Stupid Anthropology
Stupid Anthropology has birthed from the ashes of The Right Can’t Read. We have leapt from the desiccated skull like a weird zombie Athena to sometimes ask stupid questions, sometimes our stupid ideas, sometimes our stupid screaming into the void. Join Aaron, Robert, and Jonny as we explore whatever diseased questions pop into our collapsing brains. Questions such as: What’s the deal with selling out? Who are the worst people that came on Oprah’s show? What’s the deal with airline food?
Episodes
Here at Stupid Anthropology, we take the stances that other podcasts won't. For example: We hate artists. All of them. Listen to us talk about how much we hate them.
Slides here.
Music by Daniel Griggs
The gang has a completely normal, rational, and sober discussion about apocalypses - both fictional and the one we're hurtling toward.
Music by Daniel Griggs.
Aaron, Robert, and Jonny hold a very coherent and listenable debate about whether or not space sucks. (It doesn't.) You can find Aaron's slides here.
Music by Daniel Griggs.
Robert, Aaron, and Jonny have a completely reasonable conversation about what's happening in Gaza. While listening, why not do something productive like donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNHCR, or any number of other groups trying to materially improve the conditions of people who are the latest victims of the United States military-industrial complex.
Digressions include:
- Aaron is doing fine
- Stardew Valley tips
- We hate m...
Jonny, Robert, and Aaron talk the ultimate sin: Selling out. Is there a counterculture? Are we all the sellout hobo from They Live? What are our personal brands? All these questions - and more - are asked in this episode of Stupid Anthropology. Oh yeah, we're Stupid Anthropology now. We will miss Rachel, but she's off to bigger and better things in [REDACTED] and Jonny will be our permanent new friend. Permanent. There was a cont...
Have you ever received a book in the mail that you didn't order and, like a maniac, chose to inflict it on friends instead of throwing it away? Aaron has! Join us as Aaron reads bits of a sadly dull Jehovah's Witness book at Shark and Rachel and the three talk about how disappointed they are. Hey, you can't always have a well-researched episode about culture. You just can't.
Robert and Aaron talk about two amazing contributions to human civilization.
Music by Daniel Griggs
The conclusion to our three-part series on Watchmen! Jonny takes the gang through various analyses of the comic and everyone is - still - amazed that anyone can walk away from it with a positive perception of Rorshach.
Music by Daniel Griggs
Jonny takes the gang through a DETAILED (and yet not detailed enough) synopsis of the Watchmen novel. We talk through the characterizations a bit and start delving into what it all means, but more of that to come!
Music by Daniel Griggs
Long-time listener and first-time caller Jonny Lim takes the gang on the start of their journey through Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen. I, Aaron, would like to reiterate that Welcome Back Kotter is a show that exists and I'm very glad that Jonny backs me up on this.
What?! An episode under an hour?!?!?!?
Aaron brings some serious old coot energy to another """"palette cleanser."""" This one's about John Carpenter's THEY LIVE.
Music by Daniel Griggs (good luck on the move, buddy!)
Some extra reading:
- Revisiting the Dystopian L.A. of Sci-Fi Classic They Live, 30 Years Later: https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/they-live-filming-locations-30-years/
- John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’ Was Supposed to ...
The gang fails at having a relaxed conversation about the bullshit phenomenon of alpha wolves. Yet another palette cleanser that is not a palette cleanser. Ah well.
The group wraps up our journey through the internet with a long, long discussion about the gold standard, grifts, crypto, and AI. Shark and Rachel align themselves with the Machines, while Aaron yells at clouds.
Music by Daniel Griggs
Reading list:
Aaron brings Robert and Rachel through the horrors of venture capital, Meta's quarterly reports, and the enshittification of the web.
Music by Daniel Griggs.
READ THIS STUFF:
- A funny Tweet about how shitty the Internet is.
- How Venture Capital Works, Harvard Business Review
- How Venture Capitalists Make Decisions, Harvard Business Review
- Competition is for Losers, Peter Thiel in the Wall Street Journal
- Facebook's culpability in g...
Aaron leads Robert and Rachel through the early days of the Internet. The gang talks about the worst people imaginable: Corporate stooges and Grateful Dead lyricists.
Music by Daniel Griggs
Sources:
- Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software, Stallman: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
- Cyberlibertarians’ Digital Deletion of the Left: https://jacobin.com/2013/12/cyberlibertarians-digital-de...
Rachel takes Aaron and Robert through the history of drag, the unmitigated good of drag brunches and drag story hour, and how the right is trying to ruin a whole lot of good peoples' lives. This is, ostensibly, a palette cleanser episode but, well, Florida and the South in general are bummers.
Music by Daniel Griggs
Robert and Aaron reminisce about their lives spent with their eyes glued to monitors while Rachel looks on in horror. By which I mean, Robert talks about how the first-person shooter genre opens people up to be anesthetized to the horrors of the world, BUT ALSO how the first-person shooter genre can be artful and allow people to explore those horrors in an artful way a la - not surprisingly - Wolfenstein: The New Order. Don't worry...
The gang continues their traipse through the history of country music, this time focusing on Richard Nixon and how 9/11 broke everyone's brains. There are far too many digressions to count in this one, so I'm not even going to try.
Music by Daniel Griggs
Robert takes Aaron on a journey through the history of the politics of country music, then shatters Aaron's psyche by reminding him about Brooks & Dunn.
Music by Daniel Griggs
Aaron takes Robert and Rachel on an adventure through the glories of the Ip Man quadrilogy and RRR. Are these movies mere propaganda? Are they are? Or are they REALLY FUN ACTION MOVIES, YOU GUYS! (Question mark.)
Music by Daniel Griggs.
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