Podcasting's Decline

 

Or...Maybe not

The Guardian reported in February that "the creation of new podcasts declined by 80 percent compared to the previous two years, despite viewership staying at an all-time high. Their experts point to the “Post-Pandemic Boom” of podcasts, a desire to create a podcast that has since depleted."

Maybe podcasting is just right-sizing post pandemic. The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that ad revenue from podcasts will surge to $4.2 billion by 2024. Leading the way now is celebrities and influencers. According to Conor Johnston in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, "For influencers and celebrities at the height of their careers, it seems the new necessity is having a podcast. They’re everywhere. From Emma Chamberlain, Joe Rogan and now Alix Earle joining the scene, the rise of podcasting is palpable."

And there are plenty of listeners and viewers downloading podcasts. There are 464.7 million podcast listeners globally as of 2023. This number is predicted to reach 504.9 million by 2024. The podcast industry market size is $23.56 billion. There are over 5 million podcasts globally with over 70 million episodes between them. (demandesage.com)

Not everybody is enamored with the trend of people famous for being famous creating podcasts. Conor Johnston comments, "Even after all this cash greed, they still can’t do the podcasts right. But what did we expect from people that are only famous because of their grandiose lives and beauty?"

"Personally, sitting through an influencer podcast was by far the worst experience I’ve had. One such podcast, We’re All Insane, is hosted by influencer Devorah Roloff, and is insanely famous. It’s also hard to follow, doesn’t introduce anybody involved in the podcast and involves the influencer monotonously repeating words such as “right” and “yeah” in a valley girl accent for an hour. Even worse, the podcast is video recorded, a growing phenomenon as more who join the podcasting realm rely on their image more than their words."

"Despite these podcasts being generally bad, they gain viewers because of the hosts existing fame. For podcasters trying to independently break out without any existing renown, this creates a culture of making it exceptionally hard to be a successful podcaster. This is especially true considering how expensive it is to start a podcast. In many ways, influencers joining the world of podcasts will destroy it. The scripts are hard to follow, and they rely too heavily on their previous audiences and personal images. So, if you’re an up-and-coming content creator with an inclination to start a podcast, a message from this vexed writer: don’t."

Will big bucks be the end of meaningful content, and ultimately podcasting?

You can speak your mind, if you dare.

We're encouraged to speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. - Proverbs 31:8 The Marginalized/The Destitute One million children in the UK are destitute. There are 400,000 are homeless in US. As many as 1.6 billion people lacked adequate housing (Habitat, 2015). In 2021, the World Economic Forum reported that 150 million people were homeless worldwide. Syria has the world's highest homeless rate with one-third – roughly 29.6% – of the country's 22 million population being homeless. Syria continues to have the worst displacement situation in the World.Feb 28, 2023  developmentaid.org

We cannot rely upon the silenced to tell us they are suffering. - Hanan Ashrawi  From 1991 to 1993 Ashrawi served as the official spokesperson of the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East peace process and a member of the Leadership/Guidance Committee and executive committee of the delegation. Speaking Out Is Dangerous Speaking for those who have no voice comes with risk. Any one of us who is willing to speak up and raise questions, faces threats. It doesn't matter the cause. Many have paid with their lives including: Martin Luther King, Jr Medgar Evers, murdered by a white supremacist in the driveway outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Robert F Kennedy Anna Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta journalist who reported on human rights abuses, was killed outside her flat in Moscow after returning home from the supermarket. UNESCO's data shows that there are no safe spaces for journalists. 91 of the 117 journalists killed in 2020-2021 were killed while away from their offices. Most killings occurred outside their newsrooms. Some journalists were murdered in the street or in their vehicles, and some were kidnapped to then be found dead. Several were killed in front of family members, including their children. Laura Ann Carleton, the shop owner in Arrowhead, California, shot and killed for her gay pride display in front of her store. Whole groups of people are made to disappear for their seeming threat to those in power. Amnesty International defines it this way: Victims of enforced disappearance are people who have literally disappeared, from their loved ones and their community. They go missing when state officials (or someone acting with state consent) grabs them from the street or from their homes and then deny it, or they refuse to say where they are. Toxic Speech We are living in hyper-toxic times. Social media accelerates the vitriol to dizzying speeds. On-line hate, including threats, travel at the speed of light. What can be done? Psychology Today came up with these five tips: 1. Never perpetuate hate or misinformation. Don’t forward, like, or retweet distasteful comments or images. 2. Report and flag abusive, mean, hateful content to the social platform. 3. Reach out to someone that is struggling. Private message them, even if it’s only a virtual hug. Let them know you are there for them. 4. Kindness is contagious. Talk about it with your kids. Read headlines of people doing good things for other people—then get involved. 5. Lead by example not only for your children, but for your colleagues, friends, and family. Always remember, your online behavior is a reflection of your offline character.

Community

Community Matters

I find Trump's comments about poisoning the American bloodline extremely disturbing. He's channeling Adolf Hitler. Worse, I don't hear any Republicans stepping up to protest his clearly racist rantings. As a community we must not let this stand. The first step toward community is recognizing our common humanity. Instead of seeing strangers in the dark, we recognize fellow climbers in the light. - Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage (2021)

Creator, open our hearts to peace and healing between all people. Creator, open our hearts to provide and protect for all children of the earth. - Alycia Longriver Davis

Heart of Justice

 

Standing with the facts

The heart of justice is truth telling, seeing ourselves and the world the way it is rather than the way we want it to be. 

- bell hooks, All About Love

What makes a good debate?

Debaters should not only state their claims, but also explain why they are true, relevant, and preferable. They should use logic, evidence, examples, and counter-arguments to support their positions, and address the potential objections and weaknesses of their own and their opponents' arguments. Aug 17, 2023 -Linked In 

There's an article on VOX by Keren Landman about Joe Rogan wanting a debate about vaccines. His debate would be between John F Kennedy, Jr and Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at Baylor College of Medicine. Kennedy was on Rogan's podcast. According to an article in Vice, the three-hour episode was “an orgy of unchecked vaccine misinformation, some conspiracy-mongering about 5G technology and wifi, and, of course, Rogan once again praising ivermectin, an ineffective faux COVID treatment." Hotez spoke up and criticized the conversation.
Rogan proposed a debate. Hotez refused. A debate with someone who is invested in promoting conspiracy theories is a bad idea.


Here’s why debates are actually a bad forum for discussing contentious scientific issues — and what works better.

Why debates are bad for communicating science

The next time JFK, Jr. needs medical help, maybe he can get the care he needs from the guy down at the end of the bar. He seems to know everything.

You own me?

You tell me you own me because of something you loosely call the truth, my silence is not me caving in. It's because your half-baked pronouncements are evidence of how delusional you've become. They don't deserve a response. Why would I debate someone whose arguments are based on conjecture and unproven suppositions. No, I am not an expert, but neither are you. I'm willing to check my sources because I want to know more. Are you?

International Day of the Victims of Forced Disappearence

Without a Trace

I first published this two years ago. Making people disappear seemed to be province of cruel dictators, authoritarians, not the United States. Things have changed since January of this year. Immigrants are being swept up by ICE with no due process. They may be put in camps here, or flown elsewhere to prisons, or back to the situation they were desperate to leave behind. Families are left to find loved ones.  How far we've fallen.

August 30 - International Day of the Disappeared

Tens of thousands of individuals are made to disappear every year around the world. To increase awareness of this perpetual violation of basic human rights, August 30 is set aside to increase awareness of the plight facing millions every day.

According to the UN proclamation, "Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole."

I was always aware this was happening, but it was a back burner issue. That changed. A music video from Playing for Change brought home the impact of forced disappearances and focused my attention on the issue. The links is above. Stalin, Hitler and Mao purged millions of people. Stalin summarily scooped people up, never to be heard from again. Most estimates from scholars and historians tend to range from between 20 and 60 million. In his book, “Unnatural Deaths in the U.S.S.R.: 1928-1954,” I.G. Dyadkin estimated that the USSR suffered 56 to 62 million "unnatural deaths" during that period, with 34 to 49 million directly linked to Stalin.

The history of the US is stained with this crime against humanity. The genocide of the indigenous peoples on this continent and slavery separated millions from their families and loved ones. 

In the past decade over 100,000 individuals have disappeared in Mexico.

 A Serious Violation of Human Rights

Having been removed from the protective precinct of the law and "disappeared" from society, victims of enforced disappearance are in fact deprived of all their rights and are at the mercy of their captors. Some of the human rights that enforced disappearances regularly violate are:

• The right to recognition as a person before the law;
• The right to liberty and security of the person;
• The right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
• The right to life, when the disappeared person is killed;
• The right to an identity;
• The right to a fair trial and to judicial guarantees;
• The right to an effective remedy, including reparation and compensation;
• The right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of a disappearance.

Enforced disappearances also generally violate various economic, social and cultural rights for both the victims as well as their families:

• The right to protection and assistance to the family;
• The right to an adequate standard of living;
• The right to health;
• The right to education.

People disappear for many reasons, broadly categorized as voluntary (e.g., wanting to start a new life, escape debt) or involuntary (e.g., abduction, accident, mental health crises, death). In contexts of conflict and repression, disappearances are often acts of forced disappearance committed by state or non-state actors to instill fear, eliminate dissidents, or serve political motives. (on-line sources)

Racist Attitudes Beget Racists Acts

"Where Woke Went to Die"

Woke is now defined in Webster's as being “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” and identified as U.S. slang. It originated in African American English and gained more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Racist acts in Jacksonville Florida are just a symptom of a much larger problem. It is important to understand that racism is a learned behavior. The most recent hate crime, the shooting of three innocent people, is the product of policies that tolerate, even promote racism in Florida and throughout the country. Racism, bigotry and hatred are encouraged, as can be seen in the increase in reported hate crimes.

The FBI released an update to hate crime stats in March with more complete data, and it showed the number of hate crime incidents had increased by 11.6 percent from 2021 to 2022.

The racism is coming from the top.

At a vigil for the three who were gunned down because of their skin color in Jacksonville, DeSantis got booed, and for good reason. His so-called anti-woke rhetoric encourages bigotry, racism and hatred. His take on slavery is pure Jim Crow.

The Associated Press got reactions from several sources directly affected by the shootings. 

Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon: “We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period.”

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan: “I’ve heard some people say that some of the rhetoric that we hear doesn’t really represent what’s in people’s hearts, it’s just the game. It’s just the political game. Those three people who lost their lives, that’s not a game. That’s the reality of what we’re dealing with. Please let us stop viewing each other as pieces on a game board and let us please start to see each other’s humanity. “

Rudolph McKissick, senior pastor of the historic Bethel Church in Jacksonville: “As it began to unfold, and I began to see the truth of it, my heart ached on several levels.”

In contrast, the reaction from Governor Ron DeSantis makes no mention of the climate of hate that fomented the shooting. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. He took the coward’s way out."

DeSantis chose to focus on the perpetrator rather than the bigger picture of the climate of hate that makes such acts more prevalent. The others who commented didn't miss the point. They got the bigger picture.

(The seven harmful racial practices are from the NEA.)

Three Things

 Get Together

This Song Elicits Three Things for Me

First:  I heard a Trumpian from Iowa tell people like me, "We couldn't possibly be  Christian because we're too liberal." Yeah, well, I think people who put up barriers couldn't possibly be Christian because they are too willing to exclude when we're supposed to love everyone, no exceptions. But then I think I'm being too harsh by excluding them.

Second: We are so much more effective when we are working together. There can be common ground if we are united in the commandment that we love our neighbor. Together we can find solutions that lifts people up and freely offers them the dignity they deserve.

Third: We need to change our opinions about the poor. They have not brought this on themselves. Blaming the poor vilifies them and justifies hard heartedness. By doing so, we've created an us vs them mentality. 

Getting Beyond Charity

It is the unfair distribution of wealth and holding back our gifts that results in a world that is now more divided than ever. Almost a billion people go hungry every night. 16,000 children die from hunger related causes every day. 37 million Americans rely on foodbanks and soup kitchens. We can find solutions that transform and last. Our efforts need to go beyond charity to mutual aid. In mutual-aid systems, people work cooperatively to meet the needs of everyone in the community. It’s different from charity, which features a one-way relationship between an organization and recipients, and often responds to the effects of inequality but not its causes. Mutual aid is an act of solidarity that builds sustained networks between neighbors. As prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba explained to the New Yorker: “It’s not community service — you’re not doing service for service’s sake. You’re trying to address real material needs.” -Amanda Arnold/ The Cut.com

Am I a hippy? I never thought so, but if that is what you want to call me, I'm okay with that. I am inspired by verses like this, ”And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16 NIV)  It shows the importance of serving and helping others, especially vulnerable people who do not have enough to eat.