Chapo Trap House and the rise of the dirtbag left

Do you casually use “neoliberal” as an insult, even though nobody has spotted a neoliberal in the wild since Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential campaign? Do you enjoy history lectures, but only when they are delivered by sarcastic, self-righteous people who conveniently omit anything that conflicts with their ideological worldview?

exquisite

great way to kick off your own history lecture which conveniently omits anything with conflicts with your ideological worldview

xp unironic yes to all those

I haven't read the book per se but "Reading this, I was reminded of George F. Will" is an amazing burn

the middle chunk of that review had some arguments that could at least be hashed out between reasonable parties, too bad he totally gives the game away with all the petulant smarm at the beginning and end.

hmm wonder if there was something specific in the book which made this guy mad

https://i.redditmedia.com/y3B7Yiuodx7rsifT8PEGD2VfMEpBru3KkzA9tHEltyo.jpg?w=1024&s=1a09001ec401720b92a47eda32608553

"native to the Web Zone" is like something out of baudrillard

Virgil’s campaign was successful:

🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
LET'S GO @CHAPOTRAPHOUSE!
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾 pic.twitter.com/ep0vIw3s2D

— Touchstone Books (@TouchstoneBooks) August 29, 2018

The bookstore appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pOY0ea01Y

is amber not involved in the book?

nope, no amber in the book

is she the cappadonna of chapo?

New episode with Stav rules

why is it not surprising the woman involved just happens to be left off

not that I'm a chapo expert but wasn't she in the UK a lot during the time period they were writing the book?

i don't listen to chapo that often anymore - occasionally catch it when my gf is listening - but amber is on it a lot less often than used to be the case i feel? i mean she is the host who has more of a life outside of the show than the others (adjunct prof, writer, activist) while like, felix just games and works out. unlikely that she was excluded

Yeah this was mentioned in one of the book interviews - the day job kept her too busy to write

why is it not surprising the woman involved just happens to be left off

this is only funny because Amber is easily the most #problematic chapo person

stav’s story about his grandfather in today’s episode is incredible btw

Amber also mentioned she’s working on her own book, to which her trips to the UK were related

if it winds up including "wreckers" in the title or synopsis I'm going to stay far, far away

Hot couch guys might be my favorite Chapo bit ever

Amber's book is about labour organizing history, I think.

Man, Mother Jones going thru some rough times to run Kevin Drum’s shitty column.

So there you have it. These are both proposals for old-school socialism, with the government (or “the workers”) controlling the means of production and doling out money equitably to everyone who needs it. The details are different, and Bruenig at least pretends to have a path for getting there, but you’re not going to like either one if you have a soft spot in your heart for private enterprise.

Which I do. Government-run enterprises are almost inevitably run badly and government controlled paychecks are almost inevitably corrupt beyond all imagining. Still, would that be worse than the immense amount of wealth and income inequality that we put up with today? That requires a bit of thought.

No, wait. It doesn’t. It would be worse. A lot worse. I think I’ll stick with social democracy aka regulated capitalism, thankyouverymuch. Until the robots show up, of course, at which point we might as well just let them run everything

the first part where they're talking about Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz is great because it literally just sounds like they're using the Stavbot, he has almost nothing to say beyond "whoa," "hell yeah," "nice," "noo, fuck no dude," "oh for real?" and his various cackles. But Stav sorta carries the hot couch bit. Great ep

Strasserism: Actually Good by Amber A'lee Frost

That’s more of a Red Scare take, innit

Just arrived. Breaking out the good specs to see what the commotion's about. @CHAPOTRAPHOUSE @willmenaker pic.twitter.com/kzf9VvL5LN

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) August 31, 2018

Chapo: Dr Morbius approved

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

oh my God

Haha

Chapo Trap House Wikipedia article edited anonymously from US House of Representatives https://t.co/RKhk702k6l pic.twitter.com/6cXTqsV2Yz

— congress-edits (@congressedits) August 31, 2018

A positive review:

Of course, fans of Chapo Trap House will find much to like in The Chapo Guide to Revolution. What about the uninitiated? Well, a book like this demands a certain level of tolerance for vulgarity and alike. Those turned off by masturbation jokes or by passages praising the stunning perfection of the albino twins from the second Matrix film are unlikely to stick with this volume for long.

http://artsfuse.org/173403/book-review-the-chapo-guide-to-revolution-laughing-at-catastrophe/

Politico review otm

Yes I am aware you disagree

Not liking them or the book is fine but you sure you want to co sign all that other stuff in there

I already have it tattooed on my back

I don’t view Scher as a “Politico” writer btw. He’s a freelancer with multiple podcasts and a host of dumb takes who happens to share much of my view about the Chapo a holes

I’m also a union member and I don’t really view us as the best path forward for human relations

Sorry yr union sucks

Also the r/neoliberal subreddit can't be v happy with their erasure in this piece

Have you lived through the past three presidents and managed to still believe that Republicans and Democrats share a single corporatist overlord?

yes

Do you casually use “neoliberal” as an insult, even though nobody has spotted a neoliberal in the wild since Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential campaign?

Loaded question

Do you enjoy history lectures, but only when they are delivered by sarcastic, self-righteous people who conveniently omit anything that conflicts with their ideological worldview?

No

Well then do I have the book for you!

nice

My union remark came across more dickish than I meant it to. What industry are you in PK, and what is it about yr union that disinclines you towards them

My exposure to this crew is limited and the bits I’ve picked up make me think I’d find this entire enterprise insufferable but I want to know if I’m wrong. All immediate contact says smug young Brooklyn beardo dude nerds who live on Twitter and get their kicks from like clever room-of-mirrors in-jokes, think everyone else is dumb, have read some books (let me tell you), are expert leftists but just don’t ~give a fuuuuck~ about decorum and know how the world works and should be at 30.

Like that is probably only a partly true and shallow read, surely really good if you dig into it etc., but there’s so much right up front that’s hard to hurdle.

maybe that Politico writer shoulda taken it to 4 presidents

ClintonsAtTrumpWedding.jpg

Guy in my social circle lives in the Weird Twitter Rad Left hole (for real, obsessive) and it’s hard to disassociate him from anything that might be worthwhile from that corner. Insufferable at parties. Sometimes shows up with ppl he introduces as Twitter Friends. Took me a while to figure out who they reminded me of but it’s totally (sorry) a Fallon SNL bit:

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/the-bloater-brothers-at-shooters/n11478

All immediate contact says smug young Brooklyn beardo dude nerds who live on Twitter

and get their kicks from like clever room-of-mirrors in-jokes

think everyone else is dumb, have read some books (let me tell you)

are expert leftists but just don’t ~give a fuuuuck~ about decorum and know how the world works and should be at 30

The decorum thing is overblown - basically what you see on the John McCain RIP thread or Gawker or basically anywhere else that isn't MSNBC/CNN.

Like most stereotypes there are elements of truth, as well as elements that don't really fit. Felix and Matt for instance are huge softies if you read/hear any solo interview, and for all the talk of their ignorance, the show has covered a lot of topics their critics just don't care about (most recently the prison strike)

enjoyed the hot couch and dvd menu riffs. I went to a big state u and the campus I lived on had an entire low-rise on-campus apartment project for hot couch guys.

I enjoyed Matt's refusal to believe Will had ever encountered a hot couch guy.

wtf, is the concept of HCG just a way to be snobby towards the lumpenproletariat?