The Bird & The Bear - Session 78 - "The Birdy South"

Dimes In The Dozen

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On this week’s session of The Bird & The Bear … Our hosts, Sammy Ray and Daryl Lazer discuss Super Bowl ads and the Deep South … The Deep South portion of their discussion is based off to two YouTube documentaries by Peter Santenello, “Deep South - First Impressions” and “Deep South’s Poorest Region - What’s It Like?” … Let’s sort through it together!

(0:00) - The session opens with a short discussion about the Super Bowl that’s mostly focused on the weird “He Gets Us” ads that ran during the commercial breaks - “Money made off of selling crap s**t for your home … Period”

(11:40) - Our hosts share their personal experiences with the south before introducing the first documentary they’ll be analyzing, “Deep South - First Impressions” by Peter Santenello - “M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I … I said that cause I wanted to know if I knew how to spell it correctly”

(20:34) - The subject of the documentary, Booker T, starts to show some negative feelings towards welfare recipients - “Not, I had to get out of here because somewhere else was less racist … I had to figure out a place that was racist in a different way”

(26:11) - A conversation about people’s guarded attitudes in the Deep South turns into a debate over just how much Booker T’s community really likes him - “They take that line of, ‘He hasn’t been through anything that I haven’t been through … Why’s he important?’”

(34:44) - The age, condition, and historical significance of the small communities in parts of the Deep South - “Even if their communities were poorly constructed and poorly made, they worked so hard to make what they had last”

(42:28) - Critiques of the documentary turn into a second, but productive debate about combating prejudice - “If I cannot be black, you better stand on business and be not black with me”

(51:44) - As the documentary focuses in on Booker T’s personal life, our hosts give their final thoughts on what his true character might be - “He makes sure everybody knows him … So that nobody can cross him … He’s jivin”

(1:06:00) - Our hosts move onto a second documentary on the Deep South, “Deep South’s Poorest Region - What’s It Like?” by Peter Santenello - “Those names couldn’t be more old America … Of course, Mr. Bruno and Mr. Brimm Brimley … Monopoly characters … Put alligators in the lake”

(1:12:40) - The mayor of Alligator, Mississippi and his desire to bring a dollar store to the community - “They have the land to be self-sufficient … They can have the barter system”

(1:20:10) - Our hosts discuss the many issues that have left the Deep South economically stunned and give their final thoughts on both documentaries - “They don’t want you … They took it away from you … They patented your ability to make a living”