American History and Much More with Matt Christman

Upstream

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.9 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What are the material conditions which underpin much of the bizarre phenomena taking place during this strange era that we're in? What unites the conspiracy theories surrounding COVID vaccines with, say, the fanatical obsession with Russian election meddling? How does capitalism — and our economic, material relations within it — lead to a sense of powerlessness that manifests in attempts to explain the world that range from QAnon to Russiagate? In this conversation, we speak with Matt Christman, co-host of Chapo Trap House, one of our favorite podcasts, which was founded in 2016 and hosted by Matt, along with Will Menaker and Felix Biederman. The conversation includes many of the themes and topics mentioned above and discussed on Chapo, but begins with a conversation around Matt's new podcast, Hell of Presidents, which he just launched with Chapo producer Chris Wade. The podcast tells the story of American history through a materialist, political-economic examination of the institution of the presidency. It might sound a bit wonky, but through this specific history Matt and Chris explore a wide range of topics, from the evolution of waged-labor to the many contradictions that this country was founded on and which we continue to experience today. Hell of Presidents is available through Stitcher Premium, but you can listen to the first episode anywhere you can hear Chapo Trap House.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Upstream is a labor of love. We couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our
0:04.8	listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or reoccurring donation at
0:10.2	upstreampodcast.org-forward-slash-support. Thank you.
0:14.3	Conspiracy theories and the conspiratorial mindset is a natural reaction of people who have been
0:43.2	radically depoliticized who's lives are mediated dramatically by narratives that they encounter in
0:50.2	mass media as a way to make sense of their powerlessness, to narrativeize their powerlessness, and
0:57.4	sense everything that we receive through these structures are narratives of individuals, individual
1:03.0	desire, individual agency, which of course doesn't really describe the systems that we live under.
1:08.8	Our explanations for what's going on are highly personalized. Like QAnon is sort of a folk
1:16.6	recognition of the power of capital over our lives but without the name of capital because of
1:22.6	the cultural associations that the people who are having these feelings and trying to express them
1:26.9	are programmed with. You are listening to Upstream. Upstream. Upstream. Upstream.
1:34.0	An interview and documentary series that invites you to unlearn everything you thought you knew
1:39.2	about economics. I'm Dela Duncan. And I'm Robert Raymond. In this conversation we speak with Matt
1:45.4	Chrisman, co-host of Choppo Trap House, one of our favorite podcasts, which was founded in 2016
1:52.7	and hosted by Matt, along with Will Menaker and Felix Beaterman. The conversation includes many of
1:59.6	the themes and topics explored in Choppo, but begins with a conversation around Matt's new podcast,
2:06.5	Hell of Presidents, which he just launched with Choppo producer Chris Wade. The podcast tells the
2:13.4	story of American history through a materialist, political, economic examination of the institution
2:20.0	of the presidency. It might sound a bit wonky, but through this specific history, Matt and Chris
2:26.6	explore wide range of topics from the evolution of wage labor to the many contradictions that this
2:32.5	country was founded on and which we continue to experience today. Hell of Presidents is available
	...

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