Culture Gabfest: Country So Unreal

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Arts, Music, Tv & Film

4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2021

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Stephen, Dana, and Julia talk about the National Geographic miniseries, City So Real, about the 2019 mayoral race in Chicago and the social and political issues that fueled it. Then New York Times writer Charlie Warzel joins the show to discuss conservative media outlets like Newsmax and OANN and the alternate reality of news that Trump supporters reside in. After that, the hosts talk about New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright's comprehensive article, The Plague Year, about the way U.S. officials have reacted to the pandemic. In Slate Plus, the hosts reply to a lister who wants to know how they distinguish between works of art that are "entertaining" and ones that are "good" and whether making that distinction makes them snobs. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Rachael Allen. Slate Plus members get a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Stephen Metcalf and this is the Slate Culture Gapfest country.
0:07.0	I'm Stephen Metcalf and this is the Slate Culture Gapfest Country So Unreal edition.
0:15.0	It's Wednesday January 13th 2021.
0:18.0	On today's show, City So Real is a docuaries about the city of Chicago. It's by Steve James, He of Hoop Dreams and America to Me. It's now streaming on Hulu and it's a stunning achievement. And then only some of us were shocked to see the US capital besieged and the democratic process of certifying
0:36.0	Joe Biden's win ceremonially, halted by violence.
0:39.8	Charlie Warsaw of the Times will join us to discuss how right-wing media has so primed the inhabitants of its echo chambers as to make what happened on January 6th inevitable.
0:50.6	And finally, the New Yorker has published a mammoth story on COVID by the veteran journalist
0:55.4	Lawrence Wright.
0:56.3	It's a tour to force covering virtually every aspect of the pandemic with the depressing
1:00.7	throughline that with a few important exceptions we as a society
1:04.5	have utterly failed in the face of this challenge.
1:07.7	Joining me today is Julia Turner, the deputy managing editor of the LA Times.
1:12.0	Hey Julia.
1:13.2	Hello, hello.
1:14.6	And of course Dana Stevens, film critic for Slate.
1:17.4	Hey Dana.
1:18.3	Stephen.
1:19.4	Is that Dana?
1:20.7	Shall we go?
1:23.4	Ready? Yeah.
1:25.2	What's up guys?
1:26.2	I am Ashley Gavin and I am your father.
	...

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