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| 5/22/11 Theorizing Social Paranoia “You’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you.” This adage reveals a fundamental problem in addressing the question of social paranoia and the concomitant phenomenon of conspiracy theories. Without the consideration of truth content, or a commitment to some view of social reality by which we could divide rational from irrational truth claims, we are left with a formalistic account of social paranoia based solely on defining characteristics of what Richard Hofstadter famously dubbed the “paranoid style.” In this episode we seek to outline all aspects of this problem, move beyond the “moderate” liberal assumptions of the 1960s, and suggest directions for future exploration. to listen (57:56) or click here .....for download right click here |
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| 10/18/10 Manny Fried's memoir published / Science, Religion & the Black community: symposia at Howard University First, I review Manny Fried's life as labor organizer and playwright, then introduce his newly published autobiography. My second topic consists of a summary and commentary on two symposia at Howard University on 28 September, organized and moderated by student Mark Hatcher. The first was a dialogue on "The Poetry of Science" featuring Richard Dawkins and Neil de Grasse Tyson. The second was a panel on "Science and Faith in the Black Community", featuring Dawkins, Anthony Pinn, Sikivu Hutchinson, and a Mr. Stieger. Finally, provoked by a new essay collection on the new atheists I am obliged to review, I comment briefly on a pervasive historical amnesia that permeates the secular humanist/atheist community as well as its critics, gutting the totality of the history of the movement within the 20th century, which, thanks to the McCarthyism of the 1950s and the triumph of neoliberalism in the 1980s, has been effectively disappeared. to listen (59:50) or click here .....for download right click here |
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| 7/19/10 A Dying Culture, Raggedy Poets, a Farewell to Martin Gardner, and the Historical Trajectory of Secular Humanism This episode begins with an introduction and explanation of the show's new title, "Studies in a Dying Culture," borrowed from the title of a book by Christopher Caudwell in the 1930s. Ralph next reads his poem "Raggedy Poet Society", a poem about the elder generation's attempt to express itself at a time when it has become culturally obsolete. Next comes a tribute to the recently deceased writer Martin Gardner, best known for his publications on mathematical recreations and on fringe "science" and extraordinary knowledge claims. The balance of this show is devoted to setting the historical stage for the evaluation of the ideologies of the atheist/humanist/skeptical movement(s) in the USA and current controversies dividing different factions of atheists and humanists. to listen (59:10) or click here .....for download right click here |
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| 6/7/10 Centennial of the International Esperanto Congress of 1910 in Washington DC Ralph Dumain recapitulates his contributions to the national Esperanto congress that took place in Bethesda, MD, May 28-31, 2010. Ralph outlines different perspectives from which to view the 1910 International Congress, including one never before considered, the African-American perspective. Ralph reviews the coverage of the 1910 Congress in the Washington press and summarizes his progress in seeking out reports on Esperanto and international languages in the black press. The most important and earliest African-American Esperantist uncovered so far is pioneer civil rights leader William Pickens. Ralph also discusses the relevance of the Eastern European Jewish background of Esperanto's creator, Dr. L.L. Zamenhof. Ralph recites his three Esperanto translations from the poetry of William Blake along with the English originals. Fred Mohr chimes in with questions about language and music and the capacities of other animals compared with humans, and raises the directly relevant question of whether people who speak the same language really speak the same language. (59:38) or click here .....for direct download right click here |
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| 5/10/10 Flatness and Depth in Life and Thought Ralph Dumain and Fred Mohr join Richard Wicka as they discuss a variety of topics prompted by Ralph's interests and ruminations. Topics include: self-definition, autodidacticism vs. formal education, overcoming the division between everyday and intellectual life, the inadequacy of only half-way decent intellectual fare in a society barren of intelligent public discourse, the fundamental psychological problem of habit, rigidity, and fear of thought as potentially even deeper and more ingrained than social prejudice, historical changes in patterns of American racism and the consequences of de facto social segregation, the age-old question of whether language fixes thought and its boundaries, impressions upon revisiting Buffalo (including the interplay of ordinariness and eccentricity, crudity and intelligence), Ralph's interest in and historical research into the history of the Esperanto movement, and the recent upsurge of black atheism. (60:00) or click here ..... for direct download right click here For other media on Ralph Dumain: Ralph Dumain interviewed by Jim Pray, Buffalo, NY, 4 June 2006. Click here. "As Long as You Are Still Breathing": Five Minutes with Ralph Dumain (video). Click here. |
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http://www.tinyurl.com/ralph-dumain
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