Joshua Citarella

My returning guest is Catherine Liu. We discuss the crisis of elite academies, the influence of Foucault, a certain Twitter controversy, Thomas Piketty's concept of the Merchant Right, the transformation of the artworld under neoliberalism and much more. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My returning guest is Catherine Liu,‬ a professor of film and media studies at UC Irvine. She is the author of "Virtue Hoarders: the Case Against the Professional Managerial Class". We explore the psychological significance of “trauma” and “care” within the liberal discourse today. Liu describes a moral panic among elites where the language of personal therapy attempts to right social and historical wrongs. These topics will be part of her forthcoming book "Traumatized!", to be published by Verso Books early next year. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

This is a subscribers only episode. My guest is Jen Pan, the author of Selling Social Justice (2025). Jen and I breakdown these topics further and speak candidly about our frustration with elite institutions. I also share one of the more ridiculous political horseshoe stories from my social media research… You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Jen Pan, formerly a host of The Jacobin Show and a staff writer at the New Republic. She is the author of “Selling Social Justice” — out now from Verso Books. We discuss the DEI industry, the New Deal, American inequality and why the rich love anti-racism. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic, Dissent, and Damage Magazine. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Anthony Fantano. We dive deeper into the ethics of criticism, the role of politics in “good art” and the extractive economic model of Spotify. Where did subculture go after platforms took over the internet? You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Anthony Fantano, a music critic and the voice behind The Needle Drop. We discuss the role of politics in art and music, his origins in the anti-war punk scene and the strange state of American counter-culture today. Music scenes used to serve as a gateway to anti-establishment politics. It was once common to find DIY anarchist zines at the local punk show. Now these political subcultures exist almost entirely online and have dissolved into the newsfeed. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

This is a subscriber's only episode. Professor Chibber and I dive deep into the history of the left and explore its transformation over the course of the 20th century. After the cultural turn, the march through institutions, and our current media environment, we ask — where did things go wrong? You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Vivek Chibber, a professor of sociology at New York University. He is the author of Confronting Capitalism, The Class Matrix and Postcolonial Theory & the Specter of Capital. Chibber is the editor of Catalyst Journal and the host of the Confronting Capitalism podcast. We discuss the cultural turn, the rise of identity politics and the crisis of academia. Chibber is deeply committed to a material analysis and is unflinching in his critique of class tourism on the political left. He describes the early theoretical foundations for socialism as it relates to liberal philosophical ideals. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Andrew Callaghan. We explore Andrew's background in music and online subcultures, the ethics of publishing or "risk-for-harm", and his plans for the future of Channel 5 and more. Plus a few behind the scenes and personal stories that we could not include in the public version. This is a subscriber's only episode. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter. Subscribe now on Patreon or Substack: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Andrew Callaghan, a documentary filmmaker and the host of Channel 5. He is the director of This Place Rules (2022) and Dear Kelly (2025), an in-depth portrait of a man he met at a ‘White Lives Matter' rally. We discuss the breakdown of consensus reality and how deplatforming can often lead to greater political extremism. Andrew describes his early origins in the anarchist movement and his participation in a group called Seattle Solidarity. His work explores the decline of the American dream along with the rise of political radicalism online and IRL. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Ezra Klein. We discuss the emerging political faction known as Degrowth, the carbon crisis and the policy arc of the neoliberal period. This is a subscriber's only episode. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter. Subscribe now on Patreon or Substack: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

Online radicalization is the result of three key factors. Support the show: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Ezra Klein, an opinion columnist at the New York Times, the host of The Ezra Klein Show. He is a co-author, along with Derek Thompson, of a new book titled Abundance. We discuss his promethean, energy-rich vision for the future, polarization in the attention economy and the end of the neoliberal consensus. We explore our new political era and the rise of superpower competition between the US and China. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Adam Friedland. We discuss the ethics of platforming and the art of the talk show interview. For a few reasons, we chose to put this part of the conversation on the private feed only. This is a subscriber's only episode. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter. Subscribe now on Patreon or Substack: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Adam Friedland, a stand up comedian and podcaster. He is the host of The Adam Friedland Show. We discuss the influence of alt-media, a farewell to Cumtown (RIP), the ideas & inspiration behind The Adam Friedland Show and his many social media controversies. How did comedians become recast as public intellectuals for the digital age? You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Briahna Joy gray. We discuss irony politics, the alt-media to organization pipeline, and our shared admiration for Star Trek utopia. This is a subscriber's only episode. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter. Subscribe now on Patreon or Substack: https://www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella https://joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Briahna Joy Gray, a lawyer, journalist and political commentator. She is the host of the Bad Faith podcast. We discuss the crisis of the Democratic party, online fact checkers vs. freedom of speech on social media, the mixed politics of populism and third parties in the USA.

Deep Research is a mini-series collaboration with Otherworld. In the final episode, Josh speaks to the researcher "JC Dentun" about the vast cosmology and beliefs of Robert Monroe and the circle of people around him that we learned about in Part 1. Jack writes: A big thank you to Joshua Citarella for going above and beyond with this series. He started exploring this many months ago, and quite frankly, I had no idea what he was working on. I was amazed when he came back with an entirely new perspective on the Gateway saga and Monroe's connection to the military. Although it's just a theory, I personally love the idea of these guys convincing the government to fund their own spiritual research. That's exactly how I want my tax dollars spent! Follow on IG: Otherworld, JC Dentun

My guest is Quinn Slobodian, a professor of international history at Boston University. He is the author of "Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism". Neoliberalism is the most misused word in today's political discourse. In this episode we discuss the origins of the ideological movement. What is neoliberalism? When did it begin? How did it transform global politics?

My guest is Will Menaker, a host of the ‪Chapo Trap House‬ podcast. We discuss the failures of working within the Democratic Party, the role of alternative media and a certain state in a certain part of the world. Can humor help us find truth within the online landscape?

Joshua Citarella begins his deep dive into the history and teachings of the Monroe Institute ("the worlds premiere organization for studying human consciousness"), starting with an expert interview with artist and acoustics expert Carmelo Pampillonio. This mini series is a collaboration with Otherworld. This is the first part of a three part series. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 coming soon.

My guest is Dasha Nekrasova, an actor, director and host of the Red Scare podcast. We discuss Trump's historic win, Luigi Mangione and Dasha's political journey from a Bernie Sander's supporter in 2016 to a Trump voter in 2024. What happens to political consensus when all narratives have now become alternative?

Mike Pepi is the author of “Against Platforms”, a bold critique of the hidden costs of digital life – and a manifesto for a better future. He is also one of my best friends and someone I have been in conversation with for over a decade. In this episode, we discuss our shared history in working to develop a new institutionalist critique of emerging technologies and platforms. The vast expansion of platforms during the 2010's, which now encompass nearly all aspects of social life, represented a blindspot for the political left. To understand how this happened, we need to retrace the history of the 60's counter-culture and the embrace of libertarian philosophies amongst the New Left. Since 2011, Mike Pepi, Brad Troemel, myself and other artists and writers have been engaged in an on-going dialogue that explores the ideological roots and design of platform technologies. Mike writes: “We have been taught that digital technologies are neutral tools, transparent, easily understood, and here to serve us. The reality, is that they are laden with assumptions and collateral consequences – ideology, in other words. And it is this hidden ideology that must be dismantled if we are to harness technology for the fullest expression of our humanity.” Get the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/761644/against-platforms-by-mike-pepi/

My guest is Daniel Keller, an artist whose work and research has inspired me for over a decade. We discuss tech monopolies and their cozy relationship to state power, the artificial intelligence race, the chips war, network states and geopolitical competition between the US and China. These are the defining conflicts of the 21st century.

My guest is Jack Wagner, a writer & director, host of the Otherworld podcast and one of my all time favorite posters. We discuss his experience of creative life on the internet and explore the many esoteric belief systems that have grown out of social media. We see a trend of increasing irrationality in a complex world. At the end we pay homage to one of the greatest memes ever made.

My guest is Caleb Cain or Faraday Speaks as he is known online. In 2019, Caleb Cain posted a video on YouTube called “My Descent into the Alt-Right Pipeline”. In the video, he described his first person experience of online radicalization. It quickly went viral. Soon after, Cain was profiled in The New York Times in a piece titled “The Making of a YouTube Radical”. In 2020, he was featured again by the New York Times in the popular Rabbit Hole podcast. Today, he joins us to tell his side of the story.

My guest is Amber A'Lee Frost, a writer, organizer, co-host of the Chapo Trap House podcast and the author of Dirtbag (2023). We discuss today's dysfunctional left, elite overproduction, online political subcultures and the emergence of “youth” as a counter-cultural and consumer demographic. Is the New Right support for labor real? What does it mean for American workers?

My guest is musician Matty Healy of The 1975. He joins me to discuss internet culture and the strange aesthetics of our time. We explore the inspirations behind his work, including the writing of cultural theorist Mark Fisher. Matty describes the "slow cancellation of the future" by comparing distinct styles of pop music across various decades. Fisher links these cultural moments to larger economic shifts that are often felt but rarely seen.

Yung Chomsky is the producer of the TrueAnon podcast, creator of the mobile app Phomo, and a natural athlete with 16 years of experience. We discuss his personal journey of learning to lift online while exploring exercise subcultures via forums and message boards. We sort the facts from fictions and discuss the tenuous connections between weight lifting and far right politics. This is the lifting episode. We're all gonna make it.

My guest is comedian Peter James Fowler. He joins me to discuss his political meme account that he ran at age 11. I've spent the last few years interviewing young people who make radical posts online. Peter shares his journey from growing up in evangelical Christianity, to new atheism, and from Trump to Bernie.

My guest is artist and geographer Trevor Paglen. His groundbreaking work links new technological developments to larger political issues that are often secret or unseen. We discuss the emerging paradigm of "psyops capitalism", the history of the CIA's MK Ultra psychological operations and how magic shapes our perception of reality. These technologies culminate to form a new economic order of private surveillance, manipulation and financial extraction.

My guest is ‪JJ McCullough a YouTuber who was previously a TV political commentator and columnist at the Washington Post. We discuss generational shifts from the political left to right, explore the state of alternative media and debate the origins of right-wing populism. While we disagree on some core issues, we always grant each other the space to fully argue an idea. My analysis and understanding is strengthened through our on-going dialogues.

My guest is Jreg or Greg Guevara as he is known offline. Jreg is a popular YouTube creator who explores online radical politics. He joins me to discuss our shared fascination with incredibly niche ideologies that only exist online. We explore social atomization as a political project and agree that taking the friend pill is the best advice you can find.

My guest is Catherine Liu, professor of film and media studies at UC Irvine. She is the author of 'Virtue Hoarders: the Case Against the Professional Managerial Class'. We discuss the origin of trauma studies, self branding on social media and the ideology of the professional class. Liu has an unwavering commitment to historical materialism and a fierce critique of elitist academies. She explores the intense moralism of our times as it relates to the Freudian super-ego.

My guest is Brace Belden, an organizer, an infamous shitposter and co-host of the TrueAnon podcast. I've spent the last few years interviewing young people who make radical posts online and later find their way into real world politics. Irony and humor play a huge role in this process. For the first episode, I wanted to talk to one of my favorite posters who has also lived his politics in the real world. https://www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella

Max Read joins me to discuss "the Zynternet", a newly emergent youth subculture online. We explore the For-You-Pagification of social media, the revenge of the normies and the future of online subcultures. Follow: https://maxread.substack.com/

This week's guest is a 17 year old Left Communist from the Bay Area. He was a right-wing troll at age 13. We explore niche political subcultures, generational posting styles and the value of electoral politics.

Alex Hochuli is a co-host of the Aufhebunga Bunga podcast and a co-author of "The End of the End of History: Politics in the 21st Century". He joins me to discuss universalisms, organization and the difficult way forward. Follow: https://x.com/bungacast https://x.com/Alex__1789

Otherworld presents Deep Research. This week, we're covering “Tartaria”. Tartaria is a conspiracy theory that suggests the existence of a vast, advanced civilization that supposedly existed in ancient times but has been intentionally erased from historical records. Proponents of this theory often claim that Tartaria was a highly developed and technologically advanced empire with a global influence, surpassing the conventional understanding of history. They argue that evidence of Tartaria's existence is hidden or manipulated by a secretive global elite. The conspiracy theory often incorporates a variety of historical events, architectural anomalies, and symbols to support its narrative.Research links: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tartaria/comments/wggxfa/itsmorganfr_on_tiktok_explaining_tartaria/ https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78-02771r000200090002-6 https://www.youtube.com/@jonlevichannel https://www.youtube.com/@MindUnveiled https://www.reddit.com/r/tartarianarchitecture/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Tartaria/ https://www.tiktok.com/@watch_the_rabbit_hole/video/7197053113310661890?lang=en https://www.tiktok.com/@auntytateana2/video/7161746777069145350?lang=en https://youtu.be/4N-GDmlDMts?si=LH4ot7FLSsgzdd3Y https://www.tiktok.com/@zacharydenman/video/7193705054363258117?lang=en https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-27/inside-architecture-s-wildest-conspiracy-theory https://youtu.be/dtU_M0Sjd9Y?si=LOds3f6Nj-KXktMQ&t=332 Follow: https://www.instagram.com/otherworldpod/?hl=enhttps://www.patreon.com/Otherworld

I sat down with Catherine Liu, author of Virtue Hoarders (2021), professor of Film & Media Studies at UC Irvine, for her new series at Montez Press Radio. Catherine writes, “This series, Workers of the Culture Industry Unite! (LOL) tries to address the problems of artists' work in the age of finance capitalism… At a time when the corporations and institutions that support artists are suffering from endless crises of legitimacy, how can we have better conversations about what artistic and aesthetic freedom really look like.” Follow: https://cliuanon.substack.com/ https://www.instagram.com/montezpressradio

Ruby Thelot is a designer, cyber-ethnographer and artist. He is a professor of Design and Media Theory at NYU. We discuss his new book: A Cyber Archeology of Checkpoints (2024) a poignant tribute to a vanished online community. Get the book: https://www.irrelevantpress.com/store/pre-sale-a-cyberarchaeology-of-checkpoints-ruby-thelot Follow: https://www.instagram.com/being_on_line/?hl=en https://x.com/being_on_line?lang=en

My guest is a Post-Marxist. We explore political subcultures such as Post-left Anarchy, Unconditional Accelerationism, Anarcho-Primitivism and more.

Towards a Philosophy of Photography by Vilem Flusser (1984) https://dis.art/obama-baroque https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000007785730/facebook-news-feed-zuckerberg.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liLGhXv76dg

Get the book: https://darkforest.metalabel.com/dfa2 Yancey and I visit Montez Press Radio in downtown NYC to discuss The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet. Follow: https://www.instagram.com/montezpressradio https://www.instagram.com/ystrickler https://twitter.com/ystrickler https://www.instagram.com/metalabel__/ https://twitter.com/metalabel_

Austin Robey, co-founder of Metalabel, joins me to discuss alternative models for the internet. We explore “Ampled”, a cooperative platform for musicians that existed from 2018-2023 and theorize about the next generation of platforms. Follow: https://twitter.com/austinrobey_
https://www.instagram.com/michaelcoors/ https://twitter.com/metalabel_ https://www.instagram.com/metalabel__/ Read: https://austinrobey.xyz/

Get the game: https://joshuacitarella.metalabel.com/class-fantasy Class Fantasy is an action RPG card game that pairs fantasy character classes with political ideologies. Your goal is to defeat other players in battle and achieve utopia. Inspired by games like Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering and World of Warcraft, Class Fantasy explores the essential role playing and world building process that links the game space and the real world. Finally, a game that unites the whole political spectrum (and family) by forcing them into irreconcilable conflict.

Exploring the political arc of the social media decade. Get the books: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/vincent-bevins/if-we-burn/9781541788985/?lens=publicaffairs https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374610326/doppelganger Links: https://youtu.be/6FCYcfiVqYQ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/05/leftwing-vulkan-group-claim-responsibility-tesla-factory-pylon-arson-attack-berlin https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-anarcho-liberal/ https://www.youtube.com/live/cI7iyo2wv18?si=ilEl4ylOge0bJ8kf

Simon Denny's Metaverse Landscapes unpack historical resonances between territory, abstraction and financialization. Links: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/arts/design/simon-denny-art-computers-gaming-review-musk-grimes.html https://www.instagram.com/sden023/ https://www.instagram.com/juliaxgulia/ https://www.instagram.com/joshuacitarella/ https://www.instagram.com/dunkunsthalle/ https://www.instagram.com/petzelgallery/ https://www.instagram.com/sorry_press/ https://www.sorry-press.com/landscapes https://dunkunsthalle.substack.com/p/simon-denny-exhibition-read-write https://www.petzel.com/exhibitions/simon-denny5 https://www.petzel.com/exhibitions/multi-user-dungeon-mud

Artist Paige K.B. calls into the stream to discuss three major exhibitions: “Cute” at Somerset House in London, “Poetics of Encryption” at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin, and Simon Denny's shows in New York. Follow: https://www.instagram.com/guiltgroupe/ Exhibitions: https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/cute https://poeticsofencryption.kw-berlin.de/src/html/Exibition.html https://www.petzel.com/exhibitions/simon-denny5 https://www.petzel.com/exhibitions/multi-user-dungeon-mud https://dunkunsthalle.substack.com/p/simon-denny-exhibition-read-write

My guest is a 20 year old Marxist. At age 12, he began exploring niche circles of Tumblr, YouTube and Wikipedia.

@dnlklr joins me to discuss the For-You-Pagification of the internet, hyper polarization online, network states, AI vs. climate and building new institutions. https://twitter.com/DnlKlr 
https://www.instagram.com/dnlklr https://twitter.com/__vaporware__