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podcast friday
Dec. 13th, 2024 08:05 amBefore I dive into the post requests (and thank you all for supplying them!), here is my regularly scheduled Podcast Friday.
Okay it has to be It Could Happen Here's "Luigi Mangione Was Radicalized By Pain." If you aren't a podcast person, you can read a text version of it for free here. Robert Evans does an excellent job of summarizing all the feelings I've been having. It's a very nuanced look at Luigi through what we can tell based on his digital footprint, and his trajectory from wealthy, right-leaning tech bro to folk hero. It's a compelling narrative, and one that's very personal for me. As I've said here and elsewhere, I have a spinal fusion; my x-rays look not dissimilar to Luigi's, and it is a life-altering experience. My daily pain level varies from "annoying" to "agonizing," but I am never comfortable, and never will be again. As I age, it will get worse. It's likely that by the time I hit 60, it will be so debilitating that I won't be able to work anymore, and I have to consider every aspect of my life, from career choices to housing, with that in mind. There are no adequate treatments available, and the best I can do is daily physio to hold off the worst case scenario, much like we, as a society, need to be doing everything we can to avoid the worst climate change scenarios even knowing that we've blown past a lot of the best outcomes.
I live in Canada; I am not in debt because of my experiences, and while I did have to argue with insurers, it's nowhere near what an American would go through. It still derailed my life and career.
I can really sympathize with what it is like, as a young person, to have the future that you envisioned for yourself curtailed. To go from comfort to precarity (because as wealthy as he was, all it really takes is one serious medical issue).
Robert says:
This is true. Not just in the case of chronic pain but in every way that people suffer. I have never nodded along so hard. This is what keeps our grotesque Moloch of an economic system turning—the bits of family and community that we manage to squeeze in between our exploitation.
The issue of Luigi's awful and contradictory beliefs is addressed here, but again, it's nuanced, and Robert paints the picture of a young man on a journey. The guy is 26 and grew up in a wealthy bubble. He's allowed some grace. Even if he retweets Jordan Peterson and drinks Starbucks. If anything, that makes me more sympathetic to him, because yeah. Even wealthy libertarian tech bros. Even then.
Anyway this is a short and stellar episode and you should listen/read.
Okay it has to be It Could Happen Here's "Luigi Mangione Was Radicalized By Pain." If you aren't a podcast person, you can read a text version of it for free here. Robert Evans does an excellent job of summarizing all the feelings I've been having. It's a very nuanced look at Luigi through what we can tell based on his digital footprint, and his trajectory from wealthy, right-leaning tech bro to folk hero. It's a compelling narrative, and one that's very personal for me. As I've said here and elsewhere, I have a spinal fusion; my x-rays look not dissimilar to Luigi's, and it is a life-altering experience. My daily pain level varies from "annoying" to "agonizing," but I am never comfortable, and never will be again. As I age, it will get worse. It's likely that by the time I hit 60, it will be so debilitating that I won't be able to work anymore, and I have to consider every aspect of my life, from career choices to housing, with that in mind. There are no adequate treatments available, and the best I can do is daily physio to hold off the worst case scenario, much like we, as a society, need to be doing everything we can to avoid the worst climate change scenarios even knowing that we've blown past a lot of the best outcomes.
I live in Canada; I am not in debt because of my experiences, and while I did have to argue with insurers, it's nowhere near what an American would go through. It still derailed my life and career.
I can really sympathize with what it is like, as a young person, to have the future that you envisioned for yourself curtailed. To go from comfort to precarity (because as wealthy as he was, all it really takes is one serious medical issue).
Robert says:
I know many people who suffer with chronic pain and ongoing medical issues. I will tell you that it is not uncommon in dark moments, after fruitless hours-long calls about dropped medications or receiving surprise bills, for them to joke about what they’d like to do to the executives who run these companies.
These are jokes, made in moments of despair and pain. No one I know would ever act on them, because they all have lives, people to care for and to whom they are responsible. They would never really do anything because the consequences to their own loved ones would be so severe.
This is true. Not just in the case of chronic pain but in every way that people suffer. I have never nodded along so hard. This is what keeps our grotesque Moloch of an economic system turning—the bits of family and community that we manage to squeeze in between our exploitation.
The issue of Luigi's awful and contradictory beliefs is addressed here, but again, it's nuanced, and Robert paints the picture of a young man on a journey. The guy is 26 and grew up in a wealthy bubble. He's allowed some grace. Even if he retweets Jordan Peterson and drinks Starbucks. If anything, that makes me more sympathetic to him, because yeah. Even wealthy libertarian tech bros. Even then.
Anyway this is a short and stellar episode and you should listen/read.
