And now for something completely different! We have top level investigative reporter Lee Fang, talking about how getting stranded at Burning Man. Okay, that’s not the entirety of the discussion, but it’s a jumping off point into many cultural and political subjects. I’ll warn that this one isn’t as sports centric, it’s still a great conversation in my humble opinion.
Outline by the astute Sam Schuette…
* Lee’s Burning Man article
* Enjoying himself amongst the mass media hysteria
* How it represents an escape from the politics and partisanship of the world
* The human condition of cruelty
* Has it always existed? Is social media just revealing it?
* The fun of dehumanizing thousands of people online
* The appeal of simplistic enemies
* Why people wanted a controversial Burning Man story to be representative of the event’s shortcomings
* Lefty meetings vs. Burning Man: are they really similar?
* The fancy, elitist talk on the left versus the simple, welcoming Burning Man
* Why does much of the left dislike an event that creates momentary lefty utopia?
* The uncertainty of the Bay Area
* Is it too big to fail?
* The role of radical groups in the city’s downturn and the billionaires that fund them
* The internet’s role in making people unlikely to admit they’re wrong
* People not learning from their mistakes because of reputation risk
* The fear of admitting that the bad guy is right
* What would happen if the left and right swapped places?
* Would a liberal in a rural community or a conservative in a big city offer solutions?
* The horseshoe effect of complaining without a solution that plagues both sides
* Why do people accuse the other side of being horrible people?
* Choosing performative morality over fixing the issue
* The loss of touch in society
* How can a person feel connected when their politicians never deliver?
* How name-calling and internet beef fill the social hole people feel nowadays
* Lee’s experience with lefty journalism
* How his work with the establishment revealed the corruption within it
* The disconnect between liberal groups and the people they supposedly serve
* Lee’s political orientation
* What’s Lee’s political compass?
* The importance of analyzing power and holding people accountable
* What are the people inside the leftist circle like?
* Lee gives the download on his social circle
* The us versus them mentality that remains even after the issues they’ve won
* What’s going on with Tucker Carlson?
* Has he positioned his journalism out of resentment?
* His fallout with Fox
* Elon Musk’s conflict with the ADL
* What the ADL gets wrong about their methodology?
* Why Elon’s pushback deserves an asterisk
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