Episode

5/6 2020: The Year Everything Changed w/ Eric Klinenberg

May 6, 2024

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Eric Klinenberg, professor in social science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, to discuss his recent book 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed.  First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel’s staunch refusal to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, a tentative hold on US ammo to Israel, famine in Gaza, Missouri abortion rights, starvation in Sudan, US labor law, the downfall of Henry Cuellar, and Utah’s new tip line for anonymous genital reports. Professor Eric Klinenberg then joins, as he, Sam, and Emma preface the conversation with the idea of “natural disasters” largely being a function of society’s capacity to deal with natural phenomena, with “2020” looking at what the crises under COVID revealed about the incredibly precarious, fractured, and individualist society of the United States. Expanding on this, Professor Klinenberg tackles the ethnographic nature of this work, and the overwhelming nature of the trauma suffered by the public during the pandemic, something also seen during the Spanish Flu epidemic in the early 20th Century. After further contextualizing the United State’s role as an outlier in many regards when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its supposedly elite levels of preparedness and its disproportionate failure in preventing deaths, Eric walks Sam and Emma through the unique failure that faced the US in the form of a complete abdication of leadership from the federal government – led (at the time) by the Trump Administration – in favor of extreme politicization, nihilism, and polarization at a time where social solidarity was of the utmost importance. Klinenberg looks at the glimmers of hope found throughout these crises, and how the government quickly stamped them out, before exploring the Biden Administration’s particular role in refusing to acknowledge or address the continuing effects of these crises, and the US’ ever-precarious footing heading into the 2024 election.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch as Mitt Romney lets the connection between Israel and the TikTok ban slip, and Alan Dershowitz offers to go to legal defense for the ultimate victims of anti-semitism: Christian Zionists. Ole Miss frat boys show up for apartheid, Kristi Noem objects to another fake-news narrative picked up from her autobiography, and Marjorie Taylor Greene just wants to be clear about who’s responsible for Jesus’ death. Jerry Seinfeld finally breaks through the shackles of Big Woke in his newest release “Unfrosted: the Pop-Tart Story”, plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Eric’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671362/2020-by-eric-klinenberg/

Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join

Help out the state of Utah by telling them what you see in public bathrooms here!: https://ut-sao-special-prod.web.app/sex_basis_complaint2.html

Check out Seder’s Seeds here!: https://www.sedersseeds.com/ ALSO, if you have pictures of your Seder’s Seeds, send them here!: hello@sedersseeds.com

Check out this GoFundMe in support of Mohammed Nasrallah, whose family is trying to leave Gaza for Egypt: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-mohammed-nasserallah-and-family-go-to-egypt

Check out this GoFundMe in support of Mohammad Aldaghma’s niece in Gaza, who has Down Syndrome: http://tinyurl.com/7zb4hujt

Check out the “Repair Gaza” campaign courtesy of the Glia Project here: https://www.launchgood.com/campaign/rebuild_gaza_help_repair_and_rebuild_the_lives_and_work_of_our_glia_team#!/

Check out StrikeAid here!; https://strikeaid.com/

Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift

Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow

Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/

Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/

Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/

Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app

Check out today’s sponsors:

Cozy Earth: This Mother’s Day, treat mom to the luxury she deserves with Cozy Earth bedding and sleepwear, and prioritize her self-care and sleep health. SHE DESERVES IT! Don’t forget to use our promo code MAJORITYREPORT at checkout for 35% off at https://cozyearth.com.  After placing your order, select “podcast” in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.

Aura Frames: Right now, Aura has a great deal for Mother’s Day. Listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com/MAJORITY to get $30-off plus free shipping on their best-selling frame. That’s https://AuraFrames.com/MAJORITY. Use code MAJORITY  at checkout to save. Terms and conditions apply.

Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

@SamSeder

@EmmaVigeland

@MattLech

@BradKAlsop

Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning

Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder

Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse

Check out Ava Raiza’s music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/

The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

Past Episodes

It's Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, to round up the week in news. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Elon’s 6-digit spending spree for Trump, Pete Hegseth’s nomination, US healthcare, Trump’s expanding cabinet of billionaires, ...
It's ESVN OT! Emma and Bradley give their picks for Week #14 of NFL action. Follow Emma and Bradley on Twitter: @EmmaVigeland @BradKAlsop Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ EMMA AND BRADLEY'S PICKS OF THE WEEK!: Emma (20-17-2): Dolphins -5.5 vs. ...
It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with John Carl Baker, director of programs at Ploughshares, to discuss the ongoing political unrest in South Korea. Then, she speaks with Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Gulf State Analytics & adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University, to ...