shakahislop
Well-known member
Was shattered yesterday and listened to, I don't know, about five episodes of Red Scare, something which I hadn't listened to a lot of before. A few reflections on it and on podcasts as I don't see another place.
One, it's surprising that it works at all, given that at first its essentially slightly annoying and quite boring. They come across as some pretty well-off people in all kinds of ways, I mean they live in a fancy bit of Manhattan, they're pretty hot, they're moderately famous, I mean one of them is on TV. The thing is quite self-indulgent at times, talking about whether they fancy someone or not, quite a lot of personal stuff giggling, no attempt to edit it to make it feel directed, like they know what they're talking about, often feels off the cuff and unprepared. It does work though, on an affective level I think, it's nice to listen to and I found myself warming to the style.
Two, the recurring dismantling and hostility to woke-ism is pretty striking. On the level of using recently(ish) proscribed language, notably 'gay' to refer to......I mean I'm actually not sure what she's referring to, but it feels more like the usage that people used at my school than as a descriptor, it feels like sometimes she basically means 'bad'. There's probably more nuance than that. 'Retarded' is another, that they reflect on themselves. But in general beyond those simply linguistic things, there is something about hearing their hostility and disdain for some of the woke stuff, given that they aren't on the face of it right-wing arseholes. I sort of wonder if that might be one of their sources of popularity - almost a kind of strike back from 30 year olds against the 20 year olds who are telling them / us how wrong our culture is. There is a kind of emotion-legitimation thing going on I think.
Third, there is something weird going on at the affective level. Moreso than most podcasts part of the effect of listening to it is that it feels a bit like talking to your mates. It kind of replicates part of that feeling (obviously only one side of it). I think in general there is a kind of interesting strand to podcasts in general where it replaces some aspect of social interaction. I feel like the existence of podcasts, the transmission of ideas like through that form, has had a big effect on some of the more serious conversations that I've had with people over recent years. Actually sometimes it feels a bit more like people are reciting podcasts to one another on occasion.
One, it's surprising that it works at all, given that at first its essentially slightly annoying and quite boring. They come across as some pretty well-off people in all kinds of ways, I mean they live in a fancy bit of Manhattan, they're pretty hot, they're moderately famous, I mean one of them is on TV. The thing is quite self-indulgent at times, talking about whether they fancy someone or not, quite a lot of personal stuff giggling, no attempt to edit it to make it feel directed, like they know what they're talking about, often feels off the cuff and unprepared. It does work though, on an affective level I think, it's nice to listen to and I found myself warming to the style.
Two, the recurring dismantling and hostility to woke-ism is pretty striking. On the level of using recently(ish) proscribed language, notably 'gay' to refer to......I mean I'm actually not sure what she's referring to, but it feels more like the usage that people used at my school than as a descriptor, it feels like sometimes she basically means 'bad'. There's probably more nuance than that. 'Retarded' is another, that they reflect on themselves. But in general beyond those simply linguistic things, there is something about hearing their hostility and disdain for some of the woke stuff, given that they aren't on the face of it right-wing arseholes. I sort of wonder if that might be one of their sources of popularity - almost a kind of strike back from 30 year olds against the 20 year olds who are telling them / us how wrong our culture is. There is a kind of emotion-legitimation thing going on I think.
Third, there is something weird going on at the affective level. Moreso than most podcasts part of the effect of listening to it is that it feels a bit like talking to your mates. It kind of replicates part of that feeling (obviously only one side of it). I think in general there is a kind of interesting strand to podcasts in general where it replaces some aspect of social interaction. I feel like the existence of podcasts, the transmission of ideas like through that form, has had a big effect on some of the more serious conversations that I've had with people over recent years. Actually sometimes it feels a bit more like people are reciting podcasts to one another on occasion.