EXPLORACAST

We were probably all raised with some ideas of what the cultural identity is for the United States. Are we the land of the rugged individual lifting him or herself up by the bootstraps?  Are we the land of the tired and poor who have been provided a golden chance of opportunity? Are we gunslinging cowboys or oven-baked steel workers? Are we the land of religious freedom to worship (or not) as we please? Are we a uniquely Christian nation? Maybe the biggest question is whether there is room for all these and more ideas of what it means to live in America.

Michael Jordan is an elite basketball player. Meryl Streep, an elite actor. Luciano Pavoratti is in a class alone among the elite of his art. But there are also other supposed elites among us whether they themselves say so or are considered so byothers. Is it money, education, skill, class, heritage, tastes, possessions, or associations that form the elites? Who decides who is and who's not an elite? The Exploracast team takes on this very nuanced and highly relevant topic. 

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed to eliminate racial discrimination in voting. Recent changes in the act have made it harder to prove discrimination and narrowed redistricting protections. Proponents claim that these changes help the cause of eliminating racial discrimination but one must ask, what group do these changes actually hurt/limit? As you might expect, the Exploracast team has some thoughts!

As long as we have been around, humans have vigorously sought ways of defining themselves as different than and better than other human groups. One of the very oldest but still deeply rampant ways we do this is through the ideologies of racism. In fact, we had to actually build the construct of differing races just to support our need for superiority even though we are much more like than unlike people withdiffering phenotypes. Listen in as the Exploracast team vents their own anger, frustration, and confusion at this very important topic.