August 17, 2015
EP. 83 — Why It Took 30 Years For Cosby’s Victims to Go Public
Over the last decade, the internet has brought into public light some of the great social injustices hiding just beneath the surface of what we thought we knew about our society…or specifically what white men thought they knew about society. No topic – from abuse of police power to campaign finance reform – has been without vocal opposition from both sides of the issue.
Yet one topic seems especially inflammatory, as it’s been both helped and hindered by the very mechanism of the internet itself: sexism and sexual violence. Yes, Bill Cosby’s victims were empowered by the medium and momentum to come forward and name their abuser. But dig deeper and a similar controversy sits quietly on the backburner as people refuse to name names and victims refuse to come forward, fearing public shaming and career endangerment.
This week on the podcast, Jack O’Brien speaks with Cracked columnist Adam Tod Brown and comedian Dani Fernandez about the unseen difficulties faced by women in the internet age, the powers that try to silence female voices both online and in the real world, and why these issues are magnified in the comedy community.
Go download the Howl app or go to Howl.FM and use the promo code CRACKED for a free one month trial of Howl Premium!
Recent Episodes
January 26, 2020
Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/
January 19, 2020
How’s your local shopping mall doing? Have you checked on it lately? Swing by sometime, because its department store might’ve turned into a call center or a hospital or a go-kart track. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only Kai Ryssdal (Marketplace, Make Me Smart) for a look at surprising, strange, and shocking stories from all over the U.S. economy. Discover an international pig flu, a 26-word statement that built the modern Internet, and more amazing ways cash is ruling everything around you. By the way, if you’re an American listener, you spent the past few years funding an astonishingly huge bailout. Surprise! Listen for details!
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think
January 12, 2020
Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/