One of the things that Tim Keller points out in his new book Counterfeit Gods is how polarized American political discourse has become in the past few years. Rarely in the TV news world do you find anyone interested in having an actual discussion with someone from “the other side.” Everything quickly devolves into a shouting match or a name-calling contest. Political ideologies are either deified or demonized. There’s no room for anyone to say anything slightly charitable about the other team, like “Good point.”
But in the midst of this morass of stridency, I have been consistently impressed with the investigative reporting and thoughtful analysis of important current events that I’ve heard on a radio show that normally tells stories about everyday people: This American Life.
They did an excellent story a few months ago about why the housing crisis was linked to Wall Street traders (Episode 355). More recently they did two shows on the American health care system, what’s actually going on, why prices keep rising, and how we got here (co-produced with NPR News). The two hours of listening to those shows did more to educate me on the complexities of our health care system than anything I’d heard before. So I’m commending them to you. They are well worth your time. Links below.
- Episode 391: More Is Less – Explaining the American health care system, specifically, why it is that costs keep rising.
- Episode 392: Someone Else’s Money – A deeper look inside the health insurance industry.
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Hey Ben, thanks for commenting on my blog! Always great to acquaint myself with other bloggers. Enjoyed your link to the NPR story.
I see you’ve got Tim Keel on your blogroll. I attended his church here in Kansas City for a couple of years – met my wife there too. He’s a great preacher – moving on now to new things. Just thought I’d throw that in, because it caught my eye.
Hope to see you around again. Thanks for joining the conversation. Happy blogging!
I love This American Life and those two episodes almost require two listens. They really do an amazing job. Jenny and I have watched the TV show (through Netflix since it airs on cable). Each episode is only 30 minutes long. It’s a whole other way to experience the show.