Ep. 7.8.20: July 4: Trump's celebration of secession

Forward Nation Radio

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This Week’s Discussion:

Happy July 4 everybody! For most of us, a celebration of US independence; for our president, a celebration of secession and the US Civil War. In a bitterly racist and divisive speech at Mount Rushmore on a day of national unity, Trump continues to make it clear that the 2020 election will be a battle for white supremacy...and totalitarianism.

We take stock in America for Independence Day. As Americans pat ourselves on the back for our imagined superiority, we put our exceptionalism in a somewhat harsher light judged by world events. Our "exceptional" failure to address a deadly global pandemic is a symptom of a country with a huge segment of its population that is exceptional only in its ignorance, its stupidity, and its selfishness. And with a political criminal organization that can achieve electoral success only by ensuring they remain that way.

That brings us back to the latest arguments in support of a re-examination of how we treat free speech in America. One of our most vaunted parts of our revered founding document, its application is being used to create the opposite of the "marketplace of ideas" it was intended to create. Instead, it is a facilitator of hate and lies and Dave questions whether a society as ignorant as ours can survive it. We look at the NY Times decision to publish a hate and lie-filled op-ed by a US Senator, and Dave argues that responsible media needs to stop printing lies and manipulative content.

Meanwhile, China's crackdown on Hong Kong is a lesson for the US protests for justice: if you stop, you will lose.

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Forward Nation Radio with Professor David Leventhal

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