and Alexander Kim for help voicing. Katrina Hiibackof the University of Toronto, Professor Dave Ng of UBC and Dr. Sophie Comyn helped us untangle plant genetics.
Fernando Ortiz Monasterio's account of his meeting with Ignacio Chapela comes from an interview with Caitlin Shetterly, in her 2016 book, "Modified."
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Maize_Part_1_Final.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #3: Pandemic Amnesia
May 7, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
Last time we opened up too fast, we paid dearly. There were celebratory parades when Americans thought the 1918 Spanish Flu was over and done with. Unfortunately, the second wave was even worse.
So this week on Secondary Symptoms, the secondary symptom we're looking at… it's a symptom you might call pandemic amnesia. We're asking: what have we learned from our history of pandemics, and what have we forgotten?
We speak to Cindy Ermus, a historian of disasters and pandemics, about past disasters and what we should learn from them. It's a wide ranging conversation about the politics of pandemic memory–about what we choose to remember, and what we choose to forget. Next, Michael Willrich tells us about his book "Pox: An American History," which chronicles the long-forgotten American smallpox outbreaks at the turn of the last century. It's a story of extraordinary state overreach — of vaccination by gunpoint, of forced separation, and of police repression — in the name of fighting a deadly disease. Pox asks us: how do we balance individual freedom with public health?
———FOLLOW CITED———-
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Secondary_Symptoms_E3_Fixed.mp3
#3: The Pavilion
Expo 1967 was the centrepiece of Canada's 100th birthday. In a country of only 20 million, 50 million people attended Expo '67. Amid the crowds and the pageantry, one building stood out. The Indians of Canada Pavilion. This was more than a tall glass tipi. It revealed (at least partly) Canada's sordid colonial history, and it challenged the myth of Canada being a peace-loving and tolerant society. We tell the surprising story of the historical experts who put this thing together, and the public's reaction to their work.
This episode has loads more information, citations, and resources. You can find those on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including articles about: the history of indigenous peoples at World's Fairs, thoughts on 'objectivity,' and the limits of trauma narratives. Also, we have a transcript.
———-CORRECTION———
05/27/2020: In an earlier version of this podcast, we mistakingly mentioned that Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was led by Senator Gordon Sinclair. In fact, it was Senator Murray Sinclair.
This piece was produced by Polly Leger. Edited by Gordon Katic and Sam Fenn.
Our theme song and original music is by our composer, Mike Barber. With other music by Bear Fox and the Kontiwennenhawi – Akwesasne Women Singers. Dakota Koop is our graphic designer. Our production manager is David Tobiasz, and executive producers are Gordon Katic and Sam Fenn.
Thank you to: the hostesses who shared their time with us, Barbara Wilson, Janice Antoine, Velma Robinson and Vina Starr; Romney Copeman and the Deslile Family; the Marjoribanks family for sharing their father's memoir; the Russ Moses Archive, and Russ's son, John Moses; Doreen Manuel and the estate of George Manuel; the York University Archives; Jane Griffith and Greg Spence; and to Clinton L.G. Morin and L. Manuel Baechlin for production help in Ottawa.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/expo_67_Final.mp3
Exiled: A Year in New York's Infamous 'Sex Offender Motel' (Rebroadcast)
Growing up, Chris Dum has a morbid fascination with 'deviant behavior.' It led him down an unusual career path: he decided to study most reviled people in our society. Sex offenders. But it wasn't enough to study them from a distance. No, abstract crime statistics or rigorously controlled laboratory experiments would not suffice. Rather, Chris wanted to know what their lives were actually like. So as a PhD student, he decided to actually live with them. He moved from his home near the university to a run-down motel on the rough part of town. Over the next year, he learned a thing or two about sex offenders, but he learned more about all us. He learned that the process of reintegrating sex offenders into society is a total mess, and it isn't helping anyone.
This episode originally aired in November 2016. Our newest episode of this season comes out Wednesday, May 6th. It's called "the Pavillion," and you can listen to a trailer on our website.
This piece was produced by Gordon Katic and edited by Sam Fenn, as well as Alison Cooke of the CBC. Further support from Alexander B. Kim. Research advising from University of Washington Sociologist Katherine Beckett.
This project was made in partnership with the University of Washington Centre for Human Rights, which also provided some financial support. Further grant support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Exiled_Rerun_Final_Draft.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #2: Not So Fast
It's going to take a while, but we find glimmers of hope.
We speak to Guardian journalist Sumanth Subramanian. He tells the story of one lab's push for a Covid-19 vaccine, and the promising new technology they're using. It just might revolutionize vaccine development. But don't get too excited, because the fastest vaccine ever… well, it took about four years. While we wait, the US political system is going through a pretty radical transformation. Wired science journalist Adam Rogers tells us how states are forming new regional alliances, threatening to create what he calls "a new cold civil war." Plus, Rogers gives us an update on how academic publishing is changing during the pandemic.
This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This is part of wider project looking at the politics of science in post-truth times. Dr. Dave Ng at the University of British Columbia is the research lead on that project.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Secondary_Symptoms_EP2.mp3
Secondary Symptoms #1: Tin Foil Hats Stop Covid
We never planned for this. Cited was going to just make documentaries for you this season, but then the whole world changed. So, we had to change too. For at least the next two months, we'll be releasing a weekly news-magazine style show about the Covid-19 pandemic. We're calling it Secondary Symptoms.
In medicine, secondary symptoms (sometimes called 'secondary complications') are symptoms that might arise from the disease, but are not directly of the disease. We'll be talking about the secondary symptoms of Covid-19. Not so much the disease itself, and what it does to one's respiratory tract; rather, what other things Covid-19 is doing to all of us–what it is doing to our politics, our economy, and our social fabric.
On this episode, we continue the theme of Cited's first documentary, "the Science Wars." The secondary symptoms of today's episode are misinformation, distrust, and conspiratorial thinking.
Guests include:
John Horgan, writer at Scientific American and author of the book the End of Science.
James Ball, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and global editor of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Dr. Ariel Lefkowitz, doctor at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Professor Stephan Lewandowski, a cognitive psychologist who specializes in misinformation, distrust, and conspiratorial thinking.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Secondary_Symptoms_SC1.mp3
#1: The Science Wars
Before there was the War on Science, there were the Science Wars. In the 1990's, the Science Wars were a set of debates about the nature of science and its place in a democratic society. This little-known and long-forgotten academic squabble became surprisingly contentious, culminating in an audacious hoax. Today, some scholars say the Science Wars might just explain how we got our 'post-truth' moment. To figure out if they're right, we go back to the beginning.
You can also find related materials on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including an essay on the science wars from Gordon Katic, as well as a transcript.
This episode was produced by Gordon Katic. Editing from Sam Fenn.
Cited is funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. This part of a wider project looking at the politics of science in post-truth times. The project was advised by Dr. Dave Ng at the University of British Columbia's Michael Smith Labs. With further research advising from Professors Alan Richardson and Heather Douglas.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Episode_1_Science_Wars_Final_Draft.mp3
#0: Technocracy and its Discontents (Season Preview)
April 9, 2020 Uncategorizedcitedpodcast
The Obama years were the closest thing we've had to technocracy. The President and his administration celebrated science and expertise, and they gave enormous regulatory powers to 'the smartest people.' During these years, the prevailing posture — culturally, politically, and within academia — suggested that the public was dim-witted and irrational, but well-meaning experts could fix things. As you know, that didn't didn't last. With Trump and Brexit came post-truth and a revolt against scientific and scholarly expertise.
How do we get out of this mess? Is the choice merely between centrist technocrats and reactionary post-truthers, or is there another way? This season, we investigate. Our stories will ask some simple questions: what is an expert, who do they work for, and can they be trusted? Episodes start April 15th, 2020, and they air weekly.
This episode was produced Gordon Katic.
https://media.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/p/content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/Episode_0_Final_Draft.mp3