011: Picking the Flowers, Not the Weeds

The Future Is A Mixtape

Beyond just talking about rabbits shitting outside their cages, in this episode of The Future Is A Mixtape, Jesse & Matt will provide a sustained analysis on Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next. Not only was this the finest documentary released in 2015, but the film is Michael Moore’s magnum opus without parallel or peer in his storied and fecund oeuvre. After shooting and releasing a misshapen and badly organized documentary Capitalism: A Love Story in 2009, it seemed that the director had lost his vision or was in some sleepy and lonesome lull. But it’s important to remember that the same lull in vision during his early career with Canadian Bacon (1995) and The Big One (1997) also appeared right before his breakout films, Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11. By going invisible for six years after the release Capitalism: A Love Story, shooting in ‘secret locations’ unknown to anyone, Michael Moore came back fully revitalized and more sophisticated in his rhetoric and tactics of persuasion, by rejecting partisanship and labels in order to reveal why other countries just simply do it better when it comes to solving daunting societal problems, such as work-stress, malnutrition, K-12 educational failures, student debt, work-life balance, drug addiction, prisons, as well as the loss of women’s rights and demanding government reforms. Jesse & Matt hope to tell you why Where to Invade Next is so vital to revving up America’s rudderless drift. They will also describe why the film’s uses of framing and persuasion are worth stealing--especially given the left’s tragic history at winning anything of lasting consequence amidst the Drum & Death March of Neoliberalism.

Mentioned In This Episode:

Wired Magazine’s “Good Enough: Celebrating 25 Years of the Goonies”

Noam Chomsky & The Rabbit Cage: Widening the Floors of the State to Eventually Shit Outside of the Rabbit Cage

What Is Political Efficacy, and Why Is It a Better Measuring Stick Than Ideology?

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Manifesto Being Displayed at Campaign Tour-Stops

Classical Rhetoric: The Three Means of Persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, Logos

1: Michael Moore Invades Italy - Rest & Relaxation

Partial Clip of Where to Invade Next When Michael Moore Visits Italy

LUXOS on the Italian Suit-Making Masters: “Lardini: A Story Made in Italy”

The History and Personalities of Ducati as It Celebrates Its 90th Anniversary

Italy and Its Untold History of the ‘Long Vacation’: Six to Eight Weeks of Vacation

Italy’s History of the Paid Honeymoon & the Tradition of an Extra Month of Pay for Italian Citizen’s Vacations (Called the 13th Month Paycheck by Matthew)

John Maynard Keynes’ Utopian Idea That the 15-Hour Work Week Was Inevitable

Italian Five-Month Maternity Leave: “Maternity Leaves Around the World”

Sweden’s Poster Campaign for Paternity Leave: Here, Here and Here

Why Do 90% of Sweden’s Fathers Take Paternity Leave?

Why Germans Call Americans ‘Robots’: The U.S. Is the Most Overworked Nation

Sam Lowry’s Worker and Student Struggles in Italy: 1963-1973

Utopian, Revolutionary Socialism Requires Collective and Continual Struggle

2: France - School Lunches & Children’s Nutrition

Full Clip of Where to Invade Next When Michael Moore Visits France

Quartz Media: “A Typical School Lunch for Kids in Paris vs. New York”

British Mum & American Dad Experience French School Meals

France Spends Less on School Lunches Than the U.S.

France’s Tax Stubs Details Where Its Taxes Go; America Doesn’t

ThinkProgress: “Study Confirms That Abstinence Education Has Utterly Failed At Preventing AIDS In Africa”

Salon Magazine: “Abstinence only, rebranded: Failed right-wing sex-ed policy returns as “sexual risk avoidance”

U.S. Teens Five Times More Likely to Become Pregnant Than French Teens

Memorable Jesse Herring Quote: “Life in America Is a Maze of Electric Fences”

John Oliver on Why America’s Sexual Education Programs Rely on Ignorance, Fear, Shame and Punishment

The Failure of America’s D.A.R.E. Program: “Why ‘Just Say No’ Doesn’t Work”

3: Finland - Best Place for K-12 Education in the World

The Atlantic: “The Place Where Ranking Schools Proves They're Actually Equal”

Dr. Pasi Sahlberg’s on Youtube: “What Can We Learn from the Finnish Education System?”

The Bryan Callen Show: Podcast Episode 173: Pasi Sahlberg & Finland’s Education System: Only 10% Finnish of Students Take Assessment Exams Because You Only Need 10% to Find the “Blood” Results; America Takes 100% of the Blood.

Money in Politics: Testing Industries in America, Like Pearson, Make a Lot of Money Off Common Core and Testing Regimes

The Washington Post: “Eight Problems with Common Core Standards”

Chicago Study Finds Mixed Results for AVID Program

Charter Schools Don’t Need to Be Tested Like State Schools & Other Dirty Secrets About the Privatization of the Commons

Noam Chomsky: Defund the Public Sphere, and Then Blame the Teachers When You Defund the Schools. “Manufacturing Failure” Let the things that are public fail.

4: Slovenia - Debt-Free College Education

The Washington Post Highlights Slovenia: “7 Countries Where Americans Can Study at Universities, in English, for Free (or Almost Free)”

Slovenian Student Protests Explode Over Worsening University Conditions

BBC News: “Students Warn MPs of Tuition Fees 'Backlash'”

The Daily Californian: The History of UC Tuition Since 1868

The State Hornet: “The California State University and University of California systems have changed terminology from “fees” to “tuition,” in hopes of clarifying where student money is spent and to address problems with Post-9/11 GI Bill processing.” (Published During the Tuition Crisis in 2010.)

5: Germany - Work, Labor Rights & Acknowledging State Crimes

The Germans Have a 36-Hour Work week, But Are Paid for 40 Hours

Boardroom Controlled by German Workers: Control Simple Majority Vote

BBC News: Volkswagen’s Lies About Diesel Performance Reported by Its Own German Workers; Whistleblowers Protected in Germany

GQ Magazine: “The Real Story of Germanwings Flight 9525 Crash”

Slate Magazine: “How Do German Students Learn About the Holocaust?”

The Washington Post: “Germany welcomed more than 1 million refugees in 2015. Now, the country is searching for its soul.”

The Huffington Post: “Why Doesn’t America Have A Museum of Slavery”

David Amsden in The New York Times: “Building the First Slavery Museum in America”

6: Portugal - Decriminalization of All Drugs

Samuel Oakford in Vice News: “Portugal’s Example: What Happened After It Decriminalized All Drugs, From Weed to Heroin”

7: Norway - Rehabilitation as Punishment

Reddit User Posts Images of Dorms in Macedonia Versus Images of Norwegian Prisons

Time Magazine Photo Narrative on Norway’s Idea of Incarceration: “Inside The World’s Most Humane Prison System”

The New York Times: “The Radical Humaneness of Norway’s Halden Prison”

“A survey of inmates who were released in 2005 put Norway’s two-­year recidivism rate at 20 percent, the lowest in Scandinavia, which was widely praised in the Norwegian and international press. For comparison, a 2014 recidivism report from the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics announced that an estimated 68 percent of prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years.”

Business Insider: Norway Has the Lowest Recidivism Rate of 20% Versus America’s Recidivism Which Is 80% in ContrastHow Norway Best Expresses Ubuntu Culture? Prisoners Vote First in the Nation

NPR News: Obama Is the First Standing President to Go to a Federal Prison

The Express Tribune: “Norway Gunman Wants Japanese Psychiatrist: Lawyer”

8: Tunisia - Women’s Rights & Governmental Reform: Part I

Tunisia Live: “Abortion in Tunisia: A Shifting Landscape”

ERA Movement (Equal Rights Amendment) in the US: Unfinished Business

Article 46 of the Newly Passed Tunisian Constitution: “The state shall take all necessary measures in order to eradicate violence against women.”

Mikhail Bakunin: “I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.”

Time Magazine: “Bouazizi: The Man Who Set Himself and Tunisia on Fire”

Al Jazeera News: “Mohamed Bouazizi: Was the Arab Spring worth dying for?”

9: Iceland - Women’s Rights & Governmental Reform: Part II

BBC News: “The Day Iceland’s Women Went on Strike [in 1975]”

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir: The First Woman President in the World to Be Democratically Elected

ThinkProgress: “Iceland, Where Bankers Actually Go To Jail For Committing White-Collar Crimes”

10: The Berlin Wall - How Ideas Like Prisons Can Be Dismantled

Nations, Like Any Human-Made Structure, Can Change:

Nina Turner’s Riveting Speech for Single Payer in California, SB-562: “Whenever you feel like you’re in a tomb, imagine you’re in womb.”

The Huffington Post: “Bernie Sanders’ Socialism Is as American as Apple Pie”

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