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Just realized we should start talking about the chapters and authors in "So Long, Dental Plan!"

Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV

First up, we have an article by @erikloomis.bsky.social: The Simpsons and the Working Class: Clintonian Liberalism Meets American Popular Culture.

Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV

@solongdentalplan.com

Next, in "A Workers’ State Without Workers?" @davidabanks.online looks at that beloved episode of Star Trek DS9 where the boys from the Federation of Planets help the Quark's workers form a union. Come for the reminder that Worf's a strikebreaker, stay for the speculation that USSR inspired Trek.

6/8/26, 5:54 pm0 reposts5 likes

Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV

@solongdentalplan.com

6 Aug

.@fredbjacob.bsky.social offers a delightful take on the episode where Nanny Fran Fine refused to cross a picket line for Mr. Sheffield. "The Nanny as Labor Activist: Fran Fine, Fran Drescher, and Working-Class Solidarity."

Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV

@solongdentalplan.com

6 Aug

In “'I’m the Business Agent.' Garden (State) Variety Union Corruption in The Sopranos" @shaunrichman.org disentangles all the Italian surnames and construction sites to lay out the union plot points, explains how corruption starts (and ends) in real life and speculates on Chase's meaning.

Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV

@solongdentalplan.com

6 Aug

In "Pushing Agitators Out of Airlocks: The Class Politics of Battlestar Galactica" @benburgis.bsky.social argues the ostensibly pro-union episode where mechanics go on strike squeezed the workers into a Obama-esque meritocratic framework.

Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV

@solongdentalplan.com

6 Aug

In "Krusty Krab Unfair: Labor in Kids’ Shows Matters," Alina Sipp-Alpers argues that a 25 year old cartoon episode had an inordinate influence on the left-leaning Millennial generation, and that left-leaning creative types should take children's entertainment much more seriously.