Tracing the bootstraps phrase to satire and folklore

Air Date: 11-10-25

Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon, and Erin discuss:

• Ch. 1 - “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”

• Ch. 2 - “Politically correct”

• Ch. 3 - “Ethnic cleansing”

• Ch. 4 - “Meritocracy”

• Ch. 5 - Our current “wealth pump” crisis and how it has been solved throughout history

• BACKSTAGE! Beyond the Algorithm (Members Only!): The best words to articulate the current moment

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REFERENCES

Why The Phrase 'Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps' Is Nonsense - Huffington Post

How Cancel Culture Became Politicized — Just Like Political Correctness - NPR

Manifest Destiny and Zionism, a legacy of ethnic cleansing - Mondo Weiss

What Happens to Language When Authoritarianism Takes Hold - Lucid (Substack)

RSA Minimate: The Tyranny of Merit  - Michael Sandel

The Satirical Origins of the Meritocracy - Kottke

Hundreds of societies have been in crises like ours. An expert explains how they got out. - Vox

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Produced by:

Jay! Tomlinson

Thanks for listening!