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Episode 104: Everything is Bad (Patreon)

Published:
2020-10-02 07:41:06
Edited:
2024-03-04 15:59:10
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

Legendary author and activist Mike Davis joins us to talk about the California wildfires, real estate developers, climate change, evangelicalism and so much more

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Comments

Drew

Re-listened to this ep. today and sad to say everything is still bad, California is still on fire. RIP Mike Davis :(

Louise

This was a great episode! Reminded me of a conversation I had the other day where someone was concerned about my mental health and I was like I'm good, actually. I enumerated some things that are bad and added "but I don't feel despair" and he was like it kind of sounds like you do. And I was like, no, that's what you feel when you hear about these things which is why you ignore them also why you can never get out of the messes you're in. I prefer to live in truth and it's a relief to hear someone speaking the truth when you're surrounded by folks in, quite frankly, psychotic levels of denial.

wilkie

would love an ep on hurricane katrina

John

Is it though?

SammyG

New poddd

Lulu

I live in Santa Rosa and its terrifying now, we just live in a constant state of fear starting every fall now. It wasn't like this before 2017. What's also extra scary about the fires here is that they have gone through the towns and cities, not just the hills and wooded areas.

Shogun Loophole

Great take on fire management practices !

Jane

Was blown away by this interview. Actually feel less depressed because less alone. Really feel so much gratitude for Mike Davis with whom I was not familiar. Everything resonates. I want to learn and engage more. Thank you.

William Pepper

Who else is praying for the professor doctor with me? 🙏

Susan Davis

Mike Davis is a treasure.

Jeremy Sauceman

yeah but they're naughty prayers 😈🙏

ClownBabee24

Praying Hope infected every ghoul in his administration, and that Trump infected biden

Amber

Brace loving Marianne Faithfull is strong evidence that he has the spiritual purity necessary to find the grail.

Daniel

This is some bleak shit but as always, yall are essential for keeping it real when basically no one else will 🙏

maqr0ll

"when Paradise burned down"....G#d gonna be pissed

Ed

I think this is some of the best stuff y'all have produced. Thank you for getting this interview.

Garrett Paul

Idk if you have any interest in talking about agriculture or not. The left doesn't talk about it. there's potential for us to reach out to poor farmers in the midwest because we are fighting for our lives against mega corporate farms that are not farms. They are mining operations that seek to vaporize the minerals and soil and turn it into grizzle for fast food. The financialization and the rise of the service economy has destroyed actual agriculture and farming and replaced it with mega machines.

Garrett Paul

I took Michael Brooks' spirituality very seriously. I have a spiritual life that takes personal responsibility seriously. We are the stewards of the earth. We have a responsibility to raise up the poor, we have a duty to care for the earth, we have a duty to feed people. That's why I'm a farmer. Because If we are one humanity we all have an obligation towards each other. Taking the bleakness of our situation seriously should energize us. I work at UPS. I'm an active member of my union and I am striving to make my life about making things better for others. That's all I can do.

Squiggly

I wish this guy was my dad

Baron

“If you haven’t killed yourself yet...” Looks like TrueAnon’s got their own Adam Curtis. Thanks for this one, solidarity ❤️

Helga

Loved Mike Davis’s book on the late Victorian Holocaust, except for the stuff he wrote about Ulysses Grant.

DearFriendFranko (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-09 19:00 Was surprised he hasn’t been a guest more often on all theese pods but 100 for having him on now for this guys thank you. The galaxy brain herself Ruthie Gilmore talks often about the moral/e import of his person and work to her life & 🐙 humanist project.
2020-10-02 23:42 Was surprised he hasn’t been a guest more often on all theese pods but 100 for having him on now for this guys thank you. The galaxy brain herself Ruthie Gilmore talks often about the moral/e import of his person and work to her life & 🐙 humanist project.

Was surprised he hasn’t been a guest more often on all theese pods but 100 for having him on now for this guys thank you. The galaxy brain herself Ruthie Gilmore talks often about the moral/e import of his person and work to her life & 🐙 humanist project.

prof. eucalyptus

Really great episode guys! I just wanted to say, as a Brazilian listener, that Mike's comments on latin american slums not seeing the same type of stark racial division as his other examples is not quite true, especially not of Brazil, where the urban population living in favelas are uniformly black. Pentecostalism works as a machine of racial repression insofar as it exchanges properties with drug trafficking and parastatal militia organizations, who effectively function as statelike instances of social representation, if not literal armed protection. Favelas in 2020 are mostly pulled apart by tensions between neopentecostal churches, drug traffickers and militia, which in the long run work alongside regular state-sanctioned police as literal extermination groups whose victims are almost entirely black. Anyway I really don't want to sound pedantic, and this by no means works against the overall effect of all Mike said. Congrats on the ep.

JD

terrific job guys, y'all are intelligent and thoughtful

Ned Schafer

Absolutely tremendous interview.

HATERSLAYER420 (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-09 19:00 as an insomniac, the episode drops at like 3am are a godsend. thanks chomsky baby <3
2020-10-03 04:05 as an insomniac, the episode drops at like 3am are a godsend. thanks chomsky baby <3

as an insomniac, the episode drops at like 3am are a godsend. thanks chomsky baby <3

marci

Mercy mercy me

madrabbitvictory

Omg... two of my favorite things have collided and i’m truly happy. This is amazing. Thanks for another fantastic episode.

Kamal Ortiz

I would just like to say that it would be a dream job for me to do controlled burns and I live in CA so if Mike's idea comes to fruition, I'll be first in line.

b.

this made me cry but also somehow made me feel better ❤ great ep, thanks guys

malpertuis

I know its trite, but City of Quartz changed how I saw the world. He's so engaging, so invigorating - He made sitting on a hill, listening to Buddy Holly waiting for a nuke to flatten San Diego so beautiful. A Brilliant interview!

Grenadine Vetch

This episode drained me of any remaining optimism while having been one of my favorite episodes/guests you’ve had on. Amazing that u could get through the whole two hours w/o uttering the word racism. I know what you mean as you refer to class, but sometimes it bugs me that you won’t just say it. Still your biggest fan...

Alexander

Mike Davis is a treasure.

Bingus

Because of smoke inhalation over the past 3 years I may never get to retire, but I was able to hear my home town name dropped on my favorite podcast ☺️

Winston64

Great episode. Thanks.

Jason Matthews

Ask him about the Unarius Academy of Science, next time.

Carson H

Wow, I love that conclusion from Mike: "I don't believe that hope is a scientific category. And, I actually don't believe that personal morality and character should be grounded on hope; that is, in some calculated probability of things working out the way that you want them to work out. Like, 'Oh my god, you know, I've been a member of these socialist groups for three years, I haven't seen the American Revolution, I'm gonna go get my MBA.' Fine and well. But we need people who are grounded in the belief that there is a single humanity. And that battles are fought whether or not you can calculate that they'll be successes. The struggle must be our very existence, and we must never accept the limitations of the political 'realistic'; we must act on what is necessary in the most basic sense for the survival of ordinary people. I guess I encourage a kind of Stalingrad attitude, almost, toward the world. We're the 18 year old Russians menaced on all sides and it doesn't look like we're gonna survive, but we're still going to fight like hell. In fact, we become better fighters knowing that it's the fight itself that's the most important thing. Maybe these are strange or antiquated values. But I still believe in 'character'; that people produce themselves through the moral choices and actions that they take, regardless of calculations of success or wealth or anything like that. Actions that are rooted in solidarity and love for other people and the common condition."

Jon Spiegler

A little over halfway through Set the Night on Fire and it rules so fucking much.

Anna

Brilliant interview, thanks guys. This grounded me more than I thought it would. Would love to read some of Mike Davis, somehow I hadn’t discovered him. Does anyone have any recommendations for where to start with his work?

Alexander

Late Victorian Holocausts. It will break you.

Mark Owen

City of Quartz, Buda's Wagon - so many good ones.

Kevin

Thanks y’all. Long time fan and I think this might be my fav thing you’ve produced. The closing statement quoted above from Mike couldn’t have been better put and although it left me in tears it left me reassured in my position to remain “clear eyed” , fight and forever take “actions that are rooted in solidarity and love for other people and the common condition.” Thanks again to brace, Liz, Mike and yung chompsky for producing this. Excellent work

Tia Benedict

God damn! Cheer the fuck up! Why is every news show so depressing? Is there nothing right in this world?

Tia Benedict

Have you ever heard the expression, "If you have nothing good to say, you aren't telling the truth either."?

harry

Booooo 🍅🍅🍅

DH

Yes

Leslie Cerniglia

Imagine hearing ‘news’ which is actual events happening. This ‘news’ is overwhelmingly bad...and your response is “Cheer up guys”. GTFOH.

Tia Benedict

OK, I take your point. But is there nothing good anywhere? At all? There is no hope in this message.

Tia Benedict

Fine. But if nothing is going right anywhere, what is the point? SOMETHING has to be working.

Kyle

This was so so good. Would absolutely love another interview with Mike Davis some day about his book Prisoners is the American Dream and how it compares to modern times. Absolutely essential knowledge, just like this episode was.

Katie LeBlanc

The last 10 mins of this was the most hope/determined I have felt

Alina Younger

Tia, the idea of talking about this is to spread the word about real world issues that MANY of us know nothing about, with hope that as more and more people become educated on these subjects, we can come together as a human race and change the inevitable apocalypse we are creating on this planet. Humans created this shit hole we are in, Humans are the only way we can try and get out of the shit hole. Everything is bad because we are continuing to allow it to get worse. And if your only response to this is "if you have nothing good to say, you aren't telling the truth", then you need a major wake up call, because your world as you know it is crumbling around you and you are literally only making it worse.

Alina Younger

The shit about nuclear warfare scares the living hell out of me. Since a very young age, I've always told myself I do not want to have kids, solely because the world is going to shit and it would be completely unfair to bring someone into this hell hole. But I'm 24 now, and was really seriously thinking about having kids with my fiance in the next 5 years. After listening to this, there is no way I'm going to have kids. But, I think I am going to try and create some sort of network with the younger population in my city to educate them on real world issues and how their personal actions can change this planet. Other than that, I don't know how else I can do anything to change what's happening in our country. If anyone in this has any ideas, or would like to discuss this topic I'd love to connect with you.

Sparrow

i had the same conflict for many years but acquiesced to "the mind of a child is where the revolution begins." just had our first kid this past March. what you already suggested is already the core of what is to be done, community/mutual aid network building, spread ideology through outreach (e.g. BPP breakfast program) that meets people where they are with what they actually need. the only answer is to end capitalism---individual actions are entirely meaningless as much as libs idealize lifestyle activism

Sparrow

"They say you fight the greatest jihad in your heart and your mind And fight the hardest when you start from behind"

lililililili

when you say shit like "40% of this country is inherently reactionary," all you'll end up with is occupy wall street, which was itself reactionary, as are its retarded children

Ben Clarkson

What is this mania for hope?

Ben Clarkson

Have kids. Why not? They are pure joy.

Ben Hansen

Going back to this one. 😔 RIP