Coast to Coast AM with Ian Punnett

[sumethinz new]

The guest had some kind of last minute emergency and couldn't make it. So Punnett punted

Said like a true fan and appreciated by another

[PolkaDot]

I hardly ever listen to C2C but tuned in to here Salem Witch goodness. Soooooo......still waiting! WTH?

[PB]

I hardly ever listen to C2C but tuned in to here Salem Witch goodness. Soooooo......still waiting! WTH?

Well it's Ian, so we had to talk about comic books, er, superheroes first.

[PolkaDot]

Well it's Ian, so we had to talk about comic books, er, superheroes first.

Jesus. And to think I was worried about being late to the party.

[sumethinz new]

Well it's Ian, so we had to talk about comic books, er, superheroes first.

Well, that's true too

[PB]

Uh-oh, 80% of those accused of witchcraft in Salem and Europe in the 17th Century were women.  And not just women, independent women.

Shocking, I know.  Not only that, Ian is making quite a few assumptions about these people based on his understanding of modern social norms.  This isn't very good, I'm not going to make it for another two hours.

[TigerLily]

Uh-oh, 80% of those accused of witchcraft in Salem and Europe in the 17th Century were women.  And not just women, independent women.

Shocking, I know.  Not only that, Ian is making quite a few assumptions about these people based on his understanding of modern social norms.  This isn't very good, I'm not going to make it for another two hours.

Gee, I so wouldn't mind if you leave

[El Chorro]

Wow, really fascinating three hours on Salem witch hunt. Well worth hearing if you have Insider.

Turns out there have been a lot of books written in the past 20 years that have been sympathetic to the accusers at the expense of the victims. Vast right-wing effort to side with the religious over the female Wicca?

No, quite the opposite. The accusers were the socialist-farmer class, accusing independent-minded men and women who threatened the groupthink to the point that no one really cared if they were witches or not, they just threatened the social order.

Direct parallel to "Russian collusion" as a means by which to punish those who threaten Social Justice. (Interestingly, first guest from law enforcement made the same point about accusations against police.)

Guest stated that the leftward trend in academia has caused authors to side with the accusers because they were socialists, completely setting aside their religious purge against (mostly) women. Fascinating way the Left now views the Salem witch hunt, and why it's not inconsistent to see them, not the religious anti-witch Right, as the descendants of yesterday's witch hunters.

I like that Coast tends to the Right, and Ian plays along despite his occasional discomfort.

[El Chorro]

I also liked Ian on Friday and preferred his take on "Google poisoning" to Lauren Weinstein's.

Weinstein basically thinks the good of the whole outweighs the injustice against the "few," in this case those whose lives are ruined or impacted by trollish search results that Google puts at the top of results. He feels like even if one person is saved by knowing they, say, have a predator next door, it's worth the misery that trolling in search results causes the innocent.

Ian had to pay $5,000 to clean up his search results, and obviously has a different point of view, as do I. Weinstein seems to think we should live and die by Google's "complex" algorithms, but I strongly disagree and have largely gone off the grid because of it. They can't even change a freaking business address after years of direct contact, and I'll be damned if I pay them or some third party to overcome the stupid, the incompetent, and the trollish.

[K_Dubb]

Wow, really fascinating three hours on Salem witch hunt. Well worth hearing if you have Insider.

Turns out there have been a lot of books written in the past 20 years that have been sympathetic to the accusers at the expense of the victims. Vast right-wing effort to side with the religious over the female Wicca?

No, quite the opposite. The accusers were the socialist-farmer class, accusing independent-minded men and women who threatened the groupthink to the point that no one really cared if they were witches or not, they just threatened the social order.

Direct parallel to "Russian collusion" as a means by which to punish those who threaten Social Justice. (Interestingly, first guest from law enforcement made the same point about accusations against police.)

Guest stated that the leftward trend in academia has caused authors to side with the accusers because they were socialists, completely setting aside their religious purge against (mostly) women. Fascinating way the Left now views the Salem witch hunt, and why it's not inconsistent to see them, not the religious anti-witch Right, as the descendants of yesterday's witch hunters.

I like that Coast tends to the Right, and Ian plays along despite his occasional discomfort.

It sounds like a good show; I'm sorry I missed it.  Thank you for the excellent summary.  Interesting how class-based analysis, which owes a lot to Marx, has become commonplace across the political spectrum.

How often have I seen at work when a group decides one person, usually a socially awkward fit or of a skeptical cast, is the source of all problems and rallies around a purge effort, documenting their misdeeds, convinced the load will be lighter without them.  There is a kind of energy that comes from such Lord-of-the-Flies scape-goating, and it's telling we don't have a proper word for it and I have to use so many hyphens.

I am sure there is some horrible neologism among social scientists but our ancestors knew all about it with their witch-hunts.  There are clear parallels among other pack species competing for scarce resources, including primates.

[El Chorro]

Did some research after writing the above; the book is "Switching Sides" by Tony Fels, published by Johns Hopkins last November. A few available for $29.95 on Amazon; Kindle is almost as much. Unfortunately it's not really a new book, and I credit Ian for giving it a "bump." Little-noticed on Twitter.

I think it's stunning that a historian is basically putting Trump in the role of the witches, the Left in the role of the Puritans, and "Russian collusion" in the role of "witchcraft." He makes a remarkable case, based on the scholarly writing of the past 40 years, that the SJW Left's purges are very much history repeating itself...though he didn't go so far as to say it directly, and Ian was quick with the "both sides do it" rejoinders.

You think he's going to paint the Puritans as the Religious Right not baking cakes for Wicca feminists, but he turns that completely on its head.

[K_Dubb]

Thanks for the book reference; will check it out.

[ItsOver]

It sounds like a good show; I'm sorry I missed it.  Thank you for the excellent summary.  Interesting how class-based analysis, which owes a lot to Marx, has become commonplace across the political spectrum.

How often have I seen at work when a group decides one person, usually a socially awkward fit or of a skeptical cast, is the source of all problems and rallies around a purge effort, documenting their misdeeds, convinced the load will be lighter without them.  There is a kind of energy that comes from such Lord-of-the-Flies scape-goating, and it's telling we don't have a proper word for it and I have to use so many hyphens.

I am sure there is some horrible neologism among social scientists but our ancestors knew all about it with their witch-hunts.  There are clear parallels among other pack species competing for scarce resources, including primates.

That or it could just be Falkie.

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[El Chorro]

Thanks for the book reference; will check it out.

Absolutely. Despite the kidding around, I definitely think the Coast Insider is worth $7 each month, much more than the $13 for Amazon I can't seem to quit...

[zeebo]

...  There is a kind of energy that comes from such Lord-of-the-Flies scape-goating, and it's telling we don't have a proper word for it and I have to use so many hyphens.

When kdubb resorts to excess hyphenation, we know we're overdue for the next English update.