Declaration of Independents Stossel Preview – Kurt Loder and Kennedy’s Fox News Power Hour

by June 23rd, 2011 - Culture » Politics »

This evening, I had the pleasure of attending a Stossel recording centered around the new book Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America.

Now, normally I would implore you to tune in just to catch occasional life-changing glimpses of my beautiful person seated in the audience, but there were really such a deep variety of topics on display that even the politically disinclined would have found something to warm their heart and mind.

Gillespie and Welch, as expected, put forth an elegant presentation of practical, yet heartfelt libertarian philosophy, but there were also several less politically charged segments tackling historical, technological and cultural perspectives on the journeys that our country and others have taken to enjoy such a rich variety of pleasures that we find available today.

Of particular fancy was the segment that included MTV alumni Kurt Loder and Kennedy highlighting the wonderful power of self-gratification to fuel ever diversifying cultures throughout the world that in turn demand a freer societies in order to grow even more, citing the role of Western culture chipping away at the Soviet Union, the art-fueled Velvet Revolution that overthrew communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and more recently the role of punk and heavy metal bands in what has come to be known as the Arab Spring.

While the subject matter of this segment was intriguing enough in itself, let me just say that it was a kick just to see both Kurt Loder and Kennedy once more in the habitat of opinionated television. I have terribly fond memories of both from their time on MTV and sorely miss their unique presence on television. Were they to be given proper licence on television again, I would have little alternative but to sign up for cable once more just to immediately enjoy their exploits.

So warmed by their appearance, I dreamily began constructing a scenario whereby Stossel would use what sway he might have with Fox Business Network to secure a new Entertainment News show featuring both personalities as unlikely co-anchors, a strange odd couple of energy that I think would entertainment in itself; Kurt Loder calmly eviscerates some hack while Kenendy suddenly disappears from the news desk only to reappear in a wide shot running behind the scenery and giving bunny ears and worse to the poor guest.

Barring that dream scenario, a fine alternative would be for Kennedy to come aboard Reason Magazine’ s Hit & Run Blog, following Kurt Loder’s recent film reviews with contributions of her own which might consist, I think, of anything she damn well wanted to talk about at any moment, changing topic several times within a single post while constantly typing in ALL CAPS!

The show rounded out with some surprisingly solid Q&A. My mind came up blank except for some questions I thought possibly inappropriate for the eventual audience of the show.

“Nick, how is The Jacket coping with not being featured in the very fitting Kurt Loder/Kennedy segment?”

“To both Nick and Matt, I was wondering what you think STEVE SMITH might say about your new book?”

Afterwards, hands were shook and business cards swapped between fans and authors, but I instead took the time to dash home, saving the hand shake and better words than platitudes for the 7pm book signing Thursday June 23rd at the 82nd and Broadway Barnes & Noble in New York.

The episode of Stossel airs Thursday night at 10pm with repeats 9pm and midnight, Saturday and Sunday. Tune in for a chance to gaze upon me in the audience, but stay for the Reason.

More information about Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America

Visit Reason.com and Hit & Run for even more.

BONUS THOUGHT:

One of the segments touched on the blowback of moral outrage that comes from a changing culture pushing against the status quo. As an example, someone vaguely mentioned, “Prince was teaching everyone to masturbate…” Now, I’m sure there is a precise incident/song that THAT refers to, but I like to think Prince was actually selling a How To… Video through infomercials.

Take a moment…breath…and imagine THAT reality…

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.

The Sporadical skeptically promotes the following:
SKEPTIC Reason Penn and Teller Frank Zappa