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Episode 290: The Beast (Patreon)

Published:
2023-05-11 13:50:56
Edited:
2024-03-05 17:02:47
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

We interview Oswaldo Zavala, the author of Drug Cartels Do Not Exist, about images, stories, and realities of drug cartels in Mexico and beyond. Plus parasites, stories, violence, the State & much more.

Also by Oswaldo Zavala: La Guerra en las Palabras 

Files

Comments

Jed Levin

What are the words heard in the theme music besides “Jeffrey Epstein?” Can’t make it out.

NYCM&AHole

Brace can be Gong guy and Liz can be gong girl with Ben affleck

Jon Spiegler

I can’t stress what an incredible book this is. In my top four from last year

Colin Andrews

“Can you give us your name” took me awhile too

Welcome2mylife

If they don’t exist, who is this FARC guy I’ve been sending all my money to?

Sean

yooooo this book rules, can’t wait to listen

demisays

i love when i actually learn things from true anon

Chris

Liz is wrong about the gong

Tyler

Haven’t finished the episode yet, and completely understand why Oswaldo would be offended by parts of Sicario, but so far he has omitted that the end of the movie reveals the US has been complicit in the drug trade the entire time and that in contrast to most cartel movies the slick “operator” dudes fighting them are unambiguously the bad guys in the same way the “cartel” guys are. Regardless good episode so far and I think I’ll be checking out the book, this is such an important topic and Oswaldo has been an interesting guest to hear from

Noah Tavlin (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-09 19:00 Bro tried to get away with claiming that Bad Bunny is Mexican?? Come on now
2023-05-11 16:18

Quinn

I, for one, am Team Gong every episode.

TrueAnonPod

No he refers to the bad bunny song with a Groupo frontero that just came out

Throat Goat Barbara

Liz's laugh into the transition music at 5:19 is such a good match lmao

J.P. McD.

Saw the title and thought it was about one of the earliest online “alternate reality” viral games The Beast, from 2001, made to promote the movie A.I.

Hombrecactus

It's nice to hear you talk about Mexico and Oswaldo's book is so important right now, especially when we see here the fucking Guardia Nacional and the military everýwhere. And the president and his party intent to deepen the militarization.

TangiePower

I asked my local library to buy it and they did!

John Atherton

i always thought it was “this is the trial… of jeffrey epstein” fuck

AbeLinkin

Surprised they didn’t also mention “Man on Fire”. Everyone assumes ya gonna get kidnapped in Mexico too

shampooflasks

damn - i thought i was finally gettin an ep about mr. beast- that dudes cah-RAZY 😞

Oliver Crane

song of the summer: Cypress Hill - “Hits From the Gong (yung chomsky remix)”

George P

This made me remember the ad the US government started running after 9/11 claiming if you used any illegal drugs you were funding Al-Qaeda. A dork Young Republican college classmate used that premise to lecture me and a few buddies for smoking weed in the dorm. Dark times in America.

Major Pisano

Back in the “naughty Ottie’s “ in California during the 215 medical cannabis boom , I always felt the cartels would be pulled out the closet as a way of shifting the mood towards weed. Now weeds legal , capitalists have weed & the cartels to support their bogey man trope and to support land clearing in land development in areas with none cartel/capitalist sympathizers. capital and its endeavors in gray areas of legality love mafia/cartels. 100% simpatico. Loved the episode, getting amigos book(s) thanks for another great guest , mahalo you three. Hula shirt Brace..

Char Kelly

Excellent episode, no notes, appropriate amount of gong

Matthew

a great one, oswaldo rules

Isaac Suárez

Amazing episode. My family is from Sinaloa- the proliferation of security services and lawlessness (from the peripheries like “La Tuna” to the core urban economic centers, first Culiacán- the seat of governance- then Mazatlán- the seat of tourism) always seemed obscured, rather than explained, by official explanations. The narratives that collated all these “cracks” (murders of folks ever closer by, extortions become more of the norm than the exception, shocking acts of mass violence becoming more common) were of distant, yet ever present, “cartels.” Over time, when you hear the same set of explanation and story arcs over and over, you learn to doubt those stories. You learn not to mistake the “banner” for the “army.” I think this is an element as to why it is so easy for much of the press to avoid reporting on it- the truth beneath the official story is murky and hard to know (though often shockingly obvious and disillusioning when it can be discerned)- if you’re threatened with violence or disinvestment for treading into the “desert of the real,” then why do it? This makes me admire folks who report on and try to journey through that “desert”- we need folks like that more than ever. We can’t trust the Mexican Army, nor Navy, nor National Guard, nor the American DHS, ICE, DEA, or FBI. We’ve seen what happens when those alphabet nomenklats are trusted. Keep up the good work!

bill

sover-renn-tea

CJ

There’s no coming back for you guys, you’re too far gong

Chris Hildreth

These episodes about Mexico and “cartels” are so excellent.

Sean

there’s nothing contradictory at the end of Sicario about the cartel narrative, all that is revealed is that the CIA is “mowing the grass” to try and consolidate drug trafficking, which would be justified by a narrative of competing cartels eroding Mexican sovereignty. Taylor Sheridan is not Gary Webb.

Tyler

You know, you may be right on that point and I do remember that line in particular. I haven’t watched the movie in a bit and I was actually reading Dark Alliance around the same time so maybe I remembered the ending being a bit more “provocative” than it really was

Sean

yeah it has the appearance of being subversive because the reveal of CIA involvement is treated as if it’s shocking, as well as the brutality of the JSOC operators. but it’s very easy for someone to watch the film and see the brutality and realpolitik as necessary to deal with the animalistic sicarios, which is why right wing ex-SEAL energy drink guys fucking love this movie

Jed Levin

Wow, this is the most serious episode I’ve listened to so far. But very interesting!

Jed Levin

Do the US military and US security departments have input on films only when US assets are used in filming, or more widely?

Sneakaboard

They also consult and have assets in industry even if they don't have final cut because of planes or whatever.

Sneakaboard

700,000 children are kidnapped in Mexico City every 9 seconds. The most insane opening fact card, although the Den of Thieves on about how like 50 banks are robbed a day in LA is a close second.

Ivan De Luna Ambriz

I hope y’all can get Oswaldo back. This is a great podcast episode

Sneakaboard

Its 'can you please state your name'.

Sneakaboard

Godard or whicever french new wave guy was right when he said you can't make an anti-war film because film is spectacle and spectaclea enthrall and seduce. Simply by depicting war on film you romantacize and normalize even if the film is narratively 'anti-war' which is exactly why people watch that movie and think the 'operators are bad ass'.

TrueAnonPod

Yeah I mean tbh I actively know it’s basically propaganda and still take away “operators are bad ass” from it - BB

Sydney

please get grimes on the podcast this is halfway a joke but she recently tweeted about abolishing copyright (and her making an AI of her voice so people can make a song with it and get the rights to it??) and I feel like that discussion would be interesting

ploob

Grimes has long been "Brace Sound Effected" I believe

buttface

It's not doing a racism to point out that Mexico is dangerous as fuck for Americans to travel to right now. Just look at all the recent deaths in the news.

Sam Krider

Usually not a good idea to say something isn't racist because you learned it from the news

Sean

don’t get me wrong: the night vision scenes are so cool

SamT

The gong is good folks.

Brian Long

Obligatory airline episode comment

meyer

Great ep but needs more gong

Sam

Re: not deleting episodes Wasn’t there a holodomor episode

McNuggie

Don’t recall. Figured they were laughing at TAFS

The Dee's Knees

I'm on Team Gong Restraint! It feels right for the ringing to be rare and special (but I like knowing it's there now)

thenewseb

I love this episode. I have in laws from Mexico and I myself am of Mexican American heritage and I feel like I had fallen for this myth my whole life. Maybe to a lesser extent than some. This was a great interview and topic.

Zach

incredible episode. thanks you guys

Ranney Lochtefeld

Great episode! Just as a coincidental and timely sidenote for lulz - the world-famous Hong Kong in Tijuana got raided and indefinitely closed last night (5/11/23). The culprit? Allegedly a high up official with SEDENA (Mexican Defense Secretariat - responsible for much of the implementation of 'the war on drugs') OD'd on fent and died in the club (no word on whether drowning in tiddies 'n ass also played a role in his death). Perfect summation of how perverse and integrated the national security apparatus is into trafficking. Mexico the narcostate indeed.

Roger Peet

Excellent episode. Can't recommend this book enough.

Jaime Christley

Pop culture commentary underbaked. I guess it’s not the author’s big focus but there’s so much more to say than a few (well-deserved) cracks against SICARIO and TRAFFIC. I’d *start* with the LAW & ORDER / Dick Wolf copaganda dynasty, which has arguably done 100x more damage to American brains than a few piddling years of Trumpism. Otherwise a great ep, very compelling stuff.

Evan O'Reilly

If you use assets they literally have final script approval but they definitely exert influence in subtler ways and probably have people placed in the major studios. It can't be overt censorship because that would violate the 1st amendment but they can pressure Hollywood by restricting future access the same way they do with the corporate media.

John H

Some people are very weird about trying to buy drugs. I've had multiple people just ask me on the street if I could sell them weed (and then ask if I could tell them where to get some when I said no - I'm in a prohibition state), apparently because they assume a male person with long hair and a bandana is a drug dealer or user. Of course, as I explained to them, even if they had been correct, I wouldn't just whip out some illegal drugs or tell some rando on the street where to get some - that's a great way to get a ticket or prison sentence. I honestly don't understand how so many people around me manage to function minute-to-minute.

TrueAnonPod

I get your point but his book isn’t really about copaganda

Sam

Must be misremembering

Sean Carton

As a Baltimorean, can relate to watching media products that make you wonder why you haven’t noticed you live in Beirut circa 1985

Jaime Christley

I can accept that. A very small nit I wished to pick.

Reece Coren

love when i listen to a trueanon episode and learn ten new books to read

Natalie

who said that on this episode and when did they say it? no one said that americans should or shouldn't go to mexico. why are you only concerned with american lives anyways?

Matt Norman

Really good episode…also Warriors got washed last night Liz. #LakeShow

Axle steele

In practice they have it over whatever they want because they can threaten to withhold asserts from the studio’s other projects if they don’t get what they want.

DH

Oh gosh, well if the Department of State says so…

warren_

Oswaldo sounds exactly like Brace but with a Mexican accent

Doc Adna

Fantastic discussion and analysis. Gonna order the book. I work and live in eastern DRC, and there is a real lack of this kind of analysis for the situation out here... Or they exist but do not inform "interventions" (national and international)

Juliette DeMaso

We need an episode on NarxScare and Bamboo Health. Andrew Colodny and PROP.. This is a huge violation of privacy, consent, agency, via big tech and the prescription drug war. you guys should check out the Don’t Punish Pain Rally (Claudia Merandi) podcast, go down the rabbit hole there. We all have NarxScare scores, but none of us are allowed to see them. Let alone remediate. But all law enforcement can look at yours, along with your medical history, (it’s called a PDMP) just by logging into an app. No warrant, no consent, no notification. It’s mandated in all 50 states now, all run by opaque private tech, partnered with “non profits” and the govt.

Andrew Jones

So I’ve been causing all the synchronicities lately just FYI. I want to be on the pod. Look up “Andrew Jones 39 burglar”

Michael Cook

Dozens of people have been hanged from bridges in Juarez and hundreds of women have been murdered, many dumped in mass graves. Sicario is a movie about how the US deep state has been complicit in that violence. This “representation matters” criticism is crybaby libtard stuff

Lydia

Taylor Sheridan has a new show coming out this year called Lioness which you guys absolutely have to cover. It is next-level dumb propaganda about CIA girl bosses infiltrating a Muslim terrorist group by "be-friending" their socialite daughters.

Galen

Great ep, but criticism of un x100to goes too far

nadia

brace have you ever considered that in a past incarnation you were shot or injured from ”back of your nipple” to your shoulder blade and the mark is a vestige of past life trauma? many such cases…..

Spencer McKee

Late to comment on this, but in case you guys read comments on old episodes- Liz, I recommend checking out the book Gore Capitalism by Sayak Valencia

Ollin

This is perfect for what Trump just announced deciding “cartels” are now “terrorists” and he’s gonna prove his power by sending troops (second Chechen war style maybe even imo)