The Breakroom
Jimmy Carter, The Future of the Democratic Party, and Social Media
Welcome to the Water Cooler
Many of you shared that you tuned in to President Jimmy Carter’s memorial service this week and that it did your hearts good. If you missed it, you can watch the full service here.
In our first new episode back from our break, Sarah and Beth reflected on President Jimmy Carter’s life and service.
Beth mentioned how meaningful Jimmy Carter’s 1979 speech, “Crisis of Confidence,” was to her and encouraged us to read it. So, we wanted to be sure you had an easy link to the full text of the speech:
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
-President Jimmy Carter, Crisis of Confidence Speech 1979
As another tribute to the former President Carter, and a dose of hope to take you into your weekend, may we recommend reading about his nearly 40 year campaign to eradicate Guinea Worm and other neglected diseases.
Many of the problems facing America in 1979: the climate, energy, consumerism, technology, and the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street (to name a few) are still relevant today. So, in the spirit of Carter’s speech and finding a path forward as we stare down a second Trump Administration, we invited California Representative Ro Khanna on to the show for the first of what we hope will be a series of whiteboard conversations addressing the question, “where do we go from here?”
We appreciated Representative Khanna’s candor and willingness to go there with us and hope you find it as refreshing and hopeful as we did.
p.s. We got a question about Representative Khanna’s involvement with the DOGE and wanted to share his statement on it if you were curious: Opinion: Democrats can work with DOGE. I know exactly where to start. (Ro Khanna via house.gov)
Word of the Week: Astroturfing
Astroturfing: organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something (such as a political policy) but that is in reality, initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization (such as a corporation) (via Merriam-Webster)
This came up because as Sarah and Beth are rethinking their relationship with social media apps, Blake Lively filed a defamation lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni about the astroturfing campaign he allegedly orchestrated to smear her in the wake of the film’s release.
The idea of astroturfing in our current media culture is so descriptive of the way it’s hard to tell whether viral news, stories, outrage, etc. is organic or being pushed on us by bots and algorithms and was a jumping off point for a real “what are we doing here?” conversation about all the apps.
What Has Social Media Become?
Sarah and Beth are together in what we’ve decided makes more sense to call “Spicy Pantsuit Politics.” After all, that’s what it is: a spicy bonus episode of the show.
As extra credit, Sarah has mentioned this story, Bad Influence (The Verge), about two Amazon influencers so many times that we wanted to be sure you read it so it can live rent-free in your heads, too.
Finally, before we leave you for the weekend, our listener Jessica shared a list of organizations offering services to evacuees affected by fires in Los Angeles.
Among the facts that I think about all the time is that if Los Angeles County were a state, it would be the 10th largest state in the US. The scale of the impact of these fires is really hard to fathom on an environmental and human level, and while it feels totally inadequate, please know that our thoughts, prayers, and hearts are with all of you in the path of these terrible fires and wind storms.
Something Nice to Take You Into the Weekend
In our Good News Brief this week, Sarah shared the story of Grandma Joy and her grandson Brad visiting all the US National Parks and beginning their journey to all seven continents. If you want to see more of them, here you go:
What We’re Reading and Listening To
What if Charity Shouldn’t Be Optimized (The New York Times)
Habits of the Heart (Richard Madsen)
Paradise Lost (John Milton)
Radical Business (David Gaines)
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In my fourth grade social study class presidential election, I voted for Jimmy Carter. I guess technically, that makes him the first president I ever voted for.
Now seems like an excellent time to get Jason Carter on the national stage.