That was Real (New York After Rona part i)

Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything

Benjamen Walker & Radiotopia

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We kick off our new ToE miniseries with a radical rethink on surveillance and the post pandemic city with theorist and writer Benjamin Bratton. His new book Revenge of the Real, both chronicles what went wrong during the crisis and offers a roadmap for how we can survive the next one. Also, your host visits the only New York city neighborhood that has gotten worse after covid, Hudson Yards, with journalist Charlie Warzel. Plus: we look back at one of the first viral videos shot in pandemic time.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to Benjamin Walker's theory of everything.
0:05.0	At Radiotopia, we now have a select group of amazing supporters that help us make all our shows possible.
0:13.0	If you would like to have your company or product sponsor this podcast, then get in touch.
0:18.0	Drop a line to sponsor at radiotopia.fm. Thanks.
0:23.0	This installment is called that was real.
0:29.0	Y'all, this shit is for real, y'all. This is for real. This is for real. This is Brooklyn, y'all. Brooklyn. New York.
0:42.0	This is for real, y'all.
0:44.0	March 29, 2020. New York City was on lockdown. A man named John Lee pulled his car over in front of Brooklyn Hospital.
0:53.0	Took out his phone and began live streaming.
0:56.0	This is for real, y'all. This is for real. Sorry for the camera shaking, but this is for real, y'all.
1:05.0	Over the past two weeks, New Yorkers have been pouring into the city's hospitals sick from COVID.
1:11.0	Now they were starting to leave.
1:14.0	Don't have room inside the hospital for bodies.
1:18.0	They put them in the back of a freezer truck. This is for real. Finally, y'all watch over us.
1:29.0	John Lee prays as a red forklift spins and beeps, orderly is dressed in blue, move bodies wrapped in white into a long 18-wheeler.
1:40.0	The streets are slick and the sky is gray.
2:05.0	I remember exactly when I first watched this video.
2:09.0	It was the evening of our 14th day on the island.
2:12.0	None of us were sick. I was finally starting to breathe.
2:16.0	We didn't catch or bring the virus with us from New York.
2:30.0	Factoring in the six-hour time difference, I think I watched John Lee's video in France not too long after he posted it in New York.
2:39.0	This is real. This is real. This is real.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Benjamen Walker & Radiotopia, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Benjamen Walker & Radiotopia and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.