Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Dirty Work
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Dirty Work

Ralph spends the whole hour with Eyal Press, author of “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and The Hidden Toll of Inequality in America,” where they discuss the large gap separating the people who perform the most thankless, ethically troubling jobs in America from the rest of us, who benefit from their work. Plus, Ralph answers listener questions.


Eyal Press is a writer and journalist who contributes to The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications. Since the spring of 2021, he is also a sociologist with a PhD from New York University. He has authored several books, including “Absolute Convictions,” “Beautiful Souls,” and “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality.”

“For me, the key word in the title is ‘hidden.’ Because everything about ‘dirty work,’ whether we’re talking about the dirty work of targeted assassinations in America’s never-ending wars, or the dirty work of hacking apart animals in industrial slaughterhouses, or the dirty work of housing the mentally ill in jails and prisons, the key feature that comes up again and again is that this is work and activity that is concealed.”

Eyal Press, author of “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and The Hidden Toll of Inequality in America”

“Even though these drone strikes are hidden from the public, and we very rarely see footage – we don’t see it on television, we don’t talk about it, you don’t hear candidates for president debating whether these strikes should happen or not – the people in the drone program do see the consequences. And that is one of the reasons there’s a very high rate of burnout in that program. Even though these are soldiers who are never actually setting foot on the battlefield.”

Eyal Press, author of “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and The Hidden Toll of Inequality in America”

“These are not policies and practices for which one party is responsible. They are actually things that by and large had bipartisan support or were carried on under Democratic and Republican administrations. That’s true of the drone wars. It’s also true of mass incarceration, which was a decades long endeavor in which Democrats like Bill Clinton played a crucial role. It’s also true of the section of the book on dirty energy.”

Eyal Press, author of “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and The Hidden Toll of Inequality in America”

“There’s not enough finger pointing at the institutions of government that should be enforcing safe workplace practices law, protecting the environment, and making sure that laws are applied to military force abroad… That’s where the greatest silence really is. And the greatest complicity.”

Ralph Nader


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Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader talks about what’s happening in America, what’s happening around the world, and most importantly what’s happening underneath it all.