Download: Written Off – Episode 1.3 – Free Speech and You

Keeping our promise of once-a-week podcasts, Kempa and I tackle free speech this week, expounding from Saudi Arabian anti-blasphemy laws to the question of free speech as a “fundamental human right.”  We also discuss what in the world a “fundamental human right” is and how, if at all, free speech qualifies as one. There’s also some talk of flag burning, the United Nations, and Taylor Swift, all nestled tightly in our half-hour segment.

We hope you enjoy, and remember (as always) that we know that you know that we don’t know.

Edit: Audio issues fixed (March 25, 10:52 PM CDT)

Download: Written Off – Episode 1.2 – Syria, Twitter and Citizen Journalism

In our triumphant return to knowing that you know that we don’t know, Chris and I today discuss the role that social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook can play in social and political movements around the world.

Lately, we’ve been trying to better understand the Syrian revolution, particularly the ways in which Syrian activists have utilized social media as a tool for informing the world at large of the events taking place in their home country.

Using social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, a number of Syrians and Syrian-Americans have grown to be viewed as reliable sources of information on the now yearlong uprising. Chris and I discuss how this happens, how one person can build up a following and become a trusted resource for his or her peers and followers, and how marketing and branding elements can help in building a platform for one’s cause.

Go ahead. Give the episode a listen. Enjoy.

And, as always, tell us what you think.

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Some links for further research:

Chris’ profile on his colleague, Syrian-American poet and activist, Dr. Mohja Kahf

Kempa on who to follow in the Syrian uprising, and Kempa on the Syrian activists’ struggle to be heard on Twitter

Definition of citizen journalism, which is hopefully much more accurate/informative than Kempa’s ramblings on the podcast.

Yes. We know. It’s been a while. We know it’s been a while. We’re sorry. We hope you hadn’t forgotten about us. Had you forgotten about us? For what it’s worth, we’ve missed you.

In any case, we’re back — with a few minor changes. Here are the changes. We hope you appreciate them:

1. Chris and Kempa will now be recording and broadcasting an episode of Written Off every Sunday. No exceptions. Every Sunday. Recorded and ready for you, one whole day ahead of your Monday morning commute. This, we believe, is a good change. We hope you like this change.
2. We will now put forth a conscious effort to bring each episode of Written Off down to 15-20 minutes. We’re doing this for a number of reasons, but the main one is that we think we’re more engaging and enjoyable for you if we keep it down to fifteen or so minutes. You’ve got busy lives. We get it. We get that you’ve got busy lives.
3. We’re playing with some audio options. Chris is still in Arkansas, and Kempa is currently in Tucson, Arizona, so things still aren’t perfect with our audio. Bear with us while we work out the kinks, and please feel free to throw out some ideas for how we can fix that.
4. We may begin hosting our podcast on a social media news website. We’ll let you know how that pans out.

So. There you are. Stay tuned today for our return episode of Written Off, in which we discuss Twitter, Syria and the effects that social media and citizen journalism have had on social and political movements around the world. It’s a good episode. Give it a listen.

Thank you. I love you.

– Kempa

The Kempster and my second podcast should be go time by tomorrow afternoon for your listening enthrallment. But to tide you over until then, here are a few brief words of introduction:

We plan on discussing a lot of different elements about memes and their relationship to the internet; particularly, we are interested in the ethics behind laughing at memes of a certain stripe, as well as the wide-ranging nature of their impact and what place the endemic nature of the meme has. And also about how they’re often funny. Very funny. And sometimes very not.

Check out some of the links above. Start thinking about thinking about responding to the points we bring up. And get ready to post any comments you might have. Unlike last week, Dave and I are going to be making a concerted effort to reply to each and every comment posted. We want this to be a dialogue.

But for now….enjoy the suspense!

–CW

Hopefully by now you’ve had a chance to listen to our inaugural podcast. If you haven’t go do that. Now. Or later. We talked about a lot of aspects of the long arm of the law vis-a-vis its role in the community. Or more specifically how its presence in the community affects its ability to effectively have a presence in the community. Or something like that. But you heard the podcast. You know.

I wanted to take the opportunity this blog presents to bring up something I meant to bring up in the podcast but didn’t get to. Week in and week out, Kempa and I intend to use this blog for that very purpose–as a way to expand the dialogue of the podcast and a way to bring the Written Off community into the discussion. So feel free to bombard us with comments. We relish them, so long as they cut the mustard. Ketchup.

Anyway, I’ve been reading a lot of comic books lately. Or rather, I should say “graphic novels” to try to preserve some semblance of intellectualitude. In any case, I have been gravitating to some of the darker works of Frank Miller and Garth Ennis–particularly their work on Batman and The Punisher. There is something fascinating to me about vigilanteism. And it’s not just me. America often seems to be compelled by these characters. Movies like Dirty Harry, Die Hard, and The Boondock Saints (among many others) all captivated their respective decades. And of course, The Dark Knight was one of the more popular movies of the 2000’s. All these movies feature people who audiences admired for taking the law into their own hands–and exceeding traditional law enforcement methods along the way.

Why do we gravitate to this? In reality, we don’t want people taking the law into their own hands. We think of people who think they can do their jobs better than police officers and federal officials as being arrogant, corrupt opportunists, or worse. I would argue that the idea that is so appealing to us about vigilanteism lies in its wish fulfillment.

Let’s look at Batman (at the risk of writing a blog post in which the author writes sentences that begin “Let’s look at Batman). What is the appeal of Batman? It is not that he “fights crime” in and of itself. Batman’s appeal lies in him being the world’s greatest detective and crimefighter (or so the tagline goes). In other words, Batman is important because Batman is better than your average police officer. In Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One” (the comic series on which Batman Begins was based), Batman’s career as crimefighter begins because the police in the fictional Gotham City are too corrupt to rid the city of the organized crime poisoning it. Batman is in many ways an angel of judgment–not just a force to attack and punish criminals, but a force worthy of judging criminals. Batman (and other vigilantes) violate the law, but only because they know better than the law how to apply the law. At the risk of writing a self-parodic sentence: Batman is strong, but more importantly Batman is wise and Batman is good.

Of the above vigilante movies I mentioned, I find only the Boondock Saints to be morally obnoxious. Why? Because the vigilante heroes of that series are only strong. The two brothers who team up to fight crime on the hyperbolically Irish streets of Boston are borderline dunces–neither of whom seems to be capable of using more than ten words per sentence–and their idea of justice is punishing that which strikes them as biblically unsound. In my vigilante escapism, that strikes me as a bit too close to reality, no? Patrol men whose only qualifications for patrolling crime being superior strength behind their beliefs and the knowledge of a byzantine code? Though Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and Bruce Willis’s John McClane are no intellectuals, they seem driven to vigilanteism–Harry Callahan must resort to extreme measures to save a young girl from a serial killer and John McClane is trapped in Nakatomi Towers with an evil supergenius who means to kill his wife. By contrast, the Saints declare war on the mob because after they go out of their way to pick a bar fight with a mobster, that mobster tries to kill them.

The point of this post is not to take potshots at The Boondock Saints, or even to extol the virtues of Frank Miller’s Batman (although both are things I’m more than willing to do if you’re willing to buy me a whiskey and listen). But I think it’s interesting that these sorts of movies and heroes hold such appeal. What are outlaw heroes but a subliminal expression of dissatisfaction with the efficacy of the law? Okay, well that is obvious. However: Is the vigilante hero really–as many claim–an expression of frustration with the limitations of law in general? Or a reaction to a perceived incompetence in the enforcement of said law, as explored in our podcast? In other words, does Batman fascinate us because the Batman will always be necessary? Or because the particular failings of our society (particularly vis-a-vis law enforcement) make him necessary?

I don’t know. What do you think?

Hello there.

This the first episode of Written Off. It is a nice episode. As it is our first episode, we thought we’d keep things light. So. This week we discuss broken windows theory, the police force’s relationship with the public and Kempa’s recent brush with the law.

Are you listening to it? If so, thank you for listening. We like that. We like that you’re listening. In fact, we like that you’re listening so much that we would like to listen to you. What do you think of our podcast? Do you have any recommendations for improvement? How do you sleep at night?

If you enjoyed listening to Written Off, please let others know about us. It’s rude if you don’t. Don’t you want your friends and family to be happy? We think you do. So. Let them know about us already.

Thank you.

-CW and DK

Direct Download: Written Off – 1.1 – Police
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We reference some things. If you’d like to know more about these things, follow the below links:

broken windows theory

This American Life Episode 414: Right to Remain Silent (jump to 17:00)

Ohio officer threatening concealed carry gun owner

Illinois woman arrested for recording her attempt to file a police report against an officer

Phoenix police officer throws 15-year-old girl into a wall

Chicago police officer beats a female bartender

We are Chris Wong and Dave Kempa. We are writers. And now podcasters. And also, it seems, bloggers.

Chris Wong lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is a poet, I think. Dave Kempa lives in Brooklyn, New York. He does journalism, but I am not so sure that he is currently employed.

This here is the blog for Chris Wong and Dave Kempa’s podcast, Written Off. It is a show that has a theme, but does not necessarily have a theme. I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain this. Why don’t you just listen to the show already? Our first episode can be found on the next post.

Thank you. We love you. Don’t ever drink and drive.