New Models

Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, RICHARD BECK, author of "We Believe the Children: a Moral Panic in the 1980s "(Public Affairs, 2015) and a senior writer at N+1, spoke to New Models about social contagion—from the wild, child abuse allegations of Q and the satanic panics of recent history to the witch trials and blood libels of times before. Deepening the conversation is Richard’s current work on the War on Terror and its remaking of the American worldview. For more: Twitter: @Richard__Beck Richard’s next book, "Fear Itself" is forthcoming from Crown https://nplusonemag.com/authors/beck-richard/ https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/richard-beck/we-believe-the-children/9781610392877/ Subscribe here https://patreon.com/newmodels for advance access to the New Models podcast, all 57+ episodes of NM Topsoil, and entry to the New Models Discord server.

Dubbed the “busiest man on the internet,” polymath TIM HWANG, currently a research fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown Univ., visits the NM pod to discuss his new book, "SUBPRIME ATTENTION CRISIS: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet" (FSG, 2020). We also talk GPT-3, predictive policing, DIY platforms, and founding the first-ever conference on memes. For more: http://timhwang.org/ https://twitter.com/timhwang https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374538651

From the depths of the NEW MODELS DISCORD comes a new glossary for ASTROTURFING and related forms of soft-nonlinear warfare, collectively authored by members of an emergent group called Shifting Uncertain Situations (S.U.S.). For more context, NM hosts Carly, Daniel, and LIL INTERNET got on call with S.U.S. spokespeople Jak Ritger and Clack Auden to discuss these new terms of engagement.

"A CONEY ISLAND OF THE VIRUS: COVID-19 IN NEW YORK" is an essay by the New York-based, Argentinean writer REINALDO LADDAGA, excerpted from a book he is writing about Covid-19 & NYC. The essay tells of physical geography, strategic cartography, and one city's urban planning as death machine on the generational timescale. https://newmodels.io/proprietary/coney-island-of-the-virus-reinaldo-laddaga For more: https://rladdaga.net/ https://adrianahidalgo.es/author-book/laddaga-reinaldo/ Sound design: @LILINTERNET Text read by: Carly Busta

Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, KATHARINE NEILL HARRIS speaks to New Models from Texas about: substance use in America from Prohibition to the War on Drugs; the political and economic incentives for the most damaging policing policies; some surprising problems with body cameras and other tech solutionist fixes; and how all of this fundamentally reinforces race and class inequalities in the US and beyond. We also speak about the politics of pleasure and pain; and the rise of algorithmic RATS. (This episode was recorded 26 June 2020.) For more: https://twitter.com/KatNeillHarris http://blog.bakerinstitute.org/2020/06/08/fixing-american-policing-also-requires-an-end-to-the-war-on-drugs/

Journalist MICHELLE LHOOQ calls into the pod with a report from the NYC STREETS (note: audio for this part of the ep recorded with available equipment/bandwidth). We discuss AUTONOMOUS ZONES and GENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE. Plus: LILNET reads current dissent toward law enforcement as a GROWING MOTION TO DELEGITIMIZE THE LARGER STATE, CARLY cites the EVILS of UR-VIRTUOUS VICTORIAN ENGLAND, and DAN considers whether the POLITICS of "PRO-" may ultimately effect more change than the POLITICS of "ANTI-." Also: ELON'S CRINGE MAGICK, INCELLECTUALS, and SLOW RAD. Introducing this ep: LILINTERNET'S "A MESSAGE FROM A DEAD PERSON" watching humanity from the other side. For more: check out https://michellelhooq.substack.com/ For access to the full episode & all New Models content plus access to our Discord, subscribe at https://patreon.com/newmodels Theme music: Alfred English, "NPC Valley," 2018

We speak with ARTHUR JONES & GIORGIO ANGELINI, filmmakers of "FEELS GOOD MAN," which tells the story of comic artist Matt Furie and the wild journey of his character Pepe the Frog. Yet this set up is also a lens for telling an even broader and deeper story of the past two decades: one that spans intergenerational communication, magic and media, anti-authoritarian rebellion, and the volatility of signs. The documentary comes out August 28 to select audiences (and Sept. 4 everywhere). We nominate it Political Film of the Year. For more: https://www.feelsgoodmanfilm.com/ https://www.instagram.com/feelsgoodmanfilm/ Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97akfYZv28I

We are joined by UC Davis professor of literature and critical theory, JOSHUA CLOVER, who is also a communist and the author of several books including RIOT STRIKE RIOT: THE NEW ERA OF UPRISINGS (Verso, 2016). This conversation begins with the street protests that have erupted across the US in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many other black Americans at the hands of the police. It then expands to encompass digital platforms, definitions of violence and property, the promise of communes, and the caveats of UBI, giving a trans-historical view of revolutionary resistance at the hinge points of political transformation. For more: https://english.ucdavis.edu/people/jclover https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4734-66-days https://www.versobooks.com/authors/2018-joshua-clover Clarification: At 21:55, Clover refers to the Civil Rights Act (re the 1968 MLK Jr. riots). This is technically accurate, and it was officially known as the Civil Rights Act of 1968. But that risks confusing it with the far more well-known Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is why the 1968 act is more popularly know as the Fair Housing Act.

We speak with High Snobiety editor-in-chief, THOM BETTRIDGE about content production, retail circulation, and celebrity in 2020. Thom has extensive experience working in media and creative consulting, including, among other things, having served as the executive editor of Interview magazine and of 032c, as well as the managing editor for the creation of the SSENSE editorial platform. He is also very knowledgeable about shoes.

 Note: This episode was recorded in May prior to the murder of George Floyd and the unrest that followed. 

 For more: 
https://www.instagram.com/thomthomclub 
https://www.highsnobiety.com/ https://032c.com/big-flat-now-op-ed http://www.spikeartmagazine.com/articles/fashion-2

Writer Steve Marsh [https://twitter.com/stephenhero] joins us from a Minneapolis swelling with unrest to give details and context to the life and death of George Floyd (aka Big Floyd), and the history of the police department that murdered him. TAKE ACTION Support the family of George Floyd: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd Black Visions MN (black activists and organizers local to ME/twin cities): https://secure.everyaction.com/4omQDAR0oUiUagTu0EG-Ig2 North Star Health Collective (street medics and emergency care): https://www.northstarhealthcollective.org/support-north-star-health