Evolution of Leftist Activism

To understand the accumulating fractures of our time, it’s important to look back at key earlier periods and try to discern: What were we thinking?

Colette Shade — who has written for The New Republic, The Baffler, Interview Magazine, The Nation, and Gawker — reminds us that during the “dream state,” the years between 1997 and 2008, we were thinking things like the following:

* It’s the end of history—there’s no longer a need for politics!

* The internet has arrived—we’re about to enjoy life without limits!

* Gotta love butterfly clips, Lindsay Lohan, The Sopranos, bling, Smash Mouth, and the Hummer H2

In sparkling prose, Shade digs through pop anthropology to offer a quite serious sociopolitical critique of the deadly undercurrents of this time, such as the triumph of neoliberalism, the full arrival of the California ideology (tech bros ascendant), and the substitution of nostalgia for genuine politics.

Demonstrating that our podcast is not hung up on the 1960s, fellow millennials Colette and Pete have a great time comparing their childhood journeys as the world descends from the maximalist futurism of iMacs and body glitter to the reality check of the Great Recession.

Timestamps

* Introducing guest Colette Shade and how her book happily connects with our midcentury "Lost Prophets" theme: How the 2000s fit into the broader narrative of modernity, technology, and social change.

* 03:06 Looking back at 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union: The shift in political and economic ideology shaping the Y2K era

* 06:19 The "Long 2000s": Defining this era’s influence as actually from 1997 to the 2008 financial crisis.

* 09:54 The culture of excess: Dot-com wealth, no limits pop culture, and the promise of an ever-expanding future.

* 12:34 The anti-politics of the 2000s: How post-Cold War confidence led to cultural shallowness and reactionary media

* 18:30 The triumph of the California Ideology, a fusion of countercultural freedom and libertarian tech capitalism.

* 29:40 The limits of the ideology: How Silicon Valley’s utopian vision overlooked systemic labor and social issues.

* 31:55 Gen X vs. Millennial left: How 1999 activism (WTO protests, anti-globalization) evolved into post-2008 political movements.

* 40:35 Certain 1999 movies as prophecy: The Matrix, Fight Club, American Beauty—all revealing the underlying cracks in the system.

Recommended

* Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything by Colette Shade (Colette’s new book)

* Elon Musk Has Always Been Like This. So Has Silicon Valley (Colette’s article on Musk and where he came from ideologically.)

* When the Clock Broke: Confronting the Limits of the American Left by John Ganz (discussion of early 1990s political malaise)

* From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner (History of the tech movement’s countercultural roots)

* Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcolm Harris (Silicon Valley’s ideological and economic evolution)

* The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire by Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin (Economic and political history of globalization)

* The California Ideology by Richard Barbrook & Andy Cameron (1995 essay defining Silicon Valley’s libertarian-tech utopianism)

* No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (Anti-consumerist and corporate critique of the late 1990s)

Many thanks to the great band NOBLE DUST, who provides the music for Lost Prophets. Their latest album, A Picture for a Frame, is here.

Many thanks to our editor, the great Dan Thorn.

LOST PROPHETS is a podcast about the mid-century voices of solidarity we need to hear again. To listen on your podcast player, our Spotify link is here, Apple Podcasts link is here, and RSS link is here.