Tag Archives: steve almond

Steve Almond on the Post-Jon Stewart Era

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steve-almondWhen Jon Stewart recently announced his plan to leave the Daily Show – the fake news show that has steadily become the go-to news-source for millions of Americans – one fan of the show, Steve Almond, chose to see it as a positive development. Almond, a humorist and author of popular books such as Candyfreak, Against Football, and Rock ‘n Roll Will Save Your Life, believes that Americans have come to lean on savvy, insightful comedic news shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as a sort of crutch, an all-too-often substitute for getting off the couch and making an actual difference in the real world.Read the show transcript

Steve Almond Pt. 2: On The United States of Irrationality

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Author Steve Almond is an astute observer of American topics as disparate as candy, rock & roll and politics. This week on Sea Change Radio, in the second half of his two-part discussion with host Alex Wise, Almond delves into the environmental movement and the moral quandary of a society that so desperately wants to have its cake and eat it too. Almond believes that behind the politics of war and deception lies a lack of empathy and willful ignorance – and that in order to have a serious discussion that advances issues as vital as the global climate crisis we must be willing to address our “imperial luxuries and abuses,” and honestly consider the “deprivations suffered in less fortunate precincts.”

Steve Almond Pt. 1: On Magical Thoughts

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Magical thinking. According to the McGraw Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine, this is a condition, “similar to a normal stage of childhood development, in which thoughts, words or actions assume a magical power, and are able to prevent or cause events to happen without a physical action occurring.” If you think this sounds a little bit like our policy approach to the climate crisis, you’re not alone. Our guest this week on Sea Change Radio is Steve Almond, author, social commentator, and a highly opinionated gentleman. Today, in Part 1 of our two-part discussion, he rails against an infantile, narcissistic mindset that allows denial of science and inaction on the environment. Listen now as Almond and host Alex Wise jaw about the media response to 9/11, scolding our children, and our inalienable right to big sodas.

Click here for the second part of the discussion.