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Barely Gettin' By

RMIT University

Trained historians Chloe Ward and Emma Shortis discuss, analyse and critique the big issues of our time. To figure out the events shaping our world, they apply critical thinking with history-charged commentary.The pair didn’t predict Brexit, Trump or the Australian election. So, they’re slowing down to unpack and review: this is your explainer on what’s really going on. Barely Gettin' By is sponsored by RMIT.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Society & CultureSociety & Culture

Episodes

COP26 Special: Our Exceptional Friend
Oct 28 2021
COP26 Special: Our Exceptional Friend
Barely Gettin' By might be on a lockdown hiatus, but the climate news keeps coming. In the lead up to the all-important COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, this special episode examines the historic relationship between Australia and the United States when it comes to climate change. Emma reads an extract from her book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, and asks what that relationship might mean for Glasgow, and the future.ReadingEmma Shortis, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States (Hardie Grant, 2021), https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/our-exceptional-friend-by-emma-shortis/9781743797839Climate Council Australia, From Paris to Glasgow: A World on the Move, 21 October 2021, https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/paris-glasgow-world-move/Wesley Morgan, “What is COP26 and why does the fate of Earth, and Australia’s prosperity, depend on it?” The Conversation, 14 October 2021, https://theconversation.com/what-is-cop26-and-why-does-the-fate-of-earth-and-australias-prosperity-depend-on-it-169648Angela Dewan, “Australia is shaping up to be the villain of COP26 climate talks,” CNN, 13 September 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/12/australia/australia-climate-cop26-cmd-intl/index.htmlMichael Slezak and Penny Timms, ‘Climate change report from IPCC a 'code red for humanity', United Nations chief warns’ ABC News Online, 9 August 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-09/coal-climate-change-global-warming-ipcc-report-released/100355952 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
You're not Woodward and Bernstein!
Oct 8 2020
You're not Woodward and Bernstein!
This week, we can’t not talk about the President of the United States contracting coronavirus. But instead of speculating about Trump’s illness and what it might mean, Emma and Chloe discuss what it reveals about American healthcare. They also take a look at the Senate, and how some previously safe seats like Lindsay Graham’s in South Carolina have some Republicans worried this election cycle.They also take a look at the role of the media in US politics, and the legacy of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. Watergate reshaped the relationship between the White House and journalism; journalists became focused on accountability, but also on glamourous, ‘gotcha’ moments, helping to create a journalistic tradition removed from the public interest.Finally, Emma and Chloe take a look at why Americans do and don’t vote, explaining just how different our own compulsory voting system is to a voluntary system mired by racist voter suppression.Links:Felipe De La Hoz in the New Republic on the vast inequalities of American healthcare: https://newrepublic.com/article/159550/covid-symptoms-outlast-insuranceSlate covers the South Carolina Senate race: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/lindsey-graham-jaime-harrison-south-carolina-senate.htmlAnd don’t forget to subscribe to the Barely Getting By newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/3B47D9547CCBBA3E2540EF23F30FEDED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Introducing Season Three - American Carnage
Sep 18 2020
Introducing Season Three - American Carnage
In the year 2020 where everything seems to have gone wrong, your often confused, occasionally insightful and (sometimes) optimistic hosts Emma and Chloe are once again making sense of the present by looking at the past.In season three our historical experts go back four years, to when the world turned on its head when Donald Trump won the US Presidential election and set the stage for the now tumultuous present the United States finds itself in.This season, Shortis and Ward are using history to navigate and make sense of what is undoubtedly a turning point in the United States’ future. Across eight episodes they’ll break down key moments in the 2020 campaign, campaigns past, and the inner workings of American democracy.Why does a Green New Deal need to be much more ambitious than its much-mythologised predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s?How did Watergate shape the fourth estate’s relationship with the White House to this day, and why did America’s pundit class insist on taking the wrong lessons from the scandal?And for those of us increasingly confused by the ins and outs of the Electoral College, which has determined the fate of so many would-be presidents, learn how the origins of the system can be traced to America’s oldest and most maligned tradition of all – slavery.Barely Getting' By Season 3 launches Thursday 24 September – and this time around, Emma and Chloe are adding something new: a weekly newsletter covering the history behind the major events of this election cycle, plus some recommended readings to guide you through the overwhelming onslaught.Subscribe to the newsletter here https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/3B47D9547CCBBA3E2540EF23F30FEDED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 11 Part 3 - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Jul 23 2020
Episode 11 Part 3 - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
11.1 Battle for Seattle11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended?LinksHarry Cheadle, How Seattle Police in 1999 Set the Terrible Example Others Have Followed Ever Since, Daily Beast, 14 June 2020 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-seattle-police-in-1999-set-the-terrible-example-others-have-followed-sinceMark Engler, The Legacy of “Anti-Globalization”, Dissent, 19 September 2011,https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-legacy-of-anti-globalizationFeyzi Ismael, Protest has helped define the first two decades of the 21st century – here’s what’s next, The Conversation, 30 December 2019, https://theconversation.com/protest-has-helped-define-the-first-two-decades-of-the-21st-century-heres-whats-next-128745Dara Lind, Everyone's heard of the Patriot Act. Here's what it actually does, Vox, 2 June 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explainMax Fisher, Lessons of the Oklahoma City Bombing, The Atlantic, 19 April 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/lessons-of-the-oklahoma-city-bombing/345921/Jamelle Bouie, The March of White Supremacy, From Oklahoma City to Christchurch, 18 March 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opinion/mcveigh-new-zealand-white-supremacy.htmlJ.M. Berger, The Strategy of Violent White Supremacy is Evolving, The Atlantic, 7 August 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/the-new-strategy-of-violent-white-supremacy/595648/Annika Neklason, The Columbine Blueprint, The Atlantic, 19 April 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/columbines-20th-anniversary-mass-media-shooting/587359/Rachel Tresiman, Poll: Number Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Continues ToGrow, NPR, 20 October 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/10/20/771278167/poll-number-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-continues-to-growArundhati Roy, My Seditious Heart (particularly “the Algebra of Infinite Justice”), Penguin 2019https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizationsArundhati Roy, ‘Things Can’t Go On Like This’, National Herald, 20 July 2020, https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/things-cant-go-on-like-this-author-activist-arundhati-roy-writes-to-jailed-friend-prof-saibabaCreditsBattle in Seattle, 1999 - AP ArchivesGeorge W. Bush Excerpts, Sept. & Nov. 2001 - George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 11 Part 2 - The Algebra of Infinite Justice
Jul 23 2020
Episode 11 Part 2 - The Algebra of Infinite Justice
11.1 Battle for Seattle11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended?LinksHarry Cheadle, How Seattle Police in 1999 Set the Terrible Example Others Have Followed Ever Since, Daily Beast, 14 June 2020 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-seattle-police-in-1999-set-the-terrible-example-others-have-followed-sinceMark Engler, The Legacy of “Anti-Globalization”, Dissent, 19 September 2011,https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-legacy-of-anti-globalizationFeyzi Ismael, Protest has helped define the first two decades of the 21st century – here’s what’s next, The Conversation, 30 December 2019, https://theconversation.com/protest-has-helped-define-the-first-two-decades-of-the-21st-century-heres-whats-next-128745Dara Lind, Everyone's heard of the Patriot Act. Here's what it actually does, Vox, 2 June 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explainMax Fisher, Lessons of the Oklahoma City Bombing, The Atlantic, 19 April 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/lessons-of-the-oklahoma-city-bombing/345921/Jamelle Bouie, The March of White Supremacy, From Oklahoma City to Christchurch, 18 March 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opinion/mcveigh-new-zealand-white-supremacy.htmlJ.M. Berger, The Strategy of Violent White Supremacy is Evolving, The Atlantic, 7 August 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/the-new-strategy-of-violent-white-supremacy/595648/Annika Neklason, The Columbine Blueprint, The Atlantic, 19 April 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/columbines-20th-anniversary-mass-media-shooting/587359/Rachel Tresiman, Poll: Number Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Continues ToGrow, NPR, 20 October 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/10/20/771278167/poll-number-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-continues-to-growArundhati Roy, My Seditious Heart (particularly “the Algebra of Infinite Justice”), Penguin 2019https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizationsArundhati Roy, ‘Things Can’t Go On Like This’, National Herald, 20 July 2020, https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/things-cant-go-on-like-this-author-activist-arundhati-roy-writes-to-jailed-friend-prof-saibabaCreditsBattle in Seattle, 1999 - AP ArchivesGeorge W. Bush Excerpts, Sept. & Nov. 2001 - George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.