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LF33 Thomas Sheridan – The Anvil of the Psyche: Part Two

Author Thomas Sheridan on his latest book The Anvil of the Psyche.
This is a two part interview. Part one is here.
Ask yourself: what is popular culture? How does it come into existence? How do universally accepted ideas of art and creativity, mass media, publishing and financial constructs, and political and social doctrines arise? Are mass social and cultural movements – coupled with one’s personal and social identity – always a natural flow of social, economic, philosophical, spiritual and artistic threads of the collective human experience? Do they organically emerge from the underground to gradually become mainstream cultural and social consensus? And from these options and opinions, do we pick and choose objectively? Do we, as the consumer, the investor, the voter make our individual decisions, affiliations, allegiances and even our emotional attachments, determined exclusively by our own choices? The answer to all these questions is NO!
In The Anvil of the Psyche, Thomas Sheridan seeks to show us how controlled we really are, the often detrimental effects this has upon us, and what we can do to build a firewall for our minds. Topics discussed include politics, sport, advertising, mainstream media, personal identity and perception, magic and symbolism, conceptual and modern art, Hollywood, and popular music including The Beatles, Lady Gaga and U2.
www.thomassheridanarts.comIllustration by David Dees
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’

LF32 Thomas Sheridan – The Anvil of the Psyche: Part One

Author Thomas Sheridan on his latest book The Anvil of the Psyche.
This is a two part interview. Click here for part two.
Ask yourself: what is popular culture? How does it come into existence? How do universally accepted ideas of art and creativity, mass media, publishing and financial constructs, and political and social doctrines arise? Are mass social and cultural movements – coupled with one’s personal and social identity – always a natural flow of social, economic, philosophical, spiritual and artistic threads of the collective human experience? Do they organically emerge from the underground to gradually become mainstream cultural and social consensus? And from these options and opinions, do we pick and choose objectively? Do we, as the consumer, the investor, the voter make our individual decisions, affiliations, allegiances and even our emotional attachments, determined exclusively by our own choices? The answer to all these questions is NO!
In The Anvil of the Psyche, Thomas Sheridan seeks to show us how controlled we really are, the often detrimental effects this has upon us, and what we can do to build a firewall for our minds. Topics discussed include politics, sport, advertising, mainstream media, personal identity and perception, reality TV, subliminal messages and popular music including Elvis and Michael Jackson.
www.thomassheridanarts.com
Illustration by David Dees
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Brian Hodgson ‘The Mind Robber’
 

LF31 Dave Gardner – Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth

Director Dave Gardner discusses his film GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. This ground-breaking documentary challenges our beliefs linking growth with prosperity and fulfilment. The film explores how our attitudes toward economics, consumption and population growth prevent rational responses to evidence that we’ve outgrown the planet. In this David vs. Goliath story, Dave shares his own personal story of daring to challenge our growth-worshipping system. He is rebuked by elected officials who are deacons of the church of growth everlasting, takes on millionaire real-estate developers enriched by public subsidies, and tackles economists who spin pro-growth propaganda.
GrowthBusters weaves the tale of Dave’s efforts to wean his hometown from growth addiction with an examination of the most critical global issues of our time. Interviews with leading thinkers, animation and humorous skits debunk the ‘grow or die’ myth. Cultural myths and taboos are exposed and explored. Providing a ray of hope, the film also profiles groups and individuals exploring alternatives and moving the world toward true sustainability.
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Pink Floyd ‘Animals’
View the Growthbusters trailer:http://vimeo.com/30647439

LF30 Nafeez Ahmed – The Crisis of Civilization

Author and international security analyst Dr Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed on The Crisis of Civilization. Dr Ahmed is author of A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It, and co-producer of The Crisis of Civilization.
It often seems that different crises are competing to devastate civilization. The Crisis of Civilization argues that financial meltdown, environmental degradation, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages need to be considered as part of the same ailing system.
Most accounts of our contemporary global crises focus on one area, or another, to the exclusion of others. The Crisis of Civilization suggests that the unwillingness of experts to look outside their own fields explains why there is so much disagreement and misunderstanding about the nature of the global threats we face. The Crisis of Civilization attempts to investigate all of these problem areas, not as isolated events, but as trends and processes that belong to a single global system. We are therefore not dealing with a ‘clash of civilizations’ as Samuel Huntington argued. Nor have we witnessed ‘the end of history’ that Francis Fukuyama prematurely declared. Rather, we are dealing with the end of the industrial age, a fundamental crisis of civilization itself.
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Ulf Langheinrich ‘Degrees of Amnesia’

LF29 Harvey Molotch – Against Security

Sociologist Harvey Molotch on his book Against Security: How We Go Wrong at Airports, Subways, and Other Sites of Ambiguous Danger.
Remember when an unattended package was just that, an unattended package? Remember when the airport was a place that evoked magical possibilities, not the anxiety of a full-body scan? In the post-9/11 world, we have become focused on heightened security measures, but do you feel safer? Are you safer?
Against Security explains how our anxieties about public safety have translated into command-and-control procedures that annoy, intimidate, and are often counterproductive. Taking readers through varied ambiguously dangerous sites, Molotch argues that we can use our existing social relationships to make life safer and more humane. He begins by addressing the misguided strategy of eliminating public restrooms, which deprives us all of a basic resource and denies human dignity to those with no place else to go. Subway security instills fear through programs like ‘See Something, Say Something’ and intrusive searches that have yielded nothing of value. At the airport, the security gate causes crowding and confusion, exhausting the valuable focus of TSA staff. Finally, Molotch shows how defensive sentiments have translated into the vacuous Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site and massive error in New Orleans, both before and after Hurricane Katrina. Throughout, Molotch offers thoughtful ways of maintaining security that are not only strategic but improve the quality of life for everyone.
Against Security argues that with changed policies and attitudes, redesigned equipment, and an increased reliance on our human capacity to help one another, we can be safer and maintain the pleasure and dignity of our daily lives.
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’John Carpenter ‘Escape From New York’ OST

LF28 Dr. Eric Karlstrom – The Political, Economic and Social Agendas of Climate Change

Dr. Eric Karlstrom on the political, economic and social agendas surrounding the issue of climate change. Dr. Karlstrom is a former Professor of Geography at California State University.
The World is clearly facing an environmental crisis. Some of the problems of pollution and resource depletion are so serious that they risk the extinction of entire species and perhaps even all life on Earth. More than any other risk, however, the danger posed by global warming – now known as ‘climate change’ – looms largest over the planet. The causes of climate change are hotly debated, but the dominant view today is that human activity – specifically the burning of fossil fuels and associated discharge of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Earth’s atmosphere – is by far the most significant. As a result, massive programmes designed to permanently change our society, economy, lifestyle and the way we interact with nature are being implemented. These aim to drastically cut our energy use, material standard of living and, ultimately, the human population.
But what if the mainstream understanding of the causes of climate change is flawed? Is it possible that the shifts in weather activity we are witnessing are simply part of a much larger picture, one in which the Earth’s climate is forever changing and evolving over millions – even billions – of years? We undoubtedly need to use less energy, clean up the environment and conserve the valuable natural resources without which we cannot survive, but we must do so in the right way, and for the right reasons. Following years of research and with highly specialized knowledge, Dr. Karlstrom has concluded that the issue of climate change has been dangerously corrupted, and that it is being exploited to serve nefarious political, economic and social agendas.
www.naturalclimatechange.uswww.911nwo.comwww.erickarlstrom.com
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Cyberchump ‘On The Ice’

LF27 Ben Dyson – Positive Money: A Simple Solution to the Debt Crisis

Ben Dyson of Positive Money on the problems caused by our debt-based monetary system and some of the solutions which offer a way out.
Positive Money is a not-for-profit research and campaign group who work to raise awareness of the connections between our current monetary and banking system and some of the biggest social, economic and environmental challenges that we face today.
In particular, Positive Money focus on the role of banks in creating the nation’s money supply through the accounting process they use when they make loans – an aspect of banking which is poorly understood. Positive Money believe these fundamental flaws are at the root of – or a major contributor to – problems of poverty, excessive debt, growing inequality and environmental degradation.
Positive Money’s website offers many useful resources including books & publications, videos and the documentary film 97% Owned.
Related interviews:Andy Duncan IIDouglas Carswell MPRoss AshcroftAlasdair MacleodAndy Duncan
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Tangerine Dream ‘Exit’

LF26 Andy Duncan – The Myths and Mysteries of Modern Money

Andy Duncan on the myths and mysteries of modern money. (Click below to listen)
Austerity, bailouts, base rates, interest rates, LIBOR rates, deficit, default, derivatives, inflation, deflation, stagflation, negative equity, negative growth, quantitative easing, stimulus – just what on earth does it all mean? Does mainstream media coverage of finance and economics leave you bored, bamboozled, apathetic or even angry? Can’t bear to hear any more bull about bulls and bears?
Anonymous think tanks, faceless foundations and previously unheard of institutes; where do they all come from, why do we need them and, more importantly, who pays for them? In an age when we’re told that we can’t afford enough nurses and teachers, just how can we afford so many economists?
What if the myth and mystery of money is nothing more than the black magic of a modern day Wizard of Oz? What if everything you thought you knew about money is a lie?
Andy runs www.thegodthatfailed.org and hosts podcasts at www.goldmoney.com
Related interviews:Douglas Carswell MPRoss AshcroftAlasdair MacleodAndy Duncan
Free e-books:Murray Rothbard – What Has the Government Done To Our Money?Murray Rothbard – The Mystery of Banking
Recommended documentaries about the true nature of money:The Money MastersThe Secret of OzFour HorsemenMaxed OutIn Debt We TrustThe Ascent of Money
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Jean Michel Jarre ‘Equinoxe’

LF25 Douglas Carswell – The End of Politics and the Birth of iDemocracy

Douglas Carswell MP on his latest book The End of Politics and the Birth of iDemocracy.
The West is in crisis. Governments have grown too big, living beyond their means – and ours. The true costs of extra officialdom have been concealed. Parasitical politicians have been hopeless at holding to account the elites who now preside over us. As a result, Western nations are mired in debt and chronically misgoverned. Should we despair? In The End of Politics and the Birth of iDemocracy Douglas Carswell argues that we should not. Precisely because the West’s Big Government model is bust, things are going to have to change. The West is on the cusp of dramatic changes driven by the failure of her elites, technology and mathematics. At the precise moment Big Government becomes unaffordable, the internet revolution makes it possible to do without it. Be optimistic. We are going to be able to manage without government – and thrive. The old political and economic order is about to give way to something vastly better.
Douglas Carswell was first elected as a member of the British Parliament in 2005. Prior to entering politics, he worked in commercial television and then fund management. Co-author of best-selling book, The Plan: 12 Months to Renew Britain, Douglas is an advocate of radical political reform. In 2009, UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph nominated him a Briton of the Year, and Spectator magazine readers voted him Parliamentarian of the Year. He blogs each day at www.TalkCarswell.com and has written for the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, News of the World, Telegraph and Spectator, as well as appearing on the Politics Show, Newsnight, Sky and Radio 4’s Week in Westminster and Westminster Hour.
www.douglascarswell.com
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Tangerine Dream ‘White Eagle’

LF24 Shaun Chamberlin – Energy, Environment and the Shift to Sustainability

Shaun Chamberlin on the Transition Network and the shift to a sustainable society in response to Global environmental and energy crises. Shaun is author of The Transition Timeline and blogs regularly at www.darkoptimism.org
Transition Network’s role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organise around the transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce energy consumption. These communities have started projects in the areas of food, transport, energy, education, housing, waste, arts and many more, as small-scale local responses to the global challenges of climate change, economic hardship and shrinking supplies of cheap energy. Together, these individual responses make up something much bigger, and help show a way forward for governments, business and the rest of us.
Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’Labradford ‘Mi Media Naranja’