The Best Of The Left, All In One Place
Best of the left
They say variety is the spice of life, and if there is one thing that the modern media landscape excels at it is variety. Social media has allowed new forms of journalism to take shape, beyond the old trinity of radio, television and newspapers. The truth is, anyone with a blog, a Youtube channel, or some basic audio recording equipment can now set themselves up as a “journalist” or political commentator, producing articles, videos and podcasts that can reach huge audiences extremely quickly.
This also means that the sheer volume of media options for the public can, at times, seem just a little bit overwhelming. Do you try to read that long-form article on colony collapse in bees during your commute to work, or do you plug in your headphones and listen to the new episode of a Latin American politics podcast? Whether you want your media to lean left or right, you can find something to suit you. It might involve some searching though - What if there was a news source that brings together the best reporting and commentary on a particular issue from a particular political viewpoint?
Enter: Jay Tomlinson.
Tomlinson, who likes to spell his first name with an exclamation point (Jay!) to add excitement to his life, is the host of the Best of the Left podcast. Born in California in 1983, he first became interested in politics during the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. Like many other young Americans, and young people around the world, the Iraq war helped to mould his political consciousness.
Working as a FedEx driver in Sacramento, a job he describes as “horrible”, he had plenty of time to listen to the radio, learning about national and global politics from shows such as The Majority Report with Sam Seder. He later began listening to The Young Turks and, after that, moved on to podcasts once they were invented in late 2004.
Tomlinson launched the Best of the Left podcast in 2006. It born from his desire to share the media he was consuming to others in a concise and easy to digest way. In 2009 the show won its first Podcast Award in the Best Produced category. In January 2010 the show became Tomlinson’s full-time job.
The goal of Best of the Left can be summed up with the show’s tagline: “Progessive Politics and Culture, Curated by a Human”. Tomlinson does share some of his own opinion and political insights during the episodes, but he goes to great lengths to ensure that he is not the actual focus of the show. Anyone can set up a podcast and talk about what they think on any given subject. With Best of the Left, Tomlinson wanted to bring together the best examples of progressive and left leaning media discourse on a variety of topics, and deliver them to the listeners in a neatly curated package.
It is incontrovertible that Tomlinson is a left-wing progressive. In the segments of his show where he does give his own opinions and insights, he uses phrases like “the metaphorical bankruptcy of the neoliberal order”, and “an ideology [capitalism] that says that your lack of wage growth is just a sign of personal failing”.
Tomlinson’s personal ideology is a good indication of why he chose to focus his podcast on left-wing discourse, rather than being a curator of balanced opposing views.
On social media, the show also throws its weight behind progressive campaigns and movements by raising awareness.
The topics covered on the show are those being covered in the progressive media Best of the Left draws its content from. One of the biggest stories in the world right now is of course the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests his death sparked across the nation.
In Tomlinson’s episode, which covers the protests, he quotes from the website Urban Dictionary.
“I can't breathe: True of COVID-19 sufferers and of George Floyd, the key phrase at this moment in American history”. The show goes on to play content from outlets such as Doomed, Democracy Now!, and The Takeaway.
Throughout the episode, Tomlinson highlights the connections between the COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of Floyd and subsequent protests.
Driven by the Black Lives Matter protests, another progressive issue entering mainstream society is the idea of abolishing the police. However, many left-wing activists have taken the stance that the systemic racism and corruption within the nation's police forces preclude thorough institutional reform efforts.
Although a world without police is a hard one to imagine, Best of the Left has an episode dedicated to explaining why reform is impossible, and abolition is the only option.
As Tomlinson states as he opens the episode, “today we are looking at problems like the rules that help protect bad cops from accountability, the police unions that insist on those rules and the total lack of state or national policies that would structurally disincentivize the hiring or continued employment of problem officers”.
The show is a brilliant resource for those on the progressive side of the political spectrum. Tomlinson’s curation brings together the best left leaning talking points on any given issue together as one, eliminating the need for progressive to visit multiple sources for their current affairs information.
For those who lean on the more conservative or libertarian side, the show is an excellent primer to the topics under discussion in the progressive world. Furthermore, it exposes the ideas that society may find itself debating in the future. As previously mentioned, it is invaluable for people of all political stances to have a resource that consolidates progressive discourse in one place - Tomlinson's show is that outlet.
Best of the Left is a refreshing take on the world of podcasting, which has become saturated with individuals who all believe their opinion on politics and current affairs is as valid as everyone else's. From the get-go, Tomlinson acknowledges that he is not an expert on the topics his show covers; and that he chooses to curate content for his listeners instead to help them stay as informed as possible.