I have to admit. I've given up on Richard Wolff. Basically, it's because he
bores me. He has a message, which I've heard, and he keeps repeating it in
different permutations. And he does seem to be talking to his audience as if we
were all rather slow witted. He takes what his guests say, and repeats much of
it in simpler language for his mentally deficient, uneducated audience who, he
is sure, needs everything simplified. So, after several weeks, I decided that
I'd prefer to listen to something else or read a book, rather than listen to
Richard Wolff. Other podcasts have also been discarded. But I just found a new
one, which I find interesting, Citations Needed. It involves Adam Johnson from
FAIR and another guy whose name I really didn't catch, who talk about how the
media presents information. Counterspin does that and it's a FAIR podcast, but
it's beifer and slicker. This podcast was mentioned on Counterspin and is
relatively new. What I'm realizing is that a lot of the material covered in
these podcasts is familiar to me, but I like podcasts that present the material
in an interesting manner. I've finally figured out that The Dig, the Jacobin
podcast, is, well actually, Jacobin is the magazine of the Social Democrats of
America. At least I think so. The podcasts can be very interesting if the
person being interviewd is interesting. Sometimes, they're very sort of
academic. There's been a series on Latin America, packed with information, but
sometimes, my mind wanders. The podcasts to which I listen, from different
sectors of the left, diverge somewhat in their opinions, and there's some
quarreling among factions about some things. Sometimes, I'm clear about where I
stand. Sometimes, not so much.
Miriame
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2017 2:44 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Dick Gregory
I suspect people's dialect and speech pattern can be offsetting to some folks
ears. I had a bit of that feeling when I began listening to Richard Wolff.
Not only the accent, but how he paced his words and left me with the feeling
that he was talking down a bit. But I totally appreciate his points of view.
He's been on Thom Hartman's TV show several times. Maybe he'll move Thom a bit
more toward the Left.
And speaking of how we talk, Thom Hartman has that bland, all American voice.
It never gets in the way of my listening to what he has to say. But that does
not make him right all the time.
Regarding Dick Gregory, I agree that much of his material was aimed at a Black
audience, and they got the message and the humor. Which was the whole point of
his routine. Bill Cosby's routine was aimed at me, and others like me, and he
was very skilled at it. While I can find the man disgusting, I still can
listen to his routines and chuckle over the pictures they bring into my head.
It's hard to keep the talent of an individual separate from their actual
selves. People want to know all about the folks who entertain them. Red
Skelton was not a nice man, but to a small boy listening on the radio, he was
very funny. Grandpa McCoy, Walter Brennon, was about as Racist and White
Supremist as they come, but I never confused the delightful characters he
played, with the man. The man who built our house did a grand job. But it
turned out that he was a stogy ultra conservative. While he had bad political
judgement, he built one Hell of a decent house.
So I tip my hat to Dick Gregory, the comic I did not personally find so funny.
The people he reached with his humor needed him far more than I did. And also
there is the fact of this man turning from what could well have provided him
great financial security, to give all of his support to those people needing
him.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/21/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
I just finished listening to Democracy Now. Gregory's humor is very
different from Kosby's, I think, because it wasn't solely humor. At
least in the material I just heard, all of the humor included definite
social messaging, most of it, directed at black audiences. In a way,
it was a kind of preaching. And in he end, he was a social activist
because his humor was scene as disruptive to the social system. Amy
said that he was not allowed any more entertainment platforms because
of his activism. Any messages that Kosby had for black audiences, came
straight from the white man, just as Obama's messages did.
As for Jerry Lewis, I don't remember any discussion about him at all.
Perhaps people in different parts of the country, perceived him very
differently. This reminds me of an interchange with a midwestern guy
from the DB Review list, that I had yesterday. It had to do with a
podcast called, Just The Right Book. The woman who hosts it, was an
attorney doing some sort of financial stuff, but she ended up owning a
bookshop, or maybe it's a small chain of bookshops in Connecticut.
She's really very sophisticated and business savvy, but she's in her
sixties and has a very heavy New York, probably Brooklyn or Bronx
accent, and I'm sure her background is Jewish. My internet friend said
that he listened to the podcast a few times, but he was very put off
by the way Roxanne talks, so he stopped listening. Actually, I also
find her manner of talking rather irritating, but not so much that it
would cause me to stop listening. I'll listen to an episode if I'm interested
in what she's talking about.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2017 11:30 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Dick Gregory
My sense that Dick Gregory was not as entertaining as some of the
later Black Comics, like Bill Cosby, was not meant to detract from his
central role in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies as a Civil Rights Advocate.
Gregory, in my opinion was far more of an influence through his daily
life than was Bill Cosby, over whom I absolutely fell off my chair
laughing. But Cosby used his enormous talent to satisfy his own
greed, while Gregory used his talent to open doors for all Blacks and
people of Color. Amy Goodman had an hour with clips out of past
interviews with Dick Gregory on this morning. While my respect for
him grew, I still found his humor to be not so funny.
As for Jerry Lewis and my claim that many people saw in him a negative
stereotype of a NYC Jew, That was my recollection of years of hearing
people talk about him. People who "loved" the man, even as they made
cutting remarks.
Maybe I read more into all of that, just because I never, ever liked
anything about Jerry Lewis.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/21/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I wanted to add to this conversation because there was a piece
regarding Dick Gregory on Unauthorized Disclosure that I heard this
morning. I do think that Carl's and Roger's posts have sold him short.
There was an amazing interview with Dick Gregory held in 1964 on a
public radio station in which he responded to the interviewer's
rather naïve questions, with excellent imply phrased explanations of
what it means to be black in America and also, some predictions about
the reactions of white people as they begin to comprehend that they
are a minority of the world's population with less power than they're
accustomed to. There was also an excellent little stand up comedy bit
about what it was like for a black person to order food in a
restaurant in the South. Additionally, Gregory has a history of
working for a variety of causes of which you would approve, starting
in the 70's.
Miriam
