American slavery, the occult and modern politics, jobs for psychopaths.
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2018
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Iraq vet and novelist Kevin Powers, the careers picked by psychopaths, and American writer Gary Lachman join Matthew Sweet.
Kevin Powers' prize winning novel The Yellow Birds explored the experience of soldiers and their lack of control. His new novel A Shout in the Ruins looks at the long shadows cast by the American Civil War and slavery.
Gary Lachman discusses non-rational or pre-Enlightenment thinking in contemporary politics and culture as he publishes his latest book called Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump. He is joined by Professor Christine Ferguson from Stirling University who researches the influence of the occult on popular culture and politics in the UK.
Psychologist Kevin Dutton and broadcaster and psychotherapist Lucy Beresford discuss the idea that psychopaths are drawn to certain careers, including radio journalism.
Kevin Dutton's books include The Wisdom of Psychopaths. Lucy Beresford is the host of LBC's Sex and Relationships phone-in show.
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.3 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.8 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | Hello, I'm Matthew Sweet. |
| 0:33.5 | Welcome to BBC Radio 3's Arts and Ideas discussion program, which brings together leading artists, writers and thinkers in conversation and debate. |
| 0:42.8 | If you enjoy what you hear, do subscribe. Search for the Arts and Ideas podcast. |
| 0:48.3 | And while you're there, please rate and review us. It'll help other people find us. |
| 0:53.5 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:58.8 | Thanks, John. Are you a psychopath? If so, what sort of job should you go for? Something in |
| 1:04.7 | catering, a state agent perhaps. How about radio presenter? A new academic study claims that this is a pretty good career path |
| 1:12.8 | for those who lack conscience and empathy. Its author, Kevin Dutton, has rather bravely, |
| 1:18.2 | I think, come into the studio to defend his findings. Excitingly, we have two Kevin's on the |
| 1:23.5 | program tonight. The other is Kevin Powers, decorated novelist and former US Army |
| 1:28.9 | machine gunner, who you'll hear talking about the history of slavery and civil war that lies |
| 1:34.1 | just beneath the surface of his native Virginia. First, though, we're going to interpret the |
| 1:38.8 | American present through a rather weirder lens, that of the occult. |
| 1:47.2 | President Trump doesn't always do what people expect him to do, |
| 1:48.7 | or even what his supporters want him to do. |
| 1:49.9 | Is he being unpredictable? |
| 1:53.9 | Or could there be another cause, perhaps a magical one? |
| 1:57.5 | Mandy Yates Garcia is the Oracle of Los Angeles. |
| 2:02.6 | She says she's a witch, tarot card reader, and magical life coach. Last night she helped cast a so-called binding spell on our president to prevent him from causing harm to others. |
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