Chapo Trap House and the rise of the dirtbag left

and fisher remains one of the best expositors of our current political moment. the sections of capitalist realism that deal with depression were very helpful for me. and they pointed to the possibility of a more substantive conversation about, like, what we want, as human beings, from our society. he was trying to rehabilitate philososphy

Ftr the common association between Bran Castle and 'Dracula' is chiefly a Western European projection.

dracula is a great novel about the way the present is "haunted" by power structures that should have become irrelevant years ago. it's a funny book, and fresh today, even though it is 120 years old or something

Fwiw the conclusion I’ve come to is that while there are valid critiques of “idpol” they too often slide into a justification for just not having to think about race bc it’s easier. So I stay away from those critiques with the exception of when race is being cynically deployed by centrists who don’t actually give a fuck.

on VC- is the characterisation of the struggles of working class hero russell brand vs feminist critics (can't remember specific grandiloquent epithet used) in that essay otm? I may be stupid but are all the other people who also read it as an aggressively sexist gatekeeping intervention? especially given the climate on the UK left at the time? I mean this supposed climate of fear sounds pretty cushy compared to the actually existing one faced by survivors on the left

my first & last exposure to st mark, he knew what he was doing there, it's got enough in it in the way of contradictions & qualifications for people who want to think better of him to take what they want, but I've seen how people use the piece & the constant hagiography in certain UK left circles gets to me. from which I'd risk being excommunicated for being insensitive to his struggles or whatevever it's like this whole thing is some kind of elaborate reversal

man i remember when that guy was just an authority on british sci fi telly and mid-period fall LPs

has anyone read The Long Twentieth Century? the antifada/trillbillies crossover ep summarizing it wasn't totally convincing to me, but I was intrigued.

A lot of takes on this platform are going to age very poorly if it holds true that the riots were instigated by white dudes who listen to too much Chapo https://t.co/qMSa0AvgIe

— Neoliberal 🌐 (@ne0liberal) May 30, 2020

Bwahaha

Looool

idk if saying this will help or hurt the perception of this argument on this site but i think this is v otm:

my only point is that reaction couched in leftist anti-idpol language is Actually A Thing here not just an invention of annoying twitter blue checks. it's an investment for this whole new left media clique, it's a glue. convincing fans of this is not going to happen

― no (Left), Friday, May 29, 2020 4:43 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

ive just seen it happen enough exactly as described, its a way of shutting down challenges to shared assumptions way too often by maligning the underlying intent of the person doing the challenging. its a shortcut to not dealing w the questions raised, bc it immediately undermines the motives of the person raising them, might a well be an accusation of "virtue signaling"

this is a thing basically everyone does imo

I think even chapo haters would get something out of matt's post protest stream (06/02)

Also on the 2nd half of yesterday’s Michael Brooks show:

https://youtu.be/kUR42sshabc

Worthwhile history chat: A podcast panel discussion of Irish, Anglo, and American Marxist types from everybody from Zero Books folks to Swampside Chats types holding a free flowing opining on current events. Also they get into the differing class compositions/interests of the military vs the cops.

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/fromalpha2omega/episodes/2020-06-03T12_45_47-07_00

Here’s the Youtube version: https://youtu.be/fhvabQ75FZU

listening now. god it's painful when ppl try to do Chapo style jokes in otherwise dry discussions lol, will remember that if I'm ever in the same boat

Gotta know when to riff, gotta know when not to.

Tolentino TrueAnon was pretty much the perfect way to handle that story

Is Chapo still popular

Matt's "musings" were good on the most recent ep imo. He is the main person worth listening to on the show and not featured enough these days.

Chapo is still popular, certainly the biggest independent left podcast thing, but I think over time some others (True Anon especially) will have followings to rival it.

They do seem a bit rudderless/aimless at the moment except for Matt. I think they kind of instinctively sense they're not ideally suited to cover the current moment. (Though this NYT fail saga should give them fine material.)

Is Chapo still popular

― all cats are beautiful (silby), Wednesday, June 10, 2020 9:28 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

They've had a slight dip that began roughly exactly when Bernie's campaign crapped out but are still the top podcast on patreon

Russian patrons dropped off obv

True Anon def the more cost effective op

Tolentino TrueAnon was pretty much the perfect way to handle that story

― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Thursday, June 11, 2020 5:20 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I thought that was a really, really good discussion.

TrueAnon's general saltiness towards anarchists / police and prison abolition as a short-term goal is going to be a sticking point for some of their listeners, i think. There's a been a backlash on their Twitch streams / patreon comments. idk about Chapo.

Looking forward to the new one on Brazil with the excellent Vincent Bevins.

Chapo just going with a Matt's ponderings this week was smart. By Monday they should be around with some update on lib co-opting of the protests, covid increases, hellworld baby etc

Bevins TA episode is terrific.

yeah, dizzying

I fancy that book

Communists hate shopping
Women be shopping
Communists hate women

I haven’t listened to Chapo for years but I thought Matt’s take on the current situation, from the 8th, was good.

ive just seen it happen enough exactly as described, its a way of shutting down challenges to shared assumptions way too often by maligning the underlying intent of the person doing the challenging. its a shortcut to not dealing w the questions raised, bc it immediately undermines the motives of the person raising them, might a well be an accusation of "virtue signaling"

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Saturday, May 30, 2020 7:21 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a thing basically everyone does imo

― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, May 30, 2020 7:24 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

at times i guess but there are also arguments where its clear one side is ignoring arguments to impugn motives and the other side is simply...making arguments. Some arguments should be ignored & some should be engaged w but it's always interesting which ideas are considered off the table

I haven’t listened to Chapo for years but I thought Matt’s take on the current situation, from the 8th, was good.

this whole situation has made clear he's the only chapo capable of generating any kind of perspective on these events instead of just riffing on pre-existing media. I don't always agree w/ him but I've enjoyed his updates a lot on the whole.

So what happened to Virgil Texas? I noticed he hadn’t been on the show or twitter for months and found this:

Ooh. I welcome this change. pic.twitter.com/fFmQetr5ks

— larks tongues in aspies (@htmlmencken) April 11, 2020

I got the impression he was getting burned out on the whole enterprise and possibly had some family things to address

some may think he disappeared after Bernie left the race, but he also disappeared around the time flavored juul pods were banned which may be more significant

They refused to let him do another Call of Cthulhu RPG repisode

Matt said he’s fine, they still talk.

I figure it was burnout with the campaign ending then quarantine hitting all at once did him in for a while

he's back, folks

Checking this thread obv

I appreciated the breakdown of White Fragility even if it could have been done in, charitably, 1/3 of the time

I listened to part of it and got the idea very quickly. I also kind of wished they could be a little less in full takedown mode, because I think there is a grain of an idea in there that's worth salvaging.

Like, underneath all the author's bullshit, I think the concept of white fragility may be of some use in describing something real.

There are some fleeting moments of acknowledgement, but I don't think they're wrong to focus on the negative when it's the literal #1 bestseller of the moment and probably guiding a lot of thinking

wait, where is virgil back?

he's on the latest ep about the white fragility book

I keeping hearing “white fragility” to the tune of “White Minority.”

There are some fleeting moments of acknowledgement, but I don't think they're wrong to focus on the negative when it's the literal #1 bestseller of the moment and probably guiding a lot of thinking

Looking at this book as an example of the white HR-culture corporate diversity grift is fine, imo. They are not well positioned to talk about workplace bias / culture training more broadly, though, and that's the direction it headed in.