The Culture We Deserve

Congratulations to all the TikTok astrology girls, you were right about someone trying to shoot the former president mid-July. Please enjoy life under government surveillance. There's a slogan from the American Evangelical community, God Doesn't Call the Qualified, He Qualifies the Called. It's used to justify everything from sending teens off to do missionary work in countries they know nothing about to supporting a presidential candidate like Trump. Nico and Jessa wonder whether this has moved from being an Evangelical slogan to an American mindset. And what has truly changed since 2016? This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve For shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

The elites are feeling weird again. Biden blames the Elites for pushing him to retirement, Marine le Pen and other populists are claiming to protect the little people against the Elites, the New York Times keeps hiring Harvard Men to write op-eds about how the Elites have failed us.... Everyone wants to go to Yale, but no one wants to be caught out as an Elite. Jessa and Nico talk about a new level of Nazi daddy issues, why rightwing think tanks are making art now, and what makes an Elite elite. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve For shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Alternative title for this episode: Don't let the Prez sundown on me. Why is the inability to retire or withdraw, damn the consequences, a recurring problem in American politics? From Biden to RBG to Mitch McConnell, the powerful all want to die in the saddle. Is it the baby boomers, or is it what that generation represents: infinite growth, unquestioned power, top of the world baby. Jessa and Nico discuss the long American 20th century, how to bow out gracefully, and why cancel culture is a poor substitute for real accountability. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve For shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Is American culture hostile to children? With certain hotels, resorts, restaurants, and other public spaces forbidding the presence of kids, and the government ending its extremely popular pandemic-era family aid program, and the endless social media complaints about screaming children and bad parenting, yeah okay maybe. But is this a new development, or are we inventing a golden age where children were treasured and welcomed? What would a society that actually accommodated children (or women, or disabled people, or the impoverished etc etc) look like? Jessa and Nico talk about the history of feminist urban planning, the real reason no one wants to end remote work (our cities are broken), and depopulation hysteria. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve For shownotes and other resources: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Amazon controls everything, literature is culturally irrelevant outside of the Tiktok subgenres of Dark Academia Dark Romance Dark Fantasy, the industry is still going through corporate consolidation, etc etc. Jessa and Nico get into the terrible state of publishing, and what happens to an industry wholly dependent on the university system when the university system goes into crisis. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve For shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

What's an Arts District without any art? Mostly condo buildings named after composers, restaurants with a $200 seafood tower, and Madam Butterfly as muzak. And what's a literary community without any literature? It's spending tens of thousands of dollars on an MFA so you can teach creativity workshops online. Jessa and Nico assess the wreckage left by Philadelphia's shocking University of the Arts closure, the rise of the creativity coach, and the monoculture of elite overproduction. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve For shownotes and related materials: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

If the masculinity influencers like Tate and Huberman are our society's surrogate daddies, who are the women giving mother? Are the makeup YouTube tutorials, home cooking TikToks, and parasocial substitutes a baby bottle replacement for the nurturance and care women feel like they lack? What is the divide between the metaphorical mother and the literal human woman? Can you self-care your way through late capitalism and environmental collapse, yes or no. Plus: Lauren Southern renounces tradwife life, Jurgen Klopp is once again the ideal father, and more. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve Subscribe to our newsletter for show notes, references, and more: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

It's not a great time to be a fan. The hooligan, the violent and illogical fanatic who will commit crimes to defend their faves, is no longer found only in sports. The hooligan can be found worshipping pop stars, politicians, Netflix shows, and comic book characters. There they are, issuing death threats to those who dare to criticize a singer-songwriter. They are in your mentions, swarming you for not liking a video game. Jessa and Nico take the moment of Jürgen Klopp's departure from Liverpool FC to think about the state of fandom, what it gives and what it takes and what it requires from us. This week's sponsor: http://betterhelp.com/culturewedeserve http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

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