Culturally Determined

Sarah discusses her recent New York Times essay, "Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er)." Why are young people lumping together Boomers and Xers? Why do so many Gen X writers spend time railing against "woke" ideas? Is Elon Musk more defined by being Gen X or by being a billionaire? And why do Xers find Millennials so annoying?Recorded September 14, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSSarah's NYT piece, "Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er)."https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/style/gen-x-generation-discourse.htmlSarah's NYT piece on not having kidshttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/style/new-friend-children-conversation.htmlChuck Klosterman's book, "The Nineties"https://www.amazon.com/Nineties-Book-Chuck-Klosterman/dp/0735217955Big Fun, "Teenage Suicide, Don't Do It"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO3WEfBIPvMSara's Substack, "The Real Sarah Miller"https://therealsarahmiller.substack.com/Follow @sarahlovescaliFollow @AryehCW

Historian Jeremy Dauber talks about his new book, "Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew," which is part of the Yale Jewish Lives series. He discusses Brooks's Brooklyn childhood, his Borscht Belt years, writing on "Your Show of Shows" and working with Carl Reiner, his move to Hollywood, why parody was his main genre, and his comedic legacy.Recorded July 18, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKS:Jeremy's book, "Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew"https://www.amazon.com/Mel-Brooks-Disobedient-Jewish-Lives/dp/0300244274Brooks's Oscar-winning short film, "The Critic"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PramR5oxn50Follow @JeremyDauberFollow @AryehCW

Claire Dederer talks about her new book, "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma," a blend of cultural criticism and memoir in which she thinks deeply about the work of great artists who were also horrible people.Recorded July 24, 2023.Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSClaire's new book,"Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma"https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Fans-Dilemma-Claire-Dederer/dp/0525655115Claire's 2017 essay, "What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?"https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/20/art-monstrous-men/Follow @aryehcw Follow @ClaireDederer

Art critic Kristian Vistrup Madsen discusses his essay on the 2000s, "Chains Or Whips? The Cruel Decade And Its Aftermath," in which he draws connections between Abu Ghraib, reality television, and Britney Spears to reflect on the culture of the Aughts.Recorded July 12, 2023.Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSKristian's essay, "Chains Or Whips? The Cruel Decade And Its Aftermath"https://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/chains-or-whips/NBC on viral video of 2002 high schoolhttps://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/videos-high-school-life-decades-stir-nostalgia-debate-rcna77590Kristian's websitehttps://kristianvistrup.dk/Follow @aryehcw 

Andrew Lipstein discusses "The Vegan," his new novel about a hedge fund founder who has an unusual moral awakening after a dinner party prank he pulls goes disastrously awry. The novel considers artificial intelligence, Brooklyn mores, our relationship with animals, psychiatry, responsibility, and more.Recorded July 7, 2023LINKSAndrew's new novel, "The Vegan"https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Novel-Andrew-Lipstein/dp/0374606587Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetFollow @ailipsteinFollow @aryehcw 

Author Tom Bissell discusses his recent essay in Harper's, "Time Is a Violent Stream," about embracing Stoic philosophy after the death of his father. Why is Stoicism so useful during a time of crisis? What do contemporary popular books about Stoicism get wrong? Why do online reactionaries love Marcus Aurelius? Plus: Is Stoicism just for men?Recorded May 8, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSTom's piece, "Time Is a Violent Stream: On losing a father and finding Stoicism"https://harpers.org/archive/2023/05/meditations-marcus-aurelius-stoicism/Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"https://a.co/d/dOqIhZcWard Farnsworth's book, "The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual"https://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Stoic-Philosophical-Users-Manual/dp/1567926118Donald Robertson's book, "How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius"https://a.co/d/7hCE19NFollow @aryehcw

Ross discusses his recent essay disputing that Trump and MAGA are on the wane. Is MAGA even separable from Trump himself to begin with? How do the dynamics of the 2024 GOP primary differ from those of 2016? Plus: Critiquing reactions from both left and right to the subway killing of Jordan Neely.Recorded May 9, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSRoss's Substackhttps://rossbarkan.substack.com/Ross's piece, "MAGA Is Here to Stay"https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/maga-is-going-nowhereRoss's piece, "The Tragedy of Jordan Neely"https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/the-tragedy-of-jordan-neely?r=ptxtu&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=postAryeh's podcast with Raina Lipsitzhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rise-of-a-new-left-aryeh-cohen-wade-raina-lipsitz/id981282353?i=1000597298657Follow @rossbarkanFollow @aryehcw 

Self-described "Extremely Online" writer and podcaster Phoebe Maltz Bovy joins Aryeh to ponder whether Twitter is finally really and truly dead. Phoebe talks about how she lost her bluecheck before it was cool, Aryeh explains why he's not eager to join the Twitter knockoff Bluesky, and they wonder whether anything could ever replace the site's mixture of usefulness, humor, chaos, and derangement. Plus: Aryeh shares how sad he gets when no one likes his cute cat pics.Recorded May 1, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSWilly Staley's piece, "What Was Twitter, Anyway?"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/magazine/twitter-dying.htmlPhoebe's podcast, "Feminine Chaos"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminine-chaos/id1542656235Phoebe's podcast, "Bonjour Chai"https://thecjn.ca/series/bonjour-chai/Phoebe's newsletter, "Close-reading the reruns"https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/Follow @bovymaltzFollow @aryehcw

Novelist and Internet activist Cory Doctorow discusses "enshittification," the term he coined for how online platforms start out great but gradually become nightmarish for users. How can we fight back against the forces of enshittification? Cory suggests some federal policies that would put power back in the hands of regular Americans. Plus: What made Twitter a once-thriving platform, and what will happen to it now?Recorded March 16, 2023Follow Culturally Determined on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSCory's piece, "The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok"https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guysCory's book, with Rebecca Giblin, "Chokepoint Capitalism"https://chokepointcapitalism.com/Cory's new novel, "Red Team Blues"https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/redteambluesCory's forthcoming book, "The Internet Con"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721311/the-internet-con-by-cory-doctorow/Cory's site, pluralistic.nethttps://pluralistic.net/Follow @doctorowFollow @aryehcw