Public Intellectual with Jessa Crispin

From the creators of Public Intellectual: a new weekly podcast exploring the state of our cultural institutions, norms, and failures. It's called The Culture We Deserve. Because it is.  Hosted by Jessa Crispin, the author of My Three Dads, Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto, and The Dead Ladies Project. We'll be launching in November 2023 with the miniseries "A Fifth of Mahler," a look at the state of classical music in an age of poptimism.  Join us at http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

Dianna Souhami has worked for decades as a chronicler of sexual subcultures in early 20th century Europe, and finally, she is allowed to deliver her thesis: without this network of lesbians, the parties they through and the lovers they supported, modernism would not have been possible. She speaks with Jessa about our limited ideas of creativity and genius, why rewriting history is still important, and the lifelong project of lineage.  (This will be the final episode with Jessa Crispin as host.) http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

This week's episode is hosted by Cameron Steele. The flag waving and feminist arguments for more war and scapegoating of service members prompted by America's withdrawal from Afghanistan proves we still have not learned the lessons from 9/11 or our policy of endless war. Roy Scranton (WAR PORN) talks to Cameron about cycles of violence, our imperialist fantasies, and why war is a force that gives us meaning.

Between Love Island, Love is Blind, FBoy Island, Sexy Beasts, Too Hot to Handle etc, we sure do love watching hot straight people be tortured for the possibility of love. Cameron and Jessa discuss why these properties are still considered "guilty pleasures" despite the harm they are doing and why they all seem to be designed by incels.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

After a couple thousand years of Christianity, some populations who had been suffering under Yahweh decided to give some other gods and goddesses a try. But did they create systems that were just as equally oppressive to others? You know, on accident? The journalist Ana Valens returns to PI to talk to Jessa about the difficulties in mixing biology and spirituality, religion as protest, and what to do with mystical feelings in a secular culture. http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

Amanda Knox is back in the news, as a film "inspired by" the story of her being accused of murder is in the theaters. Knox has compared telling stories of other people's lives to "cultural appropriation," and Cameron and Jessa try to untangle that particular mess. Who gets to tell a story? What is the divide between the private and the public self? And how can Henry James help us solve this quandary?  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Both the Euros and Copa America saw the anticipated winners humiliated in their own homes. It was nice, a treat. Former soccer player and activist Nicolás R Melo revisits the highs and lows of the pandemic tournaments, the easy (and politically objectionable) narratives of sports), how England's "It's Coming Home" campaign angered so many outside of England, and why Italy defeating England and Argentina defeating Brazil was the best possible outcome.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

People keep holding funerals for the Girlboss, that figure of narcissism and disgrace, but aren't we all girlbosses now? Don't we all have to be to survive in late capitalism? Cameron Steele and Jessa discuss what distinguishes a girlboss, the adoration/cancellation cycle, the extremely revealing Man Repeller interview, and whether it's possible to have a career without being a careerist.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and JK Rowling have both been elected to a position where they are allowed and asked to speak for women. So what harm does it do when what they decide to say is anti-trans and harmful? Cameron and Jessa parse through these demands to be accommodated and in control of women's spaces, and they wonder if someone when ring a bell to let us know when we are no longer oppressed and can be kind and generous to others again. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

The recording industry is in a bind, with the big money going to intermediaries like Spotify, with little idea of what makes a star these days, and with a critical culture that no longer knows what it's talking about. Meanwhile, industrial knowledge about how to record music in a room, or even how to play instruments, is lost and ignored in favor of computers and algorithms. Zach and Jessa discuss the real world effects of prioritizing the plastic over the human and why most music sounds flat these days. http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

From pearl clutching "think of the children" to terfdom to the reign of momfluencers, we've decided to get sentimental about the nuclear family again. This can be seen as heavily on the left ("social reproduction," my god) as on the right. Cameron Steele, writer and editor and mother, and Jessa, barely any of these, discuss the way we have decided to stop thinking about families and create halos around motherhood. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Between Underground Railroad, Handmaid's Tale, Promising Young Woman, Them, and many others, we are asked to consume stories of trauma and images of torture as our entertainment. Trevor Beaulieu from Champagne Sharks and Jessa discuss how we got here, whether we can blame Jonathan Safran Foer, Adorno (?!), and why setting your story against the backdrop of an atrocity doesn't make it deep.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Colombia has once again called for a general strike and taken to the streets in protest. Government officials have resigned, proposed tax law reform withdrawn, and still people protest. Protestors have been murdered and disappeared by police, the president is giving speeches in English. Nicolas R. Melo explains the complicated history that tells us what is going on now, and why soccer might ultimately be the thing to bring it all down. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

The cancel culture discourse has been noisy lately, but what is it about this moment that makes it uniquely terrible to be a public person? To be on social media or to write or create, to say things out loud at all? Writer Cameron Steele joins Jessa to talk about surveillance, why everyone except those fully off the grid are justifiable targets for public rage (it is because of Gawker, kinda), and why reply guys should be relabeled circle of sycophants.  support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

There was a rumor circulating on social media that Joe Biden was only going to allow US citizens four pounds of beef per year. People lost their minds. Food writer Alicia Kennedy and I pick apart the anxieties of meat eaters, why 'vegan' has become 'plant-based', and how the shift in omnivore and veg culture has shifted in the last few years.  http://patreon.com/publicintellectual 

Phoebe Maltz Bovy, writer of the essay "Straightness Studies," introduces us to the Tragedy of Heterosexuality. Can queer theory save the straights or are we/they doomed to be trapped in power imbalances and sexual suffering and bad interior decorating decisions forever?  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

Every few days or so, a conversation restarts on Twitter: books that are difficult, books that are assigned in school, books that are designated classics, are bad. And publishers, critics, and audiences that support so called "difficult" literature are disappearing. Mauro Javier Cárdenas, author of the new novel Aphasia, and Jessa discuss this change in the literary world and sing the praises of the difficult writers they adore. http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

The luxury housing boom is -- hopefully -- over, so what comes next? According to Diana Lind, author of Brave New Home, it's rethinking the single family home. We explore other options, from multi-generational housing, co-living, housing coupled with services, and we ask why Americans are so afraid of public housing. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Previously released as a bonus episode available only to patrons, following Britney Spears's statement that she felt "torn apart" by the NYT doc that is fueling her revival we thought it best to give it a wider release. Topics considered: a reassessment of the dark first decade of the century, treating Britney Spears like Q, the public likes it when our celebrities die, and stop trying to rehabilitate Paris Hilton, and more! Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

While many conservative commentators have been in a panic about the pandemic's baby bust effect, they rarely look past personal choice to see the real reasons people are not having children. Fertility is a deeply felt personal issue, but it exists within a larger context and that context is filled with poisonous plastic. Dr. Shanna Swan, author of the new book Countdown, explains how chemical companies have been allowed to poison the whole country and the ruinous effects it has on fertility and health. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellecutual http://jessacrispin.com

Amazon's PR has been having a temper tantrum this past week on Twitter, going after politicians and random people online for daring to criticize the working conditions at their facilities. Alec MacGillis, author of Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One Click America, shows that while the working conditions are bad and low paid, that is only part of the story about how Amazon is changing work, pay, and entire cities.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

With a new scandalous biography of Patricia Highsmith and a new Ripley adaptation on the way for Showtime, we can't get enough of loving and hating our mistress of sociopaths and Americans (same thing). Novelist and journalist Lucie Elven (The Weak Spot) joins Jessa to discuss our "Sapphic Dennis the Menace", why we need to pathologize all of our eccentrics, and the still underappreciated and hard work of those glorious novels. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Diversity is seen as an unalloyed good. We have committees, books, departments, specialists all devoted to increasing diversity, but what does anyone mean by that word. And why are we obsessed with it, in a time of globalization and homogenization? Russell Jacoby is the author of On Diversity, and we discuss the history of this vague buzzword and why Americans fetishize the thing they are destroying. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

If we can pinpoint a moment when the internet got truly bad, I think it is when Tumblr removed all of the porn. It was clear that diversity, freedom, and creativity did not matter as much as money to anyone running the platforms. Ana Valens, author of Tumblr Porn, joins Jessa to discuss nostalgia for the early internet, the new hostility to adult content, and the importance of letting things be wild. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

With people losing homes and jobs and the government taking a hands off approach, it is a chance to rethink our response to the last economic crisis of 2008. Pavlos Roufos, the author of A Happy Future is a Thing of the Past, joins Jessa to discuss the austerity measures taken in Greece and the catastrophic results they had, while also commenting on the stories used to explain why this economic punishment was for the best.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

With the true crime boom, we have been awash in stories of dead women and girls. And while those stories have been used to romanticize the police and advocate for "safety" measures that just end in more surveillance and oppression, occasionally these stories show us just how broken our institutions from justice to politics have become. Sonia Faleiro is the author of the new book The Good Girls about two teenage girls found hanging from a tree in their family's orchard, but as you will learn from this episode, the story is much larger than that. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

"The opposite of nostalgia is truth." So writes Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore in her new book The Freezer Door. We discuss how nostalgia fuels gentrification, why our streaming services are full of shows set in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, and how Patti Smith's "Just Kids" inspired suburbanites to flood into New York City.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com  

There is a widening gap between the aims of feminism and the lived experience of women. Angela McRobbie, as a historian of women's magazines, is in a better position than most to see the lie of gender meritocracy and aggressive "have it all" narratives. She joins Jessa to discuss whether the pandemic is a crisis for feminism, and whether class consciousness can be reintroduced to the movement. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

With such a rich history of film tackling sexual violence in horror, exploitation, and other genre films -- and doing it well -- why when we try to take it seriously does it come out all wrong. Vincent Chabany-Douarre returns to PI to discuss the disappointing Promising Young Woman, why our queen Gillian Flynn must return to us, and remind us that it's okay to be the villain sometimes. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Americans have very good reasons to be angry. Hundreds of thousands of us are dead from the pandemic, stimulus checks are nowhere to be seen, our government serves the very rich and few else. So why are we upset about fictions like child slavery and blood drinking Satanists? Mark Blyth is one of the authors of Angrynomics, and he speaks with Jessa about moral outrage, the failures of representation, and whether Biden is as progressive as FDR. Support  this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Many of the odd social media arguments over the last couple years -- from Scorsese v Marvel to teach Harry Potter instead of Nathaniel Hawthorne -- can be understood as being actually about uncertainty about what art is for. Which is a new development of the age old "what makes art meaningful" conversation. Rita Felski, the author of Hooked: Art and Attachment, speaks to Jessa about some of these recent controversies, why it can be profoundly irritating to be told a film is great, and why we can't solve the problem of art. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual

We'll be returning to our regular weekly schedule starting January 11th. Until then, please enjoy this first entry in our series of bonus episodes about the opera with singer Amber Fasquelle. We discuss Don Giovanni, an opera about a murder and rapist, and using art to talk about trauma and tragedy.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

On the darkest day of the year, and with Trent Reznor everywhere with two new scores, it seems an appropriate time to discuss the Nine Inch Nails masterpiece The Downward Spiral. How did someone with actually so few real hits become such an influential artist? Why do people love to take their clothes off to Closer? Will Trent ever go through another velvet phase (please please)?  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Chelsey Weber Smith runs the American Hysteria podcast, so who better to come on to discuss America's various conspiracy theories, cults, and moral panics? Chelsey and Jessa discuss the links between the Satanic Panic and Q, how abuse of authority leads to con men and frauds, how the greatest threat to your child is you, and why Jim Jones was right (for a while). Yes, America is falling apart, but America is always falling apart.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

We were promised great art under the Trump administration. Everyone said it: our suffering would lead to a Renaissance of art, literature, and music. It obviously did not happen. (Well, we got a baby Trump balloon, that was cool.) So what happened? Art critic and editor at Caesura Allison Hewitt Ward discuss the recent trends -- Decolonize, idpol, #resistance, portraits of Trump with a micropenis -- and why none of them led to great art. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Over the last four years under Trump, we've seen the emergence of a far right with militias, the alt-right, and other weirdo fascists, but we've also seen a push to the revolutionary left. What happens with our polarized kin now that we've got another centrist? Natalie Wynn of Contrapoints joins Jessa to discuss the backlash she experienced for telling people to vote, and why guillotines were trending. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Talk about guns is now shorthand for a certain kind of American: white uneducated racists. But conversations and action around gun control often hurt those most vulnerable, including those who can't count on the police for their own protection because of their race, class, or past interactions. How do we bring sanity to the conversation around guns, and now that militias are cosplaying civil war, some police are on unofficial strike, and violent crime is increasing, is now the time to get a gun? Jessa speaks with Zach Toman who runs the Gun Penguin youtube channel and owns a gun shop in South Carolina about gun culture. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

It's election week in America, so of course we're going to talk about horror, ghosts, and watching violent death as a way of relieving anxiety. Claire Cronin, author of Blue Light of the Screen, joins Jessa to discuss the body horror of Catholicism and why all these haunting shows are just manifestations of anxiety about real estate. Support this show: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Who owns a cultural object? Who benefits from artistic production? Where is the line between looting and preservation? While museums have been thought of as this cultural good, these bright shining sacred institutions of learning and edification, they are also the sight of plunder, erasure, and exploitation. Dan Hicks, author of The Brutish Museums, talks with Jessa about what the hard work of decolonization might actually look like.  Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Ladies love a fascist. In Victoria de Grazia's new book The Perfect Fascist, she tells the story of Lilliana Weinman -- a beautiful Jewish heiress, attracting love and devotion in opera houses around Europe -- and Attilio Teruzzi, head of the blackshirts in Mussolini's Italy. Their love story, and the way it falls apart, resonates with what drives men to fascist groups today, the political misdeeds of women, and why instead of starting a war you should maybe just go to the opera instead. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

With the death of RBG and the Supreme Court once again in a position to overturn Roe v Wade, journalist Alissa Quart and Jessa attempt to complicate the abortion debate. We discuss how the pro-choice movement often fails to take care of women, how legality does not mean accessibility, and why pro-lifers are not your enemy. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com

Just a few days before the Pope release a barnfire of an encyclical about the evils of neoliberalism and capitalism, Eugene McCarraher (The Enchantments of Mammon) and Jessa discussed the tangled relationship between Christians and the Left, the soulfulness of anarchism, and how capitalism became the religion of modernity. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com