This was my favorite podcast for like 3yrs. I even put up with their MAGA defense eps thinking “Well they just don’t really get American politics, I’ll skip those episodes.” The Elon Musk ep was completely unlistenable. Yet I continued.
Unfortunately, I’m at my limit. Jen in particular is insanely annoying. She’s made a full right-wing turn and the worst part is because I’m pretty sure she just reads X all day and believes it all. I can’t take listen to someone talk like they think they’re as clever as she clearly does when they’ve also allowed themself to be unquestioningly brain-poisoned by right wing content on X. It’s so cringe, she talks like some kind of edgy college kid who recently discovered Slate Star Codex but she has no idea she’s actually 10yrs too late to it all. This is a woman who clearly has embarrassment about her involvement in far-left politics mainly because of British social norms about not being involved with things others see as embarrassing. She has lots of stories and criticism about how political movements can be very suspect but is unquestioningly allowing herself to become a useful idiot for another extreme political movement. In her 30s. From unquestioningly swallowing X content.
She also is disgustingly cynical and judgmental. She says really cruel things about pretty innocuous traits, I don’t really know what you have to do to live up to this freak’s standards other than be a crypto-fascist male on X. There are entire episodes of her telling mean stories about people she used to be friends with, calling them ugly, revealing really embarrassing and painful moments they had. In some she doesn’t even bother to change their name. Ew. Also, I’m incredibly curious how being a therapist works when you claim that you “have never felt shame” and “there is nothing I have ever feared.” Seems like that’s going to create a bit of a lack of empathy, Jen. I genuinely fear for any of her clients.
Hannah’s a bit better but I can’t really have positive feelings towards someone who’d be in a relationship with a person like Jen. Both of them strawman arguments they don’t like and steelman the ones that they do, all while with a tone of dripping condescension and pretentiousness.
It seems that they both basically feel that because the left-wing and feminism are in such disarray, this is excuse to abandon them for what is politically successful at the moment which is right-wing politics. I could never betray my ideals like that. That’s not how having ideals works, maybe you never had them and are just vulnerable to getting swept up in radical causes (left or right). That’s quite concerning. There’s ways to contribute positively to left causes and women’s rights even if there’s no Marxist vanguard or group of revolutionary feminists we can take seriously. There are always good people who are doing good work somewhere and you can find them, and join them, they just might not have revolutionary political ideals. Instead, Hannah and Jen have given up their ideals, decided they were ashamed to have them, and retreated into cynicism. This is doomerism and its consequences folks
If you, yourself have been driven so insane by trans politics that you looped around from being a feminist to being a brain melted tradcath loser, then enjoy!!
