I was sleeping on this podcast till now because I'm lazy. But yesterday I decided to go through the episodes/clips on YouTube and wow they are good! I've no idea how they manage to get so many awesome guests - Richard Wolff, Zizek, Chomsky, then you've got Nina Turner and Cornel West, there's Boots Riley, it's just incredible. And all of them are so honest and upfront and open when talking. I've never seen Wolff this animated and lively when talking to someone else or even on his own show! It's incredible.
EDIT - What the fuck happened in the comments?
the only leftist podcast that isn't too mean for my lib dad to willingly listen to which has gotta count for something
I think it still has entertainment value and some of the guests have been really cool.
Probably not a waste of time if it helps you communicate ideas the same ideas to libs.
They’re the fastest growing podcast for leftist politics. Virgil comes from the previous most popular leftist podcast and Bri is the number one star in leftist media. It’s not too shocking they get everyone. It can get quite lib/electoralism at times, but some of those interviews are amazing. Boots was my favorite. He was doing everything in his power to get them off of electoralism and move the conversation towards unions and since then I’ve noticed a change in the content as well.
Haven't watched, but I will check out the Boots episode. The absolute coolest guy in mass media right now.
"If we just hold Brie and Virgil accountable we can push them left"
You always think that BJG is about to finally get it and then she comes back with a god awful lib take. Until she reads some Lenin she's on the pay no mind list
Lol when the guests were like “No sympathy for those fuckers,” and BJG was like “Watch the tapes!”
No, sorry. Those are my “sarcastic” quotes.
If I quote directly I’ll try to do this or provide a source.
I like the rigor but yes that is something that sounds very Briahna. She's like a blindfolded person grasping for the door.
I’ve ranted about this in other threads to death probably. But why make a show of saying you’re dropping the “democratic” for dem soc, but then immediately fall for the emotional manipulation by the bourgeois state, in a concern for their lives?
the same reason you drop the "dem" but still make a show that basically still centers around the Democratic party.
I wouldn't go that far. It's just old fashioned petite bourgeois reaction. Or just a mind limited by small horizons.
You’re most likely correct. I’ll add that her time working in the politics obviously has corrupted her. If she hasn’t worked in the capitol itself, she has at the very least imagined herself being there. So maybe some projection? I’m not sure the right term here.
Everyone's allowed to have a bad take every once in a while, she'll get there just give her time
Say whatever you will about Dore, at least he brought out and read Lenin on his show. The way Briahna talks sometimes you'd think for her Lenin is a textile.
It seems impossible to me that she isn't hiding her power level for the sake of the show and her credibility as a Blue Check Mark. She gets soooo close and ask such leading questions to her guest
If she's afraid to go there because of a blue check on Twitter, then is it really want different than simply not being a socialist?
Seems to me her strategy is to platform people to her left/build a leftist pipeline. If she can pretend (or actually be, doesn't really matter) to be a lib and also signal boost something like The Gravel Institute or Struggle Session, seems worth trying.
I could be convinced that building a leftist pipeline by pretending to a lib is a fool's errand, and that bullying is the only effective method, but I haven't been yet.
I agree that she's going to be a good entry for libs, but imagining her as a secret communist isn't healthy.
She isn't hiding her power level. There's no 6D chess. Grow up man. People are what they are and you're just projecting.
If she's a communist why would she keep wasting time on bourgeois state bullshit. Have you ever met a communist who doesn't profess his beliefs proudly.
What credibility? Everyone in the establishment already hates her
It's only a matter of time before Brie becomes irony-poisoned and radicalized. She can only harp on #ForceTheVote and Trump's impeachment for so long before realizing the whole system is a fuck.
I will continue to dog the Kyle Kulinski and Krytal Ball podcast, though. What a whiff.
Her interview with Chomsky was so embarrassing.
Like, I like her and all, but like, her going like "No, no, you see by not voting for biden, I'm actually being strategic by "leveraging our votes".
Like, sorry, until the left has some mass organization votes as a block, and that can actually swing an election, you cant leverage your vote.
Just say you're not voting for Biden because hes a shit lib right winger and leave it at that. Stop trying to pretend it's part of some big strategy that will lead to us taking power, because that tbh, is a massive cope by people trying to pretend that the left has more power than it actually does.
Krystal ball is obv cia. The only thing that might convince me otherwise is that the CIA would be wise to have her change her name or something lol
She nearly did once after the squad did nothing with the force the vote non-event.
It’s a good cast, I wish Virgil spoke more, but I appreciate his single interjected joke every 20 mins.
Eh, I listened to the first couple of episodes when it first came out and it was extremely lib electoralism horse race stuff, tuned out after that. They do seem to get some good guests though.
I think analyzing lib electoralism stuff is good though. I think it's an important part in analyzing & understanding power and I think they do a decent job at it.
That said, I do also agree with you - it's very clear that Brie doesn't understand the role of labor in the labor movement. It's more like "yeah well of course we need labor """organizing""" but only in order to get votes for x," which is putting the cart before the horse. It's very unsatisfying for a podcaster to say "well actually before any of this we need a stronger labor movement" because it sounds like a lib cop out even if it's correct analysis. I think this is what led to FTV hysteria, even if Brie's correct that voting for Nancy is dumb.
The debate with Sam Seder is genuinely eye-opening. I learnt so much about where both of them are coming from. It got heated real fast, but then after a while things cooled down too. Virgil definitely helped in that regard, when he decided to talk to Sam about 2006 and his experience as a left radio host during the Iraq War. Things weren't resolved by the end and neither really budged on their stance but as an outsider listening to the two was very helpful.
As side note has anyone notice how much v*ushs community hate bjg? Its so weird
It's not that weird. His dedicated fanbase is misogynistic and racist.
Vaushposting detected. Gulag drones are closing in on your position now.
Because she's smarter than them. White nerds really, really hate when women are smarter than them (especially if she's young, pretty, and black).
I've noticed this bjg hate among libs in general. Always reminds me of chuds and nazis who absolutely flip their shit when women of color, especially young, beautiful and successful ones, dare to have on opinion.
I like it too. Often Dem soc but better than most. I tend to want more funny quips from Virgil but it's not what that pod is.
I'm curious, what position do you think a dem soc should hold that Brie & Virgil don't? What is the rhetorical & practical difference between a demsoc and a 'socdem that disavows democrats' in today's US?
I think demsocs in the imperial core should just not and get an ideology for grown ups
But seriously you asked the relevant question. Every legal means to achieve socialist reform have been tried in the US and non have worked. So much so that democratic socialism and social democracy are basically identical in practice. The US institutions are structurally built to keep out challengers and changing them is even harder than getting some guy elected president.
In contrast you saw for yourself that the state acts when it faces mass violence.
At some point you need to stop banging your head against a wall and admit you're wrong.
ehhh theres something about BJG that makes me a lil suspicious.....the whole FTV situation with how she and other blue check podcasters seem to be mad at the DSA for not "putting in the work" and expecting the DSA to do their organizing for them rather than actually engaging with the DSA themselves, kind of turns me off. (thats how ive seen the situation explained but if its something different lmk)
its generally annoying watching nyc blue checks who were corporate until a few years ago make a bunch of money off of left content, talk about anything. I feel like some of these types think they can skip the line/ are owed certain praise for the left just because they make more money talking about left issues than anyone else. .....all of their commentary just seems irrelevant because they're so disengaged from the actual organizing on the ground and it just seems so useless when they're arguing over something for 1.5 hours on some stream when real work is being done by people who organize on top of having regular jobs where they make less money! like bad faith and similar podcasts sometimes just literally has stuff wrong because they aren't on the ground and so they have these mishapened takes that are only based on conjecture being used as building blocks for some general argument that doesnt even matter
In general im wary about the commentary class /people who get paid to be thought leaders without putting in any real work, and really wish people wouldnt listen to them as much
It doesnt help that i worked with BJG;s boyfriend (the public interest attorney she brags about) who was a talented tenth howard spoken word "lets ruminate in my blackness instead of talking about how we can address my coworker's real shitty labor conditions" type. (i say this as a black woman) Its funny how that dude isnt even involved with organizing around tenant rights in nyc yet whenever BJG talks about nyc tenant issues she leans into her association with him as if he's on the vanguard even though he's just a public defender type, who contributed to the lack of equity between his lower paid brown and black coworkers (you know, the actual non gentrifier college educated tenants of nyc). This is super dumb and personal but i always felt like BGJ's boyfriend was probably indicative of her personality.
there was also some weird cheating (?) relationship drama in the office having to deal with BGJ but thats for another time and i do not wish to dox myself
I like listening to it, but man bjg is like the most lib actual leftist. Also Virgil literally doesn't talk unless it is the first 10 minutes of the show
