It fucking sucks, how tf did the subreddit get so big? This is just them talking about decade old twitter drama.

  • Lerios [hy/hym]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    the subreddit was almost completely unrelated to the show, like legit i was there for months before i knew the show even existed. the sub got big because it was accessible big tent leftism - actual leftist shit that could criticise neoliberalism and point out the contradictions while being easily digestible and not racist. thats all it took because there was virtually nothing else that did all those things.

    • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      because it was accessible big tent leftism

      This is rapidly occurring in /r/anticonsumptioon at the same scale as antiwork was prior to the takedown and explosion of drama.

      I am extremely concerned for its future as it has literally 2 mods and my conversations with the existing mod suggests the top mod is entirely inactive and the 1 existing mod has no permission to add new mods.

      Eventually reddit’s going to force them to add new mods and they’re all going to be turbo-liberals.

      The current existing mod is sympathetic to us, and has assured me that they don’t want the modteam doing anticommunism in the community like the antiwork team did. But the way this is gonna go is gonna be at the whims of how the admins force new mod additions when they get fed up of it being moderated poorly.

  • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    They were at peak form during the election cycles because you had a cast of dipshit politicians doing things every week and so you got recap + jokes each week so you could keep relatively current without bothering with liberal media.

    • SuperZutsuki [they/them, any]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      I think citations needed only really works for terminally online turbolibs as a window to the world outside the mainstream narratives. I don’t really get anything from listening to it and thinking, “Yeah, I know.” and agreeing with them on most things.

      • blobjim [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        Sometimes it’s just playing to the crowd. Sometimes they actually talk about a through-line of American propaganda that I never noticed and that’s when it works super well. Sometimes it’s so good that I hope it gets preserved for future generations as a way of understanding the US.

        The recent episode 195 was decent.

        They really are the perfect podcast for sending to politics-minded friends (not that I actually do that, lol). Just make sure you don’t send an episode where they talk extra-smarmily for extended periods.

      • Dessa [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        Occasionally they’ll have a good bit. They did one on why country music turned chuddy a while back and it was excellent

  • YEP [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Last 3 episodes were really bad. The regular show is good when they find a slate of insane ameribrained op eds to ridicule for 45 min also bc of the size of the show they have on very good guests fairly regularly. The episode recently with Ryan grim where they discussed his new book about the squad(absolutely brutal portrayal of AOC) was very good. Their interview with beirut based journalist Séamus Malekafzali was also stand out. All the spin offs that are actual passion projects are also good like others mentioned in this thread.

  • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Maybe part of it was that there was a widespread desire to be irreverent, and the hosts mixed a lot of history and politics in with their media critique.

    But the bigger reason why r/CTH took off is because r/communism sucked and r/anarchism sucked and r/socialism sucked and r/latestagecapitalism sucked. As soon as r/CTH became known as a nonsectarian space that upheld progressive politics but no specific banner, and started to develop a reputation of its own, including making fun of reactionaries instead of banning them, it began to really take off.

    • Wakmrow [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      Genuinely this is why I loved it and now love hexbear. I don’t want to get into Internet fights with leftists, I want to shit on right wing assholes together. None of this really matters climate change is going to doom us all and we can debate theory amidst the ruins of society.

  • Chapo_is_Red [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    It has good episodes and bad episodes. I generally like it. I enjoy when they really dig into liberal/chud brainworms, and regularly get good guests.

    I think it had finally gotten into a good post-Bernie rhythm, but then Matt had a stroke and it’s been more hit or miss.

    I don’t think it’s “must listen to” by any means though.

    • Great_Leader_Is_Dead@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      I haven’t listened to an actual full episode of the Pod in years, in fact I hardly ever listen to full podcasts anymore. I do follow their YT channel where they post clips and in my opinion those are still pretty good, but I assume they’re just editing out the good bits so Idk the good/bad ratio.

      Honestly this is how I engage with most podcast content now. I’ve actually NEVER listened to an episode of Cumtown but I still follow Saul on YT since he just animates the good bits and edits out all the parts where they just talk about ordering pizza or whatever.

      • Chapo_is_Red [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        That’s interesting, I wonder how many folks mostly take in podcasts that way (it certainly makes sense).

        I think a lot of my podcasting habit is shaped by having an hour long commute on the bus most days.

  • M68040 [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    I think Chapo’s moment kind of passed with the failure of Sanders’ 2020 run tbh. Kind of felt like one of the last nails in the coffin. Also other podcasts do what they did better these days.

    I will say I do still love the pure screaming pathos of Matt losing his shit at an awful Megan McArdle OpEd about the Grenfell fire. One of the first times I ever felt like someone else was being driven mad by this stuff to the same degree and in the precise way I am.