Consumption Is Eating Art

Pantsuit Politics

Lemonada Media

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.5 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Beth’s daughter, Ellen, asked why our books aren’t on the bestseller list, and honestly? Great question, Ellen. That one question opens up the whole can of worms today: how popular consensus gets manufactured — from the mysterious black box of the New York Times bestseller list to music catalogs being protected like the financial assets they literally are, to the Vulture piece that confirmed what I’ve suspected for a while now, which is that nothing on your social media feed is actually organic. We also wade into the Michael Jackson biopic, which I have real feelings about, and we end in a much better place, talking about songs that have nothing to do with romantic love. I am warning you now that I cannot discuss Brandi Carlile without crying, so just be ready for that. — Sarah Topics Discussed Cultural Consensus and Its Impact Art, Trust, and Marketing in the Digital Age Outside of Politics: Nonlove Songs Ready to go deeper? Visit ⁠⁠our website⁠⁠ for complete show notes, exclusive premium content, chats, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Lemonada.
0:09.5	I listen to Sarah and Beth
0:11.1	because I can count on them to bring multiple perspectives
0:13.9	to an issue or current event.
0:15.7	From people with actual moral virtues
0:18.2	who might feel comfortable being around my kids.
0:21.1	Sarah and Beth do such a tremendous job of listening to each other and to opinions that don't
0:26.6	immediately align with their own. They've done their homework. They ask good questions and they
0:31.8	aren't afraid to change their minds. This is Sarah Stewart-Holland.
0:38.7	This is Beth Silvers.
0:40.1	You're listening to Pantsuit Politics.
0:42.7	There was kind of a convergence in the force this week.
0:48.9	My 10-year-old daughter Ellen asked me kind of randomly how books get on bestseller lists.
0:50.2	Great question, Ellen.
0:51.1	No one knows.
0:53.1	We had a great conversation about it.
0:55.9	And then Sarah, you texted me about the Michael Jackson biopic and why those movies keep getting made. And this story from Vulture about
1:03.2	clipping dominating social media has been living in my head. So today we're going to put those pieces
1:07.5	together to think about how the cultural consensus
1:10.9	sausage gets made, which is related, I think, to election results.
1:15.7	We talked about those on our spicy Thursday episode on Substack.
1:19.5	We needed some space to be very candid in that episode.
	...

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