The Culture We Deserve

Jessa and Nico return from their week off to discover nothing has really changed. We're still talking about campus protests (instead of what they are protesting), technology is still celebrating the destruction of things that are handmade and skillful and good, people are still trying to declare who art is "for" and who is allowed to have opinions about it, and American fascists are still nostalgic about the Austro Hungarian empire. From Eurovision to Kendrick v Drake to Germany's memory culture. 

Americans are being warned by their government that before they leave the country they need to check their luggage for any "stray ammo" or weaponry that they might have stashed in there. Is the world getting sick of America's nonsense? Europe is ending its golden visa program, Turks & Caicos has Americans under arrest for trying to bring guns etc on vacation, and Venice is now charging entry fees for disembarking from the foul cruise ships. Jessa and Nico contemplate the American "the world is my oyster" entitlement. Also: campus protests, the cruise ship essay, Salman Rushdie got stabbed by a guy from Jersey, and more. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Civil War is a hit! Both blue states and red states agree that watching a movie that lets you fantasize about the half of the country you don't agree with being buried in a shallow mass grave is a great time. Could it happen here? Probably. Jessa and Nico get into why so many people want it to. And what a film, devoid of any insight into political polarization or who is paying for those Western Forces helicopters, by Alex Garland has to say to us now.  This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

The Dept of Health and Human Services ruled that hospitals could no longer do pelvic exams on unconscious women without their consent, in the year of 2024. Nico and Jessa get into the horror of having a human body right now, with telehealth companies selling drugs to cure baldness that have been linked to psychosis to abortion laws that change every day to the rise of entrepreneurial and hedge-fund ruled health care.  This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

DEI is the new Critical Race Theory is the new Affirmative Action -- a way to distract you from the way finance is ruining everything. Jessa and Nico get into the online conspiracies that soon your doctors, pilots, and dentists will just be some guy they pull from the streets. Also: Is Berlin over? If Trump becomes President again, are we ready for four more years of hideous anti-Trump "art"? This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

America's oldest art school, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, is closing its degreed programs after a perilous drop in enrollment. It is just one of the many arts and humanities programs that are being slashed, retooled, and shut down across America. Nico, who both attended and taught at art school, and Jessa discuss the state of arts education, the tight grip the MFA has on the imaginations of our young artists, and why our world trains so many artists for jobs that do not exist. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Every week there's a new docuseries where the victims of horrific violence or exploitation have to get in front of the camera and tell us the bad things that happened to them. And within a few days, we've forgotten again. Nico and Jessa look at the overproduction of nonfiction content, from the multiple "investigations" into Twin Flames to the multiplicity of deep dives on Nickelodeon damaged child stars, the constantly refreshing stream of information, and the way clickbait media feeds off the streaming ecosystem.  This episode's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Are the tradwives coming to take your husbands? Page Six printed an essay by a woman whose partner got addicted to depictions of effortless domesticity and wondered why his house was not as blissful. Divorce rates are high, marriage rates are low, what is the meaning of wife in this moment? Jessa and Nico talk tradwive propaganda, why the feminists are divorcing, and whether we should abolish the family altogether. Today's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

The viewership of the Oscars is less than half of what it was a decade ago, and yet the award ceremony dominates celebrity media more than ever. The films themselves are almost secondary to what the awards represent, which is... racial equality? social harmony? proof that our democracy is working? Unclear. People take sides in the awards so much that Emma Stone was threatened with cancellation immediately for winning Best Actress over Lily Gladstone. Nico and Jessa dig into the discourse and imagine a better, less "important" award ceremony for the future. This ad's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Hey, hey you. No no no, act cool. Listen, I have discovered some pretty potent information about the dealings of our government in (Iran/Nicaragua/Chile/Brooklyn). People have died knowing this stuff, you know what I'm saying? So this is for your eyes only, well, yours and the rest of the Netflix audience. Netflix has been releasing very successful conspiracy-related docuseries the last few years. The latest is American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, which dives into the CIA's involvement in drug trafficking, at least one serial killer, spying on enemies and allies alike, and global instability. Jessa and Nico look at the popularity of these shows in an election year, and whether CIA conspiracies are just QAnon for leftists. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com