Used to, wanna get back into it (while avoiding the frogtwitter guest episodes -- I'll never find Moldbug cool, sorry). Had a Reddit account and deleted it but still lurk on the subs which is how I found this lmao

I used to back in 2019 I was listening on Soundcloud for whatever reason and then they stop posting there. I've been lurking the subreddit as well.

No

I've never listened. I only started browsing redscarepod (and through it here I guess) because it was the only place where people talked about Jonathan Richman lol

They're great interviewers who bring out the essence of their guests by finding a way to agree with them on almost everything and pump them up, no matter how contradictory it is with anything they said previously. Steve Bannon, Slavoj Zizek, Adam Curtis, and Glenn Greenwald were all fantastic interviews, unique angles into men who were never popular in high school healing their trauma and even speaking in conciliatory or frank ways that I'd never heard them speak before. Who has ever done a better interview with Adam Curtis? Russell Brand interjecting with his stale routine? Some lizard-brained journalist defending the honor of Tony Blair? A fat-faced slobbering grad-school marxist fanboy wearing a pageboy hat? Fuck no. I think the RS episodes with various dimes square and alt right twitter types were tedious and unlistenable because being uncritically amplified can very exposing. When the girls recite back a truly idiotic, vile, or meaningless statement and still try their best to find a way to yes-and it, sometimes the end result is so stupid that even the person who originally said it gets uncomfortable and spontaneously qualifies themselves, or walks it back. It's much easier to hide your vacuousness or mental ugliness in a more structured interview or in writing. Funny guests are even funnier, insightful guests are even more insightful, and incoherent idiots are even more incoherent and idiotic. I appreciate the way they unwittingly give people enough rope to hang themselves and see who does. I think people who genuinely care about anything other than getting attention, aren't hot, and are inherently less credulous just can't create the same kind of intimate environment. Several years ago tried to listen to an episode without a guest and canceled my patreon subscription immediately, never looked back. I can't imagine why anyone would subject themselves to that.

literati

1 month ago

"men who were never popular in high school healing their trauma". To clarify, are you saying they were traumatized, either literally or hyperbolically, by being unpopular? that such a condition left a non-trivial impact (albeit delible) on their psyche? or that this exacerbated other traumas?

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earlichka

1 month ago

They never had a chance at being anything other than the bottom rung of the social hierarchy of teenagers, and each has in their own way alluded to a feeling of rejection and alienation sharpened by their peers. Steve Bannon and Slavoj Zizek: fat broke disgusting slobs with abnormally dry/oily skin and uncool interests. Adam Curtis: too autistic to talk to girls, didn't yet have access to BBC archives to reveal his inner artistic talent as a storyteller through archival collage. Glenn Greenwald: closeted argumentative jewish twink in 1970s Florida, perhaps one of the worst places on earth to be an effeminate secular nerd. So yeah, I think there was something genuinely healing about two undeniably attractive, New York cool, archetypically "mean girls", hanging on your every word, laughing at your every joke, and making you feel like part of the in-crowd in a way that even the other successful people in your field just aren't. The first and last time I ever heard Steve Bannon speak approvingly of (evil socialist administrative state) medicaid is when Dasha said it really helped her out when she was having mental issues. Suddenly, Steve Bannon the culture warrior was falling all over himself to find a way to not offend his cool new actress friend Dasha, the first attractive woman that had *ever* said she liked his sense of fashion and thought it was a "hot look." When Anna mindlessly seconded it in a convincing tone instead of breaking out into mocking laughter, you could almost hear him preen and blush. In that moment, he was truly pleased, vulnerable, seduced. Remarkable stuff, a human interaction that's stayed with me.

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lowiqmarkfisher

1 month ago

Fantastic comment. You said a lot of what I wanted to say but in a more articulate and elegant manner. They are a big hit or miss ep to ep basis, but they are popular for a reason beyond the fact that Dasha is on No Agency softcore nude shots. And there's also a reason why /r/rsp is so popular and filled with people who don't even listen to the pod. Beyond just the sheer entertainment value of their podcast, the mythology they created around themselves and the podcast capture what people who are in their 20s in cities like new york want deep down. They want to be young, hot, popular, know everyone, have their voices heard, be different, financially independent, have good taste, and most of all, be desired. Most people who like /r/rsp probably like it because it doesn't feel like Reddit. It doesn't feel like some web1.0 forum either, even though that's a quip I hear often. It's the audience and the crowd it attracts. People who can jest, people who can see the absurd, people who want to provoke, people who understand that punching down is sometimes funnier than punching up, people who are tired of the neutered internet, people who never wanted to impress everyone, but a very specific group of people they deemed cool. People who are narcissists but also mega self-conscious about it. People who always thought they were so cool and special yet always felt privately slighted at the world that the world doesn't validate them as much as they deserve. I personally don't think any of these traits are inherently bad or cringe at all. There's a reason why the first place I launched this site was RSP/RSBC. I knew if these groups of people liked it, it was special. The internet is so neutered now. The fact that the most profitable companies in modern history are entirely reliant on advertising killed the internet. And RSP is probably the last place where you forget that fact. And hopefully lit salon, lol.

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I used to read Freddie Deboers substacks but they get very repetitive. Zizek's new substack is pretty interesting in comparison. Brad Troemel makes great content still but is kind of smug.

I've listened to 1 episode and dropped it. I've usually been a lurker on RSP for the past 4ish years. I don't like Anna or Dasha. I kind of liked Why Theory w/ Todd McGowan. They can be a lil too lib sometimes and I have a hard time taking his co-host seriously. I like Cumtown but am not obsessional. I can't bear to listen to Chapo... Matt Christman's kush blogs are the only survivor.

Curious as to how many care for them as opposed to the communities and discourse that have been organized as a result. I've never cared for any podcasts and this is the only RS-adjacent community I'm part of.