Our Future on the Line 2024: WPKN Election Podcasts

Sarah Kendzior (best-selling author, journalist) interviewed by WPKN's Brendan Toller

Oct 8, 2024

In this engaging discussion, Sarah Kendzior, a bestselling author and journalist renowned for her incisive analysis of authoritarianism, shares her insights on the political landscape ahead of the 2024 election. She candidly addresses the despair stemming from climate change and political corruption, emphasizing the decline of genuine interactions due to technology. Kendzior also reflects on the need for hope amidst challenges, critiques U.S. foreign influence, and highlights the healing power of outlaw country music against contemporary crises while stressing the importance of preserving America's moral integrity.

48:44

Creator website

Episode guests

Sarah Kendzior

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The podcast emphasizes that societal failures should not be internalized as personal shortcomings, shedding light on systemic corruption and dysfunction.

A critical examination of political dynamics reveals that both major parties may perpetuate corruption, necessitating demand for transparency and accountability in governance.

Deep dives

The Weight of Institutional Failure

The podcast discusses the overwhelming burden of societal issues that ordinary citizens are expected to navigate amid climate catastrophes, corruption, and political dysfunction. The speaker highlights how individuals internalize feelings of inadequacy, believing that it is their personal responsibility to solve these systemic failures. This phenomenon reflects a broader trend of conditioning people to accept institutional failures as personal shortcomings, creating an environment of despair and helplessness. It's emphasized that individuals should not bear the blame for these failures, which are rooted in corruption and ineffective governance.

Intro

2min

Despair, Technology, and Political Disillusionment

20min

Navigating Emotions: Hope, Faith, and Despair in Challenging Times

3min

Political Tensions and Foreign Influence

13min

Healing Melodies of Outlaw Country

6min

Preserving America's Identity and Moral Compass

4min

Sarah Kendzior discusses the current state of affairs ahead of the 2024 U.S. Election.

https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/

SARAH KENDZIOR BIO

I am the bestselling author of THE VIEW FROM FLYOVER COUNTRY (2018), HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020), and THEY KNEW (2022). My next book, THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP, will come out in 2025. From 2018 until 2013, I was the co-host of Gaslit Nation, a weekly podcast which covers corruption in the United States and the rise of authoritarianism around the world. I live in St. Louis, Missouri.

I now write essays regularly at Sarah Kendzior’s Newsletter. It’s free — you should subscribe!

I am well-known for my coverage of the Trump administration and its aftermath and for writing about authoritarianism, kleptocracy, transnational organized crime, racism and xenophobia, media, voting rights, technology, the environment, and corruption, among other topics.

From 2016-2020, I was a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail, and from 2012-2024, I was a columnist for Al Jazeera English. I have written for dozens of other outlets including Fast Company, NBC News, POLITICO, Quartz, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, Marie Claire, De Correspondent, The Atlantic, Medium, Radio Free Europe, POLITICO Europe, The Chicago Tribune, The Baffler, Blue Nation Review, Alive Magazine, Ethnography Matters, The Common Reader, The New York Daily News, La Stampa, Slate, World Policy Journal, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Belt Magazine, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Teen Vogue, City AM, Opinio Juris, HRDCVR, World Politics Review, Shondaland, and The New York Times.

In addition to working as a journalist, I am a researcher and scholar. I have a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in Saint Louis (2012) and an MA in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University (2006). Most of my work focuses on the authoritarian states of the former Soviet Union and how the internet affects political mobilization, self-expression, and trust.

My academic research has been published in American Ethnologist, Problems of Post-Communism, Central Asian Survey, Demokratizatsiya, Nationalities Papers, Social Analysis, and the Journal of Communication.

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