Where's the Lewis Black podcast? I'm not a web newbie, but for the life of me, I can't find this podcast! Thanks for your advice.

PS The NPR player doesn't import files using Camino, a popular browser for the Mac. I can't get anything.

Bob

Sent by Bob Jacobson | 4:00 PM ET | 06-11-2008

Indeed, if you're going to announce the availability of a podcast, you should post it.

Sent by Joel Mielke | 4:52 PM ET | 06-11-2008

Hey Bob! I subscribe to the TOTN podcast straight out of the iTunes Podcast Directory. This episode was waiting for me when I got home.

Great show, Neal. Personally, I can't get enough of Lewis Black; I think he was right to be peeved by an early caller's claims that he "debases the culture" by making light of religious tradition. This caller's reaction strike me as selective outrage, and I see it every time someone takes issue with a celebrity over their political or religious views. It is an unfortunate fact that one cannot apply any kind of rational critique to matters of religion without ruffling some feathers, but for some bizarre reason, comedians and celebrities seem to be held to greater account than the rest of us in this regard. You don't hear people complain that Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins "debase" the culture when they speak out against dogma. Perhaps this is because Dawkins and Hitchens don't presume to pass themselves off as entertainers.

The entertainment industry takes a lot of flack over their (some think disproportionate) influence on public discourse, and I suspect a lot of it flows from an overdeveloped sense of entitlement in our society. Unfortunately for Lewis' sake, there will likely always be a great many people in American society who feel entitled to set the "insult threshold" for everyone else -entitled to live in a world where nothing public offends the public. Maybe the caller should go find a dictionary and lookup "Pluralism".

Sent by Brett Deriso | 10:53 PM ET | 06-11-2008

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=5 or http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/5/91373343/npr_91373343.mp3

Sent by mike | 10:57 PM ET | 06-12-2008