Jon Nelson hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which includes the following segments:
Middle East in Crisis: Laurie Mercier speaks with Juan Ricardo Cole about Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon and the response from the Biden administration and American students on college campuses. Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and specialist in Islamic, Arabic, Middle Eastern and North African studies. He is the author of over a dozen books, including his most recent: Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, and The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East, and Engaging the Muslim World. Cole is a public intellectual, prominent blogger, and prolific essayist; you can find much of his work on the important website InformedComment https://www.juancole.com/.
This interview is an update of the previous 2014 interview with Cole that aired again on the Old Mole on October 7.
The Problems with Polls: Part Two: If you’re following the polls obsessively, you’re putting your faith in a phenomenon that does more to undermine democracy than enhance it. So argues Samuel Earle in his recent review of a book by G. Elliott Morris, called Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them. Earle’s review of Morris’s work appeared in the New York Review of Books on October 17, titled The Problems with Polls. The Moles’ Well Read Red, Patricia Kullberg, reads excerpts from Morris’s review. In part one of the reading, which aired on Oct 28, Morris argues that polling is closely intertwined with the profit motive while claiming to be a democratizing force, that it dangerously simplifies complex issues, that polling itself influences public opinion in potentially disastrous ways, and suffers from persistent biases and blind spots. Part two, the conclusion to the article, Earle examines polling’s symbiotic relationship to the press and how it is driven by the need for drama and conflict. He then looks at how social media is overtaking polling as the so-called voice of the people, simplifying issues and instigating conflict, while it monetizes people's "opinions" for profit.
Primary Colors: In their commentary on the presidential elections, moles Jan Haaken and Denise Morris discuss the 1998 film, PRIMARY COLORS. In 1996, an anonymous author (later revealed to be Joe Klein) published Primary Colors, a political satire inspired by the events of Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992. Based on the book, the film by the same name was directed by Mike Nichols and written by Elaine May. Jan and Denise look at the film through the lens of gender politics—then and now.
Outgrow the System: If we are to save our planet from rapidly approaching climate catastrophe, business as usual is no longer an option. Outgrow the System is a new documentary about transitioning to a more sustainable economic system, by co-directors Cecilia Paulsson and Anders Nillson. Extinction Rebellion PDX is sponsoring a screening of the film on Friday, November 15 at 7-8 pm followed by a panel discussion. The showing will be at the Cascade Campus of PCC in the Moriarty Arts Building at 705 N. Killingsworth. Today Patricia Kullberg speaks with XRPDX activist Michaela McCormick about the film and the alternative economic systems that it explores. Michaela McCormick is a well-seasoned transgender woman and organizer with Extinction Rebellion here in Portland. She's been working for transformational change for 50 years, mostly on building structures and processes to address the many injustices we endure toward a more just, compassionate, and sustainable world. More on the event can be found by searching for events at XRPDX.
- KBOO