TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
from Wisconsin Public Radio
May 5, 1996 Programs
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1100 - 1159 Hour #1 Islam
1200 - 1259 Hour #2 Extinction
1300 - 1359 Hour #3 Unwholesome Entertainment
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 1:Islam
SEGMENT 1:
New York Times correspondent Judith Miller talks with Judith
Strasser about the radical Islamic groups of the Middle East.
She says what makes them dangerous is their intolerance for
other views. Miller is the author of "God Has Ninety Nine
Names: Reporting from A Militant Middle East. Also, John
Esposito, director of Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding, tells Steve Paulson that it's wrong to think of
all Muslims as brutal religious fanatics. Esposito's books
include "The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality," and "Islam and
Democracy."
SEGMENT 2:
Middle Eastern scholar Leila Ahmed tells Steve Paulson that
Westerners are too quick to criticize Islamic culture for its
teatment of women. Ahmed directs the Near Eastern Studies
program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is
the author of "Women and Gender in Islam."
SEGMENT 3:
Vincent Cornell, an American convert to Islam, talks with Jim
Fleming about the spiritual peace he finds in his religion and
explains that it is not a creed of intolerance and fanaticism.
Cornell teaches religion at Duke University.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
05-05-A.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 2:Extinction
SEGMENT 1:
Nature writer Diane Ackerman tells Steve Paulson that she feels
compelled to serve as a witness for endangered species of
animals. Among her books is "The Rarest of the Rare:
Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds." Also, naturalist Richard
Ives, talks with Steve about tigers. There are only a few
thousand left and they may go extinct in the next decade. Ives
studied tigers in India, Nepal and Southeast Asia, and
describes his work in a book called "Of Tigers and Men."
SEGMENT 2:
Philosopher of science John Leslie tells Jim Fleming why he
believes there's a forty percent chance human beings will go
extinct within the next 500 years. Leslie teaches at the
University of Guelph in Ontario and is the author of "The End
of the World: The Science and Ethics of Human Extinction."
SEGMENT 3:
Paleontologist Robert Bakker, dinosaur curator of the Tate
Museum in Wyoming, has turned novelist. "Raptor Red" tells its
story from the point of view of a Utah raptor. Bakker tells
Judith Strasser that he can't help wondering about the
emotional lives of the creatures whose fossils he excavates.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
05-05-B.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3: Unwholesome Entertainment
SEGMENT 1
Film critic Michael Medved tells Steve Paulson that American
children watch too much television and that Hollywood is
dysfunctional: it keeps making "steamy stinkers" that nobody
wants to see. Medved has a book coming out to be called
"Saving Childhod: How to Protect Your Children from the
National Assault on Innocence." Also, Joanne Cantor, who
teaches and does communications research at the University of
Wisconsin, tells Steve Paulson how people use the media to
regulate their moods and explains how the entertainment
industry exploits human arousal mechanisms.
SEGMENT 2:
David Foster Wallace has written a massive futuristic, satiric
novel called "Infinite Jest" in which humanity is threatened by
totally addictive entertainment. Wallace tells Judith Strasser
that his absurd future is not all that far off. With
interactive virtual reality pornography just around the corner,
society needs to re-examine its atttitude towards passive
entertainment.
SEGMENT 3:
Philip Kunhardt is the author of "P.T. Barnum: An Illustrated
Biography." He tells Jim Fleming that Barnum was a real museum
man, as well as a huckstering showman, and that he maintained
respectful personal relationships with his "living curiosities"
no matter how outrageously he packaged them for public
exhibition.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
05-05-C.
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Last modified: Friday May 3, 1996