My ex-girlfriend was working as a waitress in the late 80s in Beverly Hills. She was in her early 20s and a certifiable smokeshow. One day on a lunch shift in walk Al Davis, Marcus Allen, and OJ. Of course they are seated in her section. Being raised in a football crazy family she knew who they were instantly. At the end of the meal OJ just straight up asks for her number. She obliges. He calls her apartment and leaves a message on her answering machine (shut up I’m old I know). She never called him back.
When we would have those sort of not really serious arguments couples often have I would sometimes look at her and say “I fucking wish you had called OJ back”.
I like that moynihan's reaction to this is just well what are you gonna do. I don't know, maybe like said Matt said just don't beat off during your work zoom calls. Seems like reasonable suggestion
My grandpa was a police officer in Cleveland and started a locksmithing business when he retired - he was out on a job when the customer told him the OJ verdict was in and that OJ had been found not guilty. He had a heart attack and died on the spot. So my family has always sort of blamed OJ for killing him too. I try not to be happy when people die but I'm feeling a little... Not unhappy about this.
This has absolutely nothing to do with today's episode, but I finally listened to Matthew Yglesias speak after hearing Moyn's impersonation about a million times... Holy shit, dudes! I, I, I mean, I didn't expect it to be THAT accurate. Good Lord.
Unrelated to the episode…what’s with the sudden trend of people posting long handwringing diatribes about why they no longer want to be paid subscribers for this reason or that? Did I miss some kind of inside joke while I was sidelined by pneumonia or are these all sincere posts?
I noticed the subreddit started declining quite a while ago, but everything on reddit has been in decline for a long time. Do the moderators even know what The Fifth Column is, lol?
I’ve been thinking about posting a long handwringing diatribe of the sort for a while now and recently quit paying. TFC is still fun so long as they don’t get on the Israel spiel it’s just become way too neocon for me- but I can handle disagreement- just don’t think they have enough to offer to justify paying anything for it.
100% with Matt that Cathy Young was disproportionately hard on Bari without bringing the goods to back it up. To me, it suggested a hint of professional jealousy towards a younger woman with a much larger platform. But, that could just be lady-vibes 🤷♀️
Dreger was right from the start that it was stupid framing, etc. If more people had listened to her from the start, we could have avoided all of the exhausting IDW disk horse.
Even when his career was threatened by some out of touch executive trying to protect OJ (a personal friend), Norm refused to ignore what could be seen plainly by anyone with 2 functioning brain cells, and made it all even funnier by doubling down.
He was a GOAT, and we’d be a lot better off today if more comedians (can we still call 90% of them that?) followed his example.
As someone who has a sales/office job that works on Saturdays with a lot of downtime. I love the timeliness of your podcast releases. They help keep me sane. Please keep it up, and I will stay as a subscriber forever. 🤞
I want to really love this podcast. Sometimes Matt makes really profound observations. Sometimes Kmele wakes up from his fog and articulates a position that makes me question my principles. Sometimes Michael doesn't Michael.
Unfortunately, I often find myself not giving a shit about the ideological pissing contests you gentlemen seem to have with other equally obscure (to 99% of the populace) gentlemen and sometimes gentlewomen, who you sometimes love and sometimes hate.
You hate populism yet you also hate the status quo which is a strange purgatory you have placed yourselves in. I have found you to be contrarian on so many occasions that I spit out my beer during one of the recent week's episodes when Michael went on a tangent about contrarians.
Do I get a few laughs every episode? Sure. But I'm often left trying to understand your target demographic and who you're trying to appease. I believe you mentioned audience capture twice this episode. Who is that?
From what perspective are you speaking? The dinner party scene?
Matt had some fantastic analysis tonight on several occasions, but unfortunately after having subscribed a year after being a freeloader for three years I can't justify it again. With two youngens, one with a severe disability, I can't justify the expense or time.
Not sure why I took the time to say this now. I know I'll receive flack for it from you and your audience. I expect it because I rarely see discourse here. It's strange. It's disappointing.
Perhaps I'll see or hear you gents elsewhere speaking outside of your clubhouse. I urge you to get Kmele to reengage himself. He's largely the reason I became interested in the podcast in the first place.
There is no target demographic. They are three friends with uncommon insight and atypical perspectives possessing niche interests whose talent and ability has been recognized by many outfits over the course of their lives but who had never quite been able to find synergy with other initiatives.
People naturally inclined toward normativity and consensus are continually surprised to find independent thinkers tend to live independent lives as well and are perfectly comfortable expressing their independent voices..
They were encouraged by mutual friends to assume control over their careers and strike out on their own. since the through-line of it all was an entertaining tone, patient approach, and sufficient self-awareness to acknowledge their own limitations and mistakes. Humility, knowledgeability, honesty, and curiosity have their own value quite apart from what they are tasked to.
These guys are never going to be household names, they are never going to be like Howard Stern or Joe Rogan. . .Or even Wolfman Jack or John Peel. They are neither going to be adopted as standards nor shape the culture -because what they have to offer isn't for everyone. There are a lot of people, perhaps even a majority of them, who simply want to be. They want the comfort of knowing what is right, how the world should run, and what is expected of them, and have no interest in purely academic pursuits such as the exploration of novel ideas or understanding the perspectives of others. They have never been seduced by an idea and if they possess any ideology at all it is either inherited or has been imprinted upon them. They just want to raise their kids, tend their careers, fuck their co-workers, and enjoy their lives. They want to surround themselves with things they understand and live in communities that never change. . .and this podcast will never be heard in those places or by those people.
This podcast is different and is for people who are different and not even all of those. It is not a product, there is no intended demographic, and if that doesn't appeal to you there are other places to shop and other things to consume.
I just got in a big argument with a friend about these issues - some people are convinced that every conversation is a battleground where people are trying to to achieve grand ends, not just discussion of what people.are feeling. In my case, me saying that both Biden and Trump are awful for people who care about individual liberty was taken as a salvo in the war to get people to either not vote for Biden or somehow a covert appeal for people to vote for Trump.
Partisans want to know what you "really mean" when you make an observation, and can't accept that some observations are just that, observations, not sneaky arguments. It must be a very frustrating way to live, constantly probing the orthodoxy of your conversation partners.
There was something I read so long ago I can't even remember exactly what it was. Might have been a short story, might have been an article, not sure if it was fiction or non fiction, but it was someone giving an account of their childhood and a moment in which he saw a group of homeless men rappelling down a dry well to retrieve scrap metal. The man, then a small child, turned to his father and asked him what they were doing to which he was replied "honest work."
That has stayed with even since and I hope it always will.
It takes a certain amount of imagination to accept people living and operating in ways which are contradictory to your own or that in some way defy your expectations and conventions. . .it takes something more to respect it. Not everyone is capable of the former and even fewer the latter. I think life is frustrating for many people and not everyone gets it and I believe that is an undercurrent eroding many of the establishing norms which have not been entirely destroyed. The world is more complicated than it was and the margin for error is more narrow and less forgiving I think that frustrates a lot of people -especially younger people. I think the dysfunctional state of public discourse frustrates a lot of older people because they are still waiting for the grown ups to sort things out and haven't realized there aren't any left. I think the places that used to provide solace from these aspects of life that people could retreat into, the relationships they had with true-loves and soulmates, friends and family, the subcultures and clubs where they could find acceptance and common ground, have become increasingly scarce leaving people unbalanced, unmoored, largely disenfranchised and frantic. So, in short, I think you're right.
I'm sorry about your friend. It is like a fever. You can't really treat it, all you can do is watch and wait and hope and be there when it breaks.
There have been a few really rough episodes. Andrew Sullivan recently was just – wow. This one is pretty haggard as well. Kmele seems to be phoning it in a bit and as knowledgeable and experienced and funny as the other guys are, I think it would greatly benefit to have some more author interviews on the show, they truly shine then. Otherwise they can fall into their "greatest hits" schtick or just respond to Twitter nobodies. It must be tremendously hard to speak in an engaging and public way for this many hours a week, so I don't envy them for that. But adding some more diversity of topics and guests could help.
I'm unsure of your definitions. Status quo and populism are not two ends of a spectrum. Contrarianism isn't what you're hearing, but maybe I've got a bad understanding of the term.
Alan you have stumbled upon a little discussed truth: the ethos of libertarians is to be perpetually dissatisfied with *gestures broadly in every direction* and say so profusely and with deep conviction whenever given an opportunity.
Man I’ve never agreed with a comment more. Every detail. Michael has been, oof. Kmele- wait wheres Kmele? And Matt I think has been pretty steady although I rarely find myself engaged by what he has to say.
My ex-girlfriend was working as a waitress in the late 80s in Beverly Hills. She was in her early 20s and a certifiable smokeshow. One day on a lunch shift in walk Al Davis, Marcus Allen, and OJ. Of course they are seated in her section. Being raised in a football crazy family she knew who they were instantly. At the end of the meal OJ just straight up asks for her number. She obliges. He calls her apartment and leaves a message on her answering machine (shut up I’m old I know). She never called him back.
When we would have those sort of not really serious arguments couples often have I would sometimes look at her and say “I fucking wish you had called OJ back”.
Jeffrey Toobin was just "bringing his whole self to work".
Haha
I like that moynihan's reaction to this is just well what are you gonna do. I don't know, maybe like said Matt said just don't beat off during your work zoom calls. Seems like reasonable suggestion
Dude.
I actually think “come as you are” would be more apt phrasing.
Sometimes bringing your whole-self to work is going whole-hog on zoom.
Whaddya gonna do?! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My grandpa was a police officer in Cleveland and started a locksmithing business when he retired - he was out on a job when the customer told him the OJ verdict was in and that OJ had been found not guilty. He had a heart attack and died on the spot. So my family has always sort of blamed OJ for killing him too. I try not to be happy when people die but I'm feeling a little... Not unhappy about this.
So what you’re saying is that O.J. Killed three people.
*at least* three people
This has absolutely nothing to do with today's episode, but I finally listened to Matthew Yglesias speak after hearing Moyn's impersonation about a million times... Holy shit, dudes! I, I, I mean, I didn't expect it to be THAT accurate. Good Lord.
Unrelated to the episode…what’s with the sudden trend of people posting long handwringing diatribes about why they no longer want to be paid subscribers for this reason or that? Did I miss some kind of inside joke while I was sidelined by pneumonia or are these all sincere posts?
Maybe it's new traffic from The UnPopulist and they came to be mad at the hosts for being unrepentant Heterodachshunds
Idk and Idc. The subreddit seems to have declined significantly
I noticed the subreddit started declining quite a while ago, but everything on reddit has been in decline for a long time. Do the moderators even know what The Fifth Column is, lol?
I’ve been thinking about posting a long handwringing diatribe of the sort for a while now and recently quit paying. TFC is still fun so long as they don’t get on the Israel spiel it’s just become way too neocon for me- but I can handle disagreement- just don’t think they have enough to offer to justify paying anything for it.
Joezempic would have been better. Happy Friday, friends! 🍻
Fit Joe?
It was right there
Swang? Really @mattwelch? I’m still cracking up. 😂
The first thing I heard in my head when I found out Juice fucking died was Moynihan saying “Hello, Twitter world” in his best OJ voice. 🤣
"Goodbye, Twitter world..."
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Literally just poured a drink….Then I get this alert. 🥃
100% with Matt that Cathy Young was disproportionately hard on Bari without bringing the goods to back it up. To me, it suggested a hint of professional jealousy towards a younger woman with a much larger platform. But, that could just be lady-vibes 🤷♀️
Solid Jonathan Richman reference from Welch.
Re: IDW, Alice Dreger really dodged a bullet by opting not to be in the Weiss article.
Dreger was right from the start that it was stupid framing, etc. If more people had listened to her from the start, we could have avoided all of the exhausting IDW disk horse.
Even when his career was threatened by some out of touch executive trying to protect OJ (a personal friend), Norm refused to ignore what could be seen plainly by anyone with 2 functioning brain cells, and made it all even funnier by doubling down.
He was a GOAT, and we’d be a lot better off today if more comedians (can we still call 90% of them that?) followed his example.
OJ Simpson was never convicted of murder. However, this is very different than the way you and I have never been convicted of murder.
This is really funny, but speak for yourself dog.
McWhorter is from Mt. Airy (Philadelphia)
But that Tracy Morgan interaction sounds incredible.. Did John talk about this somewhere? I'd love to get the whole story.
As I recall, Jesse Singal was also there, which makes it even funnier.
I would watch the crap out of a talk show hosted by them, especially if he busted out random characters like Brian Fellow without warning John.
As someone who has a sales/office job that works on Saturdays with a lot of downtime. I love the timeliness of your podcast releases. They help keep me sane. Please keep it up, and I will stay as a subscriber forever. 🤞
Yeaaaaah. Oh oh and I almost forgot. I’m also going to need you to come in on Sunday too, ‘k?
We need to talk about your TPS reports…
PC Load letter? WTF does that mean?!
I’d say in a given week, I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual work.
Why should I change my name? He's the one who sucks!
I love you damn nerds so much.
Let me know when you want to take out the Xerox machine. I've got the playlist and baseball bat ready.
I just rewatched that scene this morning. 😂😂
I want to really love this podcast. Sometimes Matt makes really profound observations. Sometimes Kmele wakes up from his fog and articulates a position that makes me question my principles. Sometimes Michael doesn't Michael.
Unfortunately, I often find myself not giving a shit about the ideological pissing contests you gentlemen seem to have with other equally obscure (to 99% of the populace) gentlemen and sometimes gentlewomen, who you sometimes love and sometimes hate.
You hate populism yet you also hate the status quo which is a strange purgatory you have placed yourselves in. I have found you to be contrarian on so many occasions that I spit out my beer during one of the recent week's episodes when Michael went on a tangent about contrarians.
Do I get a few laughs every episode? Sure. But I'm often left trying to understand your target demographic and who you're trying to appease. I believe you mentioned audience capture twice this episode. Who is that?
From what perspective are you speaking? The dinner party scene?
Matt had some fantastic analysis tonight on several occasions, but unfortunately after having subscribed a year after being a freeloader for three years I can't justify it again. With two youngens, one with a severe disability, I can't justify the expense or time.
Not sure why I took the time to say this now. I know I'll receive flack for it from you and your audience. I expect it because I rarely see discourse here. It's strange. It's disappointing.
Perhaps I'll see or hear you gents elsewhere speaking outside of your clubhouse. I urge you to get Kmele to reengage himself. He's largely the reason I became interested in the podcast in the first place.
All the best 🤘🥃
Well, I think I can field one of these concerns.
There is no target demographic. They are three friends with uncommon insight and atypical perspectives possessing niche interests whose talent and ability has been recognized by many outfits over the course of their lives but who had never quite been able to find synergy with other initiatives.
People naturally inclined toward normativity and consensus are continually surprised to find independent thinkers tend to live independent lives as well and are perfectly comfortable expressing their independent voices..
They were encouraged by mutual friends to assume control over their careers and strike out on their own. since the through-line of it all was an entertaining tone, patient approach, and sufficient self-awareness to acknowledge their own limitations and mistakes. Humility, knowledgeability, honesty, and curiosity have their own value quite apart from what they are tasked to.
These guys are never going to be household names, they are never going to be like Howard Stern or Joe Rogan. . .Or even Wolfman Jack or John Peel. They are neither going to be adopted as standards nor shape the culture -because what they have to offer isn't for everyone. There are a lot of people, perhaps even a majority of them, who simply want to be. They want the comfort of knowing what is right, how the world should run, and what is expected of them, and have no interest in purely academic pursuits such as the exploration of novel ideas or understanding the perspectives of others. They have never been seduced by an idea and if they possess any ideology at all it is either inherited or has been imprinted upon them. They just want to raise their kids, tend their careers, fuck their co-workers, and enjoy their lives. They want to surround themselves with things they understand and live in communities that never change. . .and this podcast will never be heard in those places or by those people.
This podcast is different and is for people who are different and not even all of those. It is not a product, there is no intended demographic, and if that doesn't appeal to you there are other places to shop and other things to consume.
I just got in a big argument with a friend about these issues - some people are convinced that every conversation is a battleground where people are trying to to achieve grand ends, not just discussion of what people.are feeling. In my case, me saying that both Biden and Trump are awful for people who care about individual liberty was taken as a salvo in the war to get people to either not vote for Biden or somehow a covert appeal for people to vote for Trump.
Partisans want to know what you "really mean" when you make an observation, and can't accept that some observations are just that, observations, not sneaky arguments. It must be a very frustrating way to live, constantly probing the orthodoxy of your conversation partners.
There was something I read so long ago I can't even remember exactly what it was. Might have been a short story, might have been an article, not sure if it was fiction or non fiction, but it was someone giving an account of their childhood and a moment in which he saw a group of homeless men rappelling down a dry well to retrieve scrap metal. The man, then a small child, turned to his father and asked him what they were doing to which he was replied "honest work."
That has stayed with even since and I hope it always will.
It takes a certain amount of imagination to accept people living and operating in ways which are contradictory to your own or that in some way defy your expectations and conventions. . .it takes something more to respect it. Not everyone is capable of the former and even fewer the latter. I think life is frustrating for many people and not everyone gets it and I believe that is an undercurrent eroding many of the establishing norms which have not been entirely destroyed. The world is more complicated than it was and the margin for error is more narrow and less forgiving I think that frustrates a lot of people -especially younger people. I think the dysfunctional state of public discourse frustrates a lot of older people because they are still waiting for the grown ups to sort things out and haven't realized there aren't any left. I think the places that used to provide solace from these aspects of life that people could retreat into, the relationships they had with true-loves and soulmates, friends and family, the subcultures and clubs where they could find acceptance and common ground, have become increasingly scarce leaving people unbalanced, unmoored, largely disenfranchised and frantic. So, in short, I think you're right.
I'm sorry about your friend. It is like a fever. You can't really treat it, all you can do is watch and wait and hope and be there when it breaks.
And again, Amen.
AMEN.
Cheers man, to each his own.
There have been a few really rough episodes. Andrew Sullivan recently was just – wow. This one is pretty haggard as well. Kmele seems to be phoning it in a bit and as knowledgeable and experienced and funny as the other guys are, I think it would greatly benefit to have some more author interviews on the show, they truly shine then. Otherwise they can fall into their "greatest hits" schtick or just respond to Twitter nobodies. It must be tremendously hard to speak in an engaging and public way for this many hours a week, so I don't envy them for that. But adding some more diversity of topics and guests could help.
Maybe replacing Kmele with a library director would be great.
I'm unsure of your definitions. Status quo and populism are not two ends of a spectrum. Contrarianism isn't what you're hearing, but maybe I've got a bad understanding of the term.
If you’re in the library right now, I have a suggestion.
Also, I don’t believe that you have a bad understanding. We all know those words mean the same thing.
I don't work weekends. Haha.
Alan you have stumbled upon a little discussed truth: the ethos of libertarians is to be perpetually dissatisfied with *gestures broadly in every direction* and say so profusely and with deep conviction whenever given an opportunity.
Man I’ve never agreed with a comment more. Every detail. Michael has been, oof. Kmele- wait wheres Kmele? And Matt I think has been pretty steady although I rarely find myself engaged by what he has to say.