This episode takes a look at that elusive idea of defining what art is.  Where does that spark of creativity come from?  What drives human beings to take an idea from our mind and create something in the physical world?  As a starting point for this conversation we take a look back throughout history to see what people far smarter than all of us have to say about art and the role of art within human society. At a very basic level, any art (both good and bad) is just the product of a human being expressing something that first occurred in the mind.  In fact,  the majority of art is never put on display in a gallery.  The society in which we live defines the value of art for us and determines what is displayed in a gallery.  However, maybe the 'value' of art should be a personal definition.We then hear from a working artist on the dilemma between making a living from art, but also being able to artistically develop and explore with that fear in the back of your mind that 'no one will buy this'.  How exactly does tying commerce (capitalism) to art affect the art?  And, on the other end of that question, how does it affect the definition of art in the mind of the consumer of that art?In previous generations, art was produced and boundaries were pushed due to a societal circumstance that we no longer experience - boredom.  When we have the ability to entertain ourselves 24/7, we are never bored.  Without the presence of boredom, we are never forced to entertain ourselves.  To create something from nothing.  There is current scientific data that shows human creativity is on the decline (specifically in the USA) due to our lack of being bored.  The good news is that the solution is simple and fun.  We all just have to play and explore a lot more. Rhyme intended. [Click to Listen]Song Credits:Land of 7 Billion Dances - The CoupCome and Check Your Head - Blue King BrownAll's Fair in Love and Dubstep - SkrillixVitamin C - CanAll That You Paid For - Falling SicknessBoredom - S.T.U.N.Brand New Colony - The Postal ServiceOn the Corner - Miles Davis$o$ - Die AntwoordOnly Getting Younger - Elliphant

Mic Check Radio

The Spark

We start off the show with some poetry:Bulls On Parade by Rage Against the MachineFor our In The News segment on this show we take a look at the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the odd circumstances surrounding his death.  We're not talking about who should replace him on the bench or if President Obama should nominate someone or just wait and let President Trump do it after the election in November...we're talking about the actual circumstances surrounding his death as reported on by the Washington Post and how this type of reporting is the breeding ground for conspiracy theories.Next up we have a Holy Shit segment looking at a Q&A that former presidential candidate and revisionist American history author Ben Carson recently participated in at the Pat Robertson founded Regents University (formerly the Christian Broadcasting Network University).  In the brief clip we play, Carson rewrites United States history and then promises to "eliminate the ban on Christianity in public schools". [Click to Listen]

MCR 3.08.16

We start off the show with some poetry:Even When There's Little Choice, We Choose by Nicholas GordonFor our In The News segment on this show we take our one and only looks at the Republican and Democrat primary season.  We have a clip from each side that proves the two party political machine is still very much in control and knows what they are doing.  If that isn't convincing enough, we also have an audio clip from Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corporation, explaining to shareholders how Donald Trump is great for business.   Next up we have a quick Activist Cinema segment looking at the #OscarsSoWhite "conversation" surrounding this years Academy Awards and why it's great to draw attention to the racism in the entertainment industry...but it's still and industry and the Oscars are just their Employee of the Year awards.  So don't watch them. [Click to Listen] 

MCR 2.23.16

We start off the show with some poetry:Incident by Countee CullenNext up we have and installment of Holy Shit where we take a look at (and listen to) the radio show Fortress of Faith and their list of questions to help figure out whether or not "Your Muslim friend is a terrorist".  It would be a funnier list if it wasn't being taken so seriously by the shows host (and presumably his listeners).For our In the News segment on this episode, we take a closer look at the family that is truly at the center of the Bureau of Land Management occupation and subsequent debacle out in Oregon...the Hammond's.  Ammon Bundy and his group, Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, may have grabbed the headlines in the corporate media, but, the real victims in this case are Dwight and Steven Hammond.  They were re-sentanced back in the fall of 2015 and given longer jail sentences under the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.  [Click to Listen]

MCR 2.09.16

We're starting off 2016 with a new format for the show.  Mic Check Radio is now a bi-weekly show.We start off this show with some poetry:Ballad of the Landlord by Langston HughesNext up is an installment of the FBI Files, as we take a look at the sad entrapment case of Emanuel L. Lutchman. You can read the Criminal Complaint against him here.We also bid farewell to 2015 by going over the fascinating results of the Pew Research Center's '15 Striking Findings From 2015'. [Click to Listen]

MCR 1.26.16

We finish up our year end wrap up of Activist Cinema from 2015 with a brief discussion of some prominent LGBTQ films (The Danish Girl, Stonewall, Freeheld, Carol and About Ray) and how they were mostly not that good...but that is okay.  We also compare the narrative device used in the film Stonewall with the exact same device used in the film Suffragette and how the critics hated it in one film, but loved it in another.  There were also two notable films, one produced independently (99 Homes) and one produced by Hollywood (The Big Short), that tackle the issue of the housing market collapse of 2008.  Then, we move onto the Activist Film of 2015, Chi-Raq.  Spike Lee has created another brilliant film (see also: Bamboozled) that captures the zeitgeist of the times in a way that few filmmakers working today are capable of doing.  [Click to Listen]

Activist Cinema 2015 Part 2

We start off our annual year end wrap up with some news about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigating the hiring practices of the major Hollywood studios.  Turns out, the entertainment industry is shallow, image obsessed and sexist towards women.  Hopefully this investigation will have better results than the 1969 investigation by the EEOC...or the 1983 class action law suit by the Directors Guild of America. We also take quick look at a few of the essential documentary films of 2015.Merchants of DoubtCartel LandBest of EnemiesHe Named Me Malala[Click to Listen]

Activist Cinema 2015 Part 1

It's a really shitty time to be a kid in the world today, especially if you are one of the 250 million girls under the age of 15 who are forcibly married off by their family each year.  UNICEF and Girls Not Brides are trying their best to raise awareness and combat child marriage, but on some parts of this planet a daughter is a commodity to be sold.  Some daughters as young as 8.  Often times to men old enough to be her father or grandfather.  Unfortunately, the boys of Afghanistan don't have it any better.  The centuries old practice of "bacha baazi" ("boy-play") has returned to Afghanistan, essentially making child rape a cultural norm.  Boys, from 9 to 15 years old, dance for "kaatah" ("owners") in large dance hall parties before being sexually abused.  How culturally normal is this practice?  The occupying forces of the US Military are specifically told not to interfere. [Click to Listen].

Episode III : Child Brides and Dancing Boys

It's a really shitty time to be a kid in the world today, especially if your family is religious.  Specifically if your family is Catholic and poor.  In this episode we take a look at the abuse of children by degenerate priests, bishops, cardinals...basically white males in positions of power within the Catholic church.  From the 2002 stories published by the Boston Globe Spotlight team to the wonderful work that survivors of abuse are doing to help each other try and heal, the Internet has played a very significant role in exposing the centuries long cover-up by this powerful, worldwide religious organization. [Click to Listen]

Episode II : Finem Puer Abusum

It's a really shitty time to be a kid in the world today.  Over 2 million of them will go thru the well oiled machine that is the international sex slave market.  On this episode we look at how a human trafficking bust in New Jersey was a catalyst for Peter Landesman, a journalist, to travel the world and expose the system that keeps this market thriving (Click for Article).  And the humans sold in this market are getting younger and younger.  [Click to Listen]

Episode I : The Lost Children of Hamelin

We are all affected by it...call it advertising, propaganda, programming, social engineering, psychological operations, or whatever other term could be applied.  The act of a force outside of your mind trying to convince you to do something.  In this installment we take a look at the world of propaganda we are currently stuck with.  At this stage, we have to look past political ideologies to the one true underlying factor that guides the programming...money.  Our coverage begins with the good intentions found within the Church Committee.  But, it turned out to just be a bunch of words on pages.  Corporations continued their financial hijacking of democracy.  Now, the CIA has their own Media Liaison Office, the Government of Mexico bought a scene in 007's newest adventure - Spectre, a retired senator is Hollywood's top lobbyist, NPR and CNN are employing active duty Army officers and the First Lady presents Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  Not since late 1930's Germany have the government and the media been so well separated. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 7): The World We Live In

In this fifth and final episode of the Mic Check Radio Book Club series we conclude with the final chapters of the audio book, Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928.  Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry".  It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today.  This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics.  On this episode we will hear Chapter 8: Propaganda for Education, Chapter 9: Propaganda in Social Service, Chapter 10: Art and Science and Chapter 11: The Mechanics of Propaganda. [Click to Listen]

Propaganda (1928): Part 5

We are all affected by it...call it advertising, propaganda, programming, social engineering, psychological operations, or whatever other term could be applied.  The act of a force outside of your mind trying to convince you to do something.  In this installment we take a look at a perfect storm that developed starting in the 1950's.  After WWII, there was a mass exodus of white citizens leaving the major cities of America and settling in the newly created suburbs.  This is the birth of the 'cute' little suburban home with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids.  We look specifically at a place called Levittown as well as just how powerful "car culture" became, economically speaking.  Once everyone is sectioned off in their suburban homes...along comes TV.  Literally, a box of bright, flashing, blinking images set to audio is sold to the American public - and we all wanted one.  What better device than this to sell the idea of the "American Dream".  The TV was specifically used as a psychological weapon to target Women.  There was a concentrated effort to get Women into the kitchen, to stay put in the home and be grateful to have found a man to provide everything.  I suggest standing up for the last few minutes of this show as we will be playing audio from advertisements trying to sell consumer goods to women and the sexism will make you want to pace and curse. [Click to Listen]

We Are Being Programmed (Part 6): 1984 in the 1960's

As we work thru some serious computer issues, here is a rebroadcast from the archives.  It dovetails perfectly with the upcoming Episode 6 in our We Are Being Programmed series.Sunday, August 11, 2013Way back in 1987 a government funded study, Perception of Risk, was published in the journal Science.  While the study is officially a look at how the general public evaluates and perceives risk, it also reads as a manual for the manipulation of the public's fear and the unrealistic desire to live in a "zero risk society". [Click to Listen]

[Rebroadcast] The Manipulation of Our Fear

In this fourth episode of the Mic Check Radio Book Club series we continue with the audio book of Propaganda by Edward L Burnays, published in 1928.  Noam Chomsky has called this book "the main manual of the public relations industry".  It may be 87 years old, but the ideas and concepts are still used (and successful) today.  This book explores the psychology of manipulating the masses in order to influence consumerism, politics, social change and gender dynamics.  On this episode we will hear Chapter 6: Propaganda and Political Leadership & Chapter 7: Women's Activities and Propaganda. [Click to Listen]

Propaganda (1928): Part 4

Dispatches on Activist Culture and Politics

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