Cited Podcast

In the last episode of the (ir)Rational Alaskans, Riki Ott, Linden O’Toole, and thousands of other Alaskan fishers won over $5 billion in punitive damages against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In our finale, while Ott and O’Toole wait for their cheques, Exxon fights back with a legal and academic appeal. In that appeal, they marshal the most-respected psychologist of a generation. The (ir)Rational Alaskans is a partnership with Canada’s National Observer. You can also read about this story in Jacobin. Additionally, you may want to watch the film documentary Black Wave to learn more about the legacy of the Exxon Valdez. For a full list of our credits, and for the rest of the episodes, visit the series page. Programming Note: This marks the end of our returning season, the Rationality Wars. We will back with another season shortly, sometime this fall. If you want to catch that season, make sure to stay subscribed to our podcast feed (Apple, Spotify, RSS). You can also stay updated by following us on X (@citedpodcast), and you can contact us directly at info [at] citedmedia.ca if you have any questions or any feedback. Finally, if you are impatient and just itching for more content, check out some of our other stuff, like: the other episodes in this season, if you joined up late; the episodes from last season, especially America’s Chernobyl; or some of the highlights from our other podcast, Darts and Letters.

Last episode, the Exxon Valdez oil spill devastates Cordova, Alaska. In this second part, 12 Angry Alaskans, a jury of ordinary Alaskans picks up our story. They muddle through the most devastating, and most complicated, environmental disaster in US history. How would they decide the case? You can listen to a trailer of the next week’s episode, Damaging Rationality. The (ir)Rational Alaskans is a partnership with Canada’s National Observer. For a full list of credits, and for the rest of the episodes, visit the series page.

After the unprecedented Exxon Valdez oil spill, a jury of ordinary Alaskans decided that Exxon had to be punished. However, Exxon fought back against their punishment. They did so, in-part, by supporting research that suggested jurors are irrational. This work came from an esteemed group of psychologists, behavioural economists, and legal theorists–including Daniel Kahneman, and Cass Sunstein. In this three-part series in partnership with Canada’s National Observer, we investigate the forgotten legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the research that followed. This first part, an Alaskan Nightmare, covers the spill and its immediate effects. Subsequent episodes will run weekly. Subscribe today to ensure you do not miss part #2, 12 Angry Alaskans, and part #3, Damaging Rationality. For a full list of credits, and for the rest of the episodes, visit the series page.

Early pollsters thought they had the psychological tools to quantify American mind, thereby enabling a truly democratic polity that would be governed by a rational public opinion. Today, we malign the misinformed public and dismiss the deluge of frivolous polls. How did the rational public become the phantom public? This is episode four of Cited’s returning season, the Rationality Wars. This season tells stories of political and scholarly battles to define rationality and irrationality. For a full list of credits, and for the rest of the episodes, visit the series page.

This week, we’re taking a little break before continuing our latest season, the Rationality Wars. We’re playing one of the our best documentary episodes from the large archive of our previous show, Darts and Letters. The episode called the Hippie High-Rise. For seven years, from 1968 to 1975, one eighteen story high-rise was the heart of Canada’s counterculture. Rochdale College in Toronto, ON, was jammed full with leftist organizers, hippies, draft dodgers, students, artists, and others just looking for a good time. Although, Rochdale wasn’t really a “college.” It was something much bigger: a political, educational, communal, artistic, and psychedelic experiment. During its time, it was endlessly lambasted by conservatives and leftists alike–until it reached its inglorious end. Today, like much of the counterculture, it’s often remembered for its problems: its ideological contradictions, drug-addled hedonism, bourgeois individualism, sexism, suicide, and more. However, is that the whole story? Were the kids in the hippie highrise onto something, …or was it indeed just one giant waste of time? Marc Apollonio investigates.

Dive into the psychological battles of El Salvador, where landholding elites used oppression as a weapon. Discover the revolutionary ideas of Ignacio Martín Baró, who championed liberation psychology amid civil unrest. Explore the legacy of collective resistance in psychology and the fight against social injustices. The podcast also examines the ramifications of violence on mental health and the significant role of memory in healing communities torn apart by conflict. A thought-provoking journey into the intersection of psychology and power.

Explore the historical shift from pathologizing diverse sexual identities to celebrating pride, highlighting the struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Learn about the impact of McCarthyism on public perception and the fight against institutional discrimination. Discover the pivotal moment when homosexuality was removed from the DSM and the complexities surrounding trans acceptance. Dive into the call for broader political movements advocating for bodily autonomy, and reflect on the importance of solidarity within the LGBTQ+ rights battles.

Exploring the origins and impact of groupthink, the podcast delves into the evolution of crowd psychology theories and Gustave Le Bon's approach. It also discusses the solidarity of professors with non-violent student protesters, the perception of homosexuality, and influential figure Gustave Le Bon's impact on crowd psychology and politics.

The Rationality Wars tells stories about the political and intellectual battles to define rationality and irrationality. Behind every definition of rationality, somebody benefits, and somebody is harmed. We ask: what does it mean to be rational?; what does it mean to be irrational?; and most of all, who gets to decide? Episodes run weekly starting June 24th, throughout July and into August.

Hanford is the most-polluted place in America. On our last episode, you heard about the nuclear plant’s largely-forgotten history–how it poisoned the people living downwind. On our season finale: a nuclear safety auditor tries to get it shut down, the downwinders struggle for justice, and we take you into the plant itself. The story of Hanford reveals that expertise is always a political battle, and never as straightforward as simply collecting facts–whether it’s executives putting profit over a safety auditor’s well-documented warnings, a community-based research pitted against government-backed studies, or turning a world-changing nuclear reactor into a dull scientific lecture. ———-MORE———- You can also find related articles on our website, citedpodcast.com. Including articles by our research assistant, Nicole Yakashiro, including: a detailed Hanford timeline, as well as the colonial history of the Hanford site. Plus, a transcript. ———-PROGRAMMING NOTE———- Sadly, this is the last episode of our season! We’ll be back in Spring 2021, but we’ll be launching a new show in the meantime. You’ll find the first few episodes in this feed, so stay subscribed. The best way to stay abreast of our plans for our new season is to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You’ll hear about it there first. Plus, while you’re waiting, you might want to check out some of the other stuff that our team makes. Like Crackdown, a podcast about the drug war, covered by drug users as war correspondents. ———-FEEDBACK——— How did you like the season? Which was your favourite episode, which was your least favourite episode? What should we do next? Let us know! Email your feedback to info@citedmedia.ca–we might just read it on the show. ———-CREDITS——— This episode was produced Gordon Katic and Polly Leger. With editing support from Acey Rowe. Nicole Yakashiro was our research assistant, and Aurora Tejeida was our fact-checker. Our theme song and original music is by our composer, Mike Barber. Dakota Koop is our graphic designer. Our production manager is David Tobiasz, and executive producers are Gordon Katic and Sam Fenn. We’d like to thank historian Sarah Fox author of “Downwind: A People’s History of the Nuclear West,” as well as Kate Brown, author of “Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters.” Check those out, and also check out Michael D’Antonio’s “Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America’s Nuclear Arsenal.” These books were indispensable to us, and we highly recommend them. If you want to learn more about the Downwinder lawsuits against Hanford, we recommend: The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight For Atomic Justice. That’s from Trisha T. Pritikin, with a forward from Karen Dorn Steele Thanks to the many others we talked to along the way– including historians Linda M. Richards and Robert Franklin. As well as, Trisha Pritikin, Tom Carpenter, John Fox, and Maynard Plahuta. Thanks also to Karen Richards who helped record our interview with Patricia Hoover. This episode was funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. It’s part of a larger project on the politics of historical commemoration. Professor Eagle Glassheim at the University of British Columbia is the academic lead on that project. Cited is produced out of the Centre of Ethics at the University of Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. Cited is also produced out of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia — that’s on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.