podcast friday
Feb. 6th, 2026 07:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabby There's a lot of good stuff on the podcast feed this week, but look, we all have to be Elbows Up these days or whatever, even though Canada is a fake country, because it's better to be a fake country with healthcare than a fake country with crushing medical debt. So I must proudly wave the flag when Behind the Bastards notices and recognizes an actual Canadian bastard, as they did this week with Romana Didulo, Queen of Canada (Part 1, Part 2).
Her Majesty is not a successful cult leader by American standards; she basically ruined the lives of a few dozen people and hasn't directly killed anyone that I know of, though in terms of indirect deaths through encouraging the spread of covid, she's likely ended at least a few lives. She's a fascinating study, though, in Why People Believe Batshit Things Against Obvious Evidence and Logic, and she's worth learning about for that alone. This is an obvious mentally ill person with no charisma, elevated to fame by some rando on the internet, and enabled by a media ecosystem that considers all opinions equally valid unless they're left-wing opinions. In a better society she'd be given the help she so obviously needs; in ours, her worst tendencies were encouraged and rewarded.
Of course, this is all ancient history from the early 2020s and is of no instructive value now. Just, y'know, interesting to listen to.
ETA: I am remiss in not mentioning that there's a third part to come next week. I had like 10 minutes left in the second episode and did not realize there was MORE ROMANA to come.
Her Majesty is not a successful cult leader by American standards; she basically ruined the lives of a few dozen people and hasn't directly killed anyone that I know of, though in terms of indirect deaths through encouraging the spread of covid, she's likely ended at least a few lives. She's a fascinating study, though, in Why People Believe Batshit Things Against Obvious Evidence and Logic, and she's worth learning about for that alone. This is an obvious mentally ill person with no charisma, elevated to fame by some rando on the internet, and enabled by a media ecosystem that considers all opinions equally valid unless they're left-wing opinions. In a better society she'd be given the help she so obviously needs; in ours, her worst tendencies were encouraged and rewarded.
Of course, this is all ancient history from the early 2020s and is of no instructive value now. Just, y'know, interesting to listen to.
ETA: I am remiss in not mentioning that there's a third part to come next week. I had like 10 minutes left in the second episode and did not realize there was MORE ROMANA to come.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-06 01:34 pm (UTC)Honestly, by that logic all countries are lands of fiction.
Romana Didulo, Queen of Canada
I want to say "who", but you have mentioned her before, I think.
he basically ruined the lives of a few dozen people and hasn't directly killed anyone that I know of
That's a low bar these days.
Of course, this is all ancient history from the early 2020s and is of no instructive value now.
SAR_CAR_SIM?
(Unrelated, I am watching an Irvine Welsh doco and part of it is at the Toronto Writers' Shindig in 2022. I am keeping an eye out for you. In case. Stranger things have happened)
no subject
Date: 2026-02-07 12:13 am (UTC)Huh?
No one was inviting me to anything in 2022, let alone Irvine Welsh!
no subject
Date: 2026-02-07 11:33 am (UTC)I was riffing on an Alexi Sayle bit from "The Young Ones". Suggesting your tone was sarcastic.
No one was inviting me to anything in 2022, let alone Irvine Welsh!
It does feel like a lifetime ago, and we all had different experiences of that time.
(I was looking for masked people, which there were surprisingly few of, and apparently he could make inter-country trips!)
no subject
Date: 2026-02-06 06:01 pm (UTC)Don't forget the financial factor. That's always a good reason for a cult.
(I had not heard of a QAnon-anointed Queen of Canada, so, thanks for letting me know?)
no subject
Date: 2026-02-07 12:10 am (UTC)