Welcome to Doomscroll. I’m excited to announce episode #11 with Jack Wagner. Today we’re revisiting the classics and paying homage to the greatest meme ever made.
There’s been a lot of talk in the past week about the need for progressive podcasts to reach an audience of young men. I have an idea for a new show— its called “having a platform of universal social democratic policies”. A huge number of people are listening to it already. Could be a big hit?
This week, my guest is Jack Wagner, a writer & director, host of the Otherworld podcast and one of my all time favorite posters. We discuss our experience of the early internet and explore how the online world shaped our creative practices and worldviews. Today’s episode looks at:
The shifting landscape of internet culture and the many belief systems that have grown out of social media (from new atheism to trad cath)
Getting pilled, the implosion of rationality and why it makes sense to “do your own research”
My completely unironic idea that everyone should be legally required to use their government name online
Content moderators work in two shifts, from 5:00 am to 1:30 pm and from 2:30 pm to 10:00 pm because StateBook is closed for lunch.
Okay, now get ready to scroll for a little while:
When I first started podcasting, I committed to doing a live stream series where I explored every topic on The Chart of Truth. This legendary meme format includes 50 - 70 conspiracy theories, esoteric mysteries and paranormal events on each tier. The project took a combined 55 hours to complete and is honestly something I have never recovered from. The amount of garbage information I now have in my brain is basically beyond repair. It also gave me a deep education in conspiracy culture and familiarized me with many esoteric themes that circulate online. Longtime viewers will remember this project fondly.
At this time, Jack was the co-host of the Yeah But Still podcast. We did a trilogy of episodes diving into these conspiracies. Jack and I continued this exploration over many appearances on his new show Otherworld. We recently published a podcast mini-series about the Gateway Process— the declassified CIA documents revealing US military experiments into psycho-energetics and astral projection. (This will make its way onto the podcast feed soon!)
Jack is a huge inspiration for my work and one of my favorite people to collaborate with. If you appreciate this work and want this series to keep going, you can help us out with likes, comments and by subscribing to the channel. All that stuff lets us reach a new audience:
Doomscroll 11: Jack Wagner: Questioning Beliefs, Creative Paths, Doing Your Own Research
is it possible to rewatch/listen the live stream series?