DTG 'Quick' Update about some future plans
Added 2022-07-13 10:58:21 +0000 UTCHey everyone,
Just sharing some behind-the-scenes planning as we discuss:
- Some new formatting ideas
- Our release schedule
- An upcoming guru right-to-reply
- Our next tech guru
- Chris' productivity routine
Thoughts, comments, and complaints all welcome!
Comments
Hey guys, shorter episodes sound good to me! Although 40 minutes might be too short to really cover a guru properly and expose their rhetorical techniques. 2 hours is probably the optimal time. I personally still enjoy the longer (3 hours+) episodes, but have to break it up over 2-3 days to listen fully and take it al in. Regarding Bob, I like him but I feel that his ideological anti-war stances lead him to look at everything geopolitical through that lens. Extending charity to a bloodthirsty dictator like Putin is just stupid, as if Russia was a normal democracy instead, why exactly should they feel threatened by NATO? In fact, their war against Ukraine has done way more to unite NATO countries and attract more members, than the pre-war status quo would have. Anyways, at least he is not a propagandist like Greenwald, Taibbi, or Dore though.
SHOUNAK SARKAR
2022-07-14 08:57:32 +0000 UTCI thought not buying a Tesla comes more from reluctance to be burned alive inside it or being decapitated.
Donkey kong
2022-07-14 07:19:07 +0000 UTCEven as I was typing my suggestion, I realized that one of the things I like about your show (in addition to your lighthearted and easy-going approach), is that you take the time to find the patterns in the gurus' discourse, which is probably something you couldn't do in real time. Usually I find reaction videos to be click-baity things like, "Opera Singer reacts to first listen of Master of Puppets", which I try not to click on. Though, when I used to listen to Matt Taibbi's Useful Idiots podcast, there was another podcast that reacted to a Useful Idiots episode, and then Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper reacted to the reaction to their podcast, and then the podcast reacted to their reaction, and then Matt and Katie reacted to that reaction. That was pretty amusing, and only made possible by the concept of the content "reaction". Have you considered looking at Matt Taibbi as a guru? I like him and a lot of his books, but I think he's sort of gotten sucked into the culture war. If you've gotten this far, then thanks for reading my reaction to your comment.
brianshmrian
2022-07-14 05:13:10 +0000 UTCYeah I remember an interview on HardTalk with some Russian official that discussed Ukraine (way before the invasion) and they were just openly stating that they didn't agree that Ukraine could join NATO/become closer to the EU. When Stephen Sackur made the point that Ukraine was a sovereign country and surely has the right to make it's own decisions the official was just like... meh. I found it shocking at the time.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:35:50 +0000 UTCThe length was never an issue for me because it seems more thorough. However, time is a precious resource. Bob is great but I feel he does gloss over certain facts such as former Eastern Bloc countries being afraid of Russia. Was NATO to say no to these desperate smaller countries so as not to offend Russia? I think don’t think so. I look forward to Bob’s right of reply.
Tim Tripp
2022-07-14 01:22:53 +0000 UTCNah, it's more specific. Like I think signing up for Locals would be the same but buying a Tesla isn't. On Thiel... I think he's involved with too much for that to be practical, but say supporting Palantir law enforcement/anti-migrant products, yes I'd be very wary of that.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:17:31 +0000 UTCYour podcast your rules of course. Would you extend this to a boycott of Tesla because Elon’s such an ass? Or anything Thiel is involved with? Or is it just because it’s a platform which makes this a unique case?
Andy
2022-07-14 01:15:25 +0000 UTCYeah...
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:13:27 +0000 UTCI don't like reaction-style videos because I think they make people prone to hot takes. Especially for what we do, you do need some time to sit and think about the content usually. Also, I don't know how to do it technically and it seems like it is a pain at the start to setup.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:13:07 +0000 UTCDon't worry this is Matt and me coming up with a non-solution. The episodes will still be too long.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:11:58 +0000 UTCThey are completely free to make money... and I don't blame anyone who chooses to use their platforms but me personally I don't want to lend them legitimacy (in whatever minor manner I can) if I think they are genuine bad actors.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:11:34 +0000 UTCYeah, all true!
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:10:14 +0000 UTCScott... Adams??? (EDIT: oh wait, Scott Stacey!) But yeah this might be the ticket. The thing is Matt and I are prone to waffle. But still something to think about. Oh and in regards joint guru content it is a bugger, but that's always an issue when you have someone whose content is primarily interviewing other people.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-14 01:09:24 +0000 UTCI like Scott's approach - a regular fortnightly guru update, patreon shout out, review of reviews, then leave the decoding content pure. No preamble, just straight into the guru decoding. Another thought is, you seem to self sabotage... try to NOT pick content to decode that will lead to a double guru decode. Freidman/Haide was great, but so much work. Why not just pick another episode for Lex that didn't include Haide? If you want to do Haide, add him to the list, rather than having him as an interesting clingon.
Kit McLean
2022-07-13 21:07:48 +0000 UTC30min to primarily say you'll be doing 45min episodes, good luck 😊 A thought I've had is I quite enjoy your intros which provide 'hot takes' and 'state of the gurus' content (similar to how you got riffing in this), and so spliting that to a stand-alone episode would make sense to deliver shorter but more frequent content. It would require the discipline of not doing 60min intros for the specific guru eps though, so again, a challenge!
Scott Stacey
2022-07-13 20:53:23 +0000 UTCSome pushback I guess: Do Dave Rubin-esque dickheads (and yes ofc I agree that they’re annoying and ultimately do harm especially to the collective media environment) not deserve money if they also happen to create a platform with good functionality worth using? I guess I just don’t like the idea that people with very different politics from me (and I’d say my politics are pretty close to Chris’s) should be outcast from making money. Seems like a bad precedent to me which would only serve ultimately to benefit powerful people who set the status quo. Just my 2 cents.
Andy
2022-07-13 20:10:11 +0000 UTCOh no, the end of long form podcasts signify the end of western civilization.
Donkey kong
2022-07-13 20:00:02 +0000 UTCWhat about doing "reaction" videos where you comment on content while you're watching it for the first time? That could save you a lot of time since you would get the listening and analysis done all at once. Though, maybe this would take away too much, since it _is_ nice how you're able to pull together multiple clips to illustrate a point in your normal content. Hmm... Or are reaction videos exactly what you're talking about when you say you don't want to be twitch/youtube streamers?
brianshmrian
2022-07-13 16:36:19 +0000 UTCI think it's great, but you do realize you took 1/2 hour to tell us you plan to produce shorter episodes? It was enjoyable to listen to anyway.
Kat
2022-07-13 14:30:50 +0000 UTCGive it a whirl ;)
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-13 14:23:05 +0000 UTCI think we do understand the difference and Bob's rationale. I (Chris) also have a parasocial relationship with Bob and read his newsletter, including the most recent one he put out outlining this argument. My counterpoint would be that I don't think Bob always holds to this distinction. Just as I don't think the Grayzone is in anyway a useful voice when it comes to Syria and chemical weapons attacks. Bob disagrees and has found their coverage convincing. He has also repeatedly recommended Russians with Attitude which again I think reflects an overcorrection. Nonetheless, we could have been more careful in how we phrased things. We will discuss these issues with Bob directly so he will be able to put up his side of the debate. Bob's no pushover and he knows we disagree on this topic and plan to discuss it. We will record with him next week.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-07-13 14:22:06 +0000 UTC(I clicked the Enter button and accidentally posted before I was finished.) I'm disappointed that you, Matt and Chris, are apparently among those who don't differentiate between "understanding" the perspective of another entity and "justifying" their behavior. Bob has never indicated that the invasion of Ukraine is justified. I'm looking forward to seeing/hearing Bob's "right to reply."
Arabella Holzapfel
2022-07-13 13:56:10 +0000 UTCAfter the first few minutes, I was all set to comment that a transition to "shorter, punchier" episodes will be a good thing, and I look forward to that, and then click Post and be done. I still think that, but I'm a tad angry about some of the things you've said about Robert Wright. In part because of his appearance on DTG, I'm now "in a para-social relationship" with Robert Wright, and I think you have mischaracterized him in at least a couple of ways. You rightly pointed out that he has said the invasion of Ukraine is wrong and that Putin is responsible, unequivocally. You then went on to say that when he has expressed cognitive empathy for Putin's situation, Bob said "Putin had no choice" but to invade. Bob has never said anything like that! His expression of cognitive empathy toward Putin has been to provide context that has been lacking in much of the media coverage and punditry (in the US). The latter have portrayed Putin as "a madman" and the invasion of Ukraine as "out of the blue." The second way in which I think you've mischaracterized Bob is that he has not expressed cognitive empathy toward the other leaders or nations involved. Maybe he has, maybe he hasn't, but the viewpoints of those leaders/nations are much more "available" and my guess is that Bob hasn't felt that there's a gap that needs filling on "that side."
Arabella Holzapfel
2022-07-13 13:49:22 +0000 UTCShorter? Better? Doesn’t sound fun.
Tom McCool
2022-07-13 13:31:23 +0000 UTC
