Welcome to the creative economy, which is built to strip mine from your body and soul any glimmer of talent, skill, or genius you might possess and exploit it. Our unlucky men, Lucien and David, a poet and an inventor, are looking to make their riches in pre-1848 France, only to find the world is not built to tolerate, let alone celebrate, people like them. They try their luck. It doesn't go well. But at least Balzac spends a lot of time telling us about what kinds of velvet they were wearing along the way. Joseph and Jessa discuss why Marx loved Balzac, why a fool makes a frustrating character, and why one shouldn't read about a failed poet while on book tour.

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http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

We are all pivoting to video. Podcasters, journalists, editors are getting out their ring lights and their botox and they are staring intently into the camera to talk to YOU about what's going on. Is the human and tactile being offered as the antidote to the artificial AI slop? Or is this just surrendering to the influencer economy? Jessa and Nico make a solemn pledge, never to show the listeners what we wear or what our hair is doing while we are recording, and discuss the implications of a news media that wants to make stars and influencers out of reporters.

Shownotes and references:

http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com

With the expansion of ICE and the flood of untrained, unprepared, un-uniformed officers on the street, things are likely to get confusing and potentially violent. Nico and Jessa discuss the Trump admin's embrace of militia culture, why Colombia doesn't have militias, and what Jessa's weird obsession with Timothy McVeigh is all about.

Shownotes and references:

http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com