On this episode of American Prestige, Ross Benes on the year that laid the groundwork for life as we know it.
Jerry Springer appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on February 5, 1999.(Chris Haston / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
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In this week’s episode, Danny speaks with journalist Ross Benes about his book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times. They discuss the connection between the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and “trash culture”, what makes the instantiation of reality TV in 1999 unique and how early reality shows foreshadowed modern politics, how Beanie Babies were akin to “stock investments” for working class and lower middle class people, Pokémon as a pure distillation of unrestrained capitalism, and the other features of that moment that predicted American life as we now know it.
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In this week’s episode, Danny speaks with journalist Ross Benes about his book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times. They discuss the connection between the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and “trash culture,” what makes the instantiation of reality TV in 1999 unique and how early reality shows foreshadowed modern politics, how Beanie Babies were akin to “stock investments” for working- and lower-middle-class people, Pokémon as a pure distillation of unrestrained capitalism, and the other features of that moment that predicted American life as we now know it.
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Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Danny and Derek must disclose that they have had Hasan Piker on this program. They are listening and learning from him. In this week’s news: Israel bombs a Syrian airbase, potentially moving closer to a conflict with Turkey (1:22); Jared Kushner and Benjamin Netanyahu agree to scrap the Gaza Board of Peace's Hamas disarmament plan (7:09); the Iran MOU expires as Trump escalates the economic war (9:20); the Islamic Republic might restart the shooting war (13:36); the Pentagon and Arab governments rethink America’s military presence in the Gulf (15:58); Trump curtails military exercises with South Korea, possibly moving toward diplomacy with North Korea/DPRK (18:53); the Sudanese military concludes a new cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia (24:47); the Ebola outbreak in the DRC continues to expand (27:39); in Ukraine, Zelenskyy faces calls for new elections (30:06); Trump suspends new tariffs on Canada (33:01); the U.S. moves Operation Southern Spear onto land (34:50); and a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report details the cost of the new “Trump class” battleships (36:45).
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Daniel BessnerTwitterDaniel Bessner is a historian of US foreign relations and is the author of, among other books, Imperialist Realism.