Hello from the TTSG drop-out commune!
This week, a longer-than-we-intended show about the TikTok saga, Chinese/US hegemony, and nationalist traps. We also respond to a few of your brilliant emails and DMs.
0:00 – Jay explains his obsession with the history of Jonestown, and we toss around a few theories of left (and right) millenarianisms.
5:30 – After all Trump’s blather about security, TikTok, USA looks to be headed toward Oracle and Wal-Mart, with no promises of Internet liberty. Plus: will $5 billion from the deal somehow fund “The 1776 Project” aka Patriot Education aka Uncritical Race Theory?
14:10 – Enter the American splinternet? Or is that what we’ve been surfing all along? We ask why the past couple generations of US leftists seem so local in their thinking. Is a new kind of internationalist organizing possible?
34:20 – Our humble (and not-so-humble) takes on listener comments and questions:
1) How to support Chinese international students in this xenophobic age? And what to make of parents on conservative WeChat? Bonus: the surprising demographics of GOP Asian America. (Thanks, Elaine!)
2) What to make of the cops’ courting of Asian American communities? (Terima kasi, Megan!)
3) What does it mean to “organize,” and do upper-class people have any right to get involved in labor struggles? (감사합니다, Ollie!)
4) Is ethnic studies a force for good in politics, or does it just produce diversity aesthetics? (Salamat, Jael!)
ありがとう for supporting TTSG (https://goodbye.substack.com), and do reach out any time via Twitter (@ttsgpod) or email (timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com)! Get all your friends to subscribe, too.
The 1776 Project, TikTok nationalism, and four listener questions