Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
Topics: What happens when you die.

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243 - Spoiler Alert: What Happens When You Die 03.24.23

Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
Topics: US Balkanization, debt, China, US as 17th century Europe, Shitlord theory of history

245 - passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood 04.07.23

Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
Topics: Return of Gulf War trading cards, conflict with China

247 - Hoobastink Hoobastank Hoobastunk 04.28.23

"I Was A Teenage Conspiracy Theorist," The Atlantic magazine playfully titled a 2020 essay. "Choose your reality: Trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise," reported The Associated Press in 2022. "Do You Know Someone Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories? We Want to Hear About It," wrote The New York Times last year.

Fears of "conspiracy theories" are a common trope in the U.S. media, a worry that's grown more acute with the rise of QAnon, anti-vaxx sentiment, anti-semitism and a host of other dangerous theories that unduly rot brains throughout the country. To a great extent, this understandable: Many ideas that meet the definition of "conspiracy theories" are, indeed, baseless and dangerous and can direct people's political energy and resources into wasteful, racist, and downright stupid rabbit holes.

But that fact shouldn't delegitimize or foreclose all skepticism of those in power, but too often the term "conspiracy theory" is used to do just that. Repeatedly, media lump together so-called conspiracy theories, regardless of their accuracy, rationale, and ideology: at once, UFO chasers, QAnon, and the Black Panther Party being subject to FBI disruption are somehow placed in the same category of paranoid kooks. At the same time, unproven, and often debunked ideas advanced by media that also meet the definition of "conspiracy theories" — such as Saddam Hussein being behind 9/11 or so-called Havana syndrome — are treated as unassailable, meriting ongoing investigation, limitless resources, and of course, utmost solemnity.

On this episode, we detail the double standards applied to conspiracy theories inside and outside of the realm of U.S. corporate media. We’ll examine the development of the concept of conspiracy theories and the media's selective invocations of the term to discredit real grievances directed at American power and the U.S. government, and moreover, how power-friendly conspiracies — namely those focused on Enemy States like the Havana Syndrome narrative — are permitted to fester and grow without pushback because their red yarn dot connecting implicates the right lists of Acceptable Bad Guys.

Our guest is Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic.

Episode 180: Havana Syndrome and the Power of Mainstream, Acceptable Conspiracy Theories

Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
Topics: The Jetsons, More Gulf War trading cards

248 - Wifi-Connected Vat-Grown Human Husks 05.05.23

Enjoy the first 6 minutes of Will and Hesse's review of Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944).

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www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Movie Mindset

Movie Mindset 03 Teaser - Double Indemnity

We discuss Biden’s age as a factor in the 2024 election.

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www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Chapo Trap House

731 Teaser - HE GOT OLDER

Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
Topics: EUIV stream wrap up, Supreme Court, Debt Ceiling, Hollywood strikes

250 - Crunchwrap Supreme Court 05.18.23

On this Live Show Beg-a-Thon, recorded on May 17, we discuss the pop culture phenomenon and appeal of pseudoarchaeology in its many forms, from fraudulent alternative history books like Erich von Däniken's 1968 book, Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, to television series like "Ancient Aliens" and "Ancient Apocalypse."

Alongside guest Dr. David S. Anderson, we discuss how phony "what if?" theories often go beyond the goofy, guilty pleasure premises of extraterrestrial visitors and lost civilizations to promote Eurocentric, racist pap and a mindless distrust of "the scientific establishment" in the stupidest and least productive way possible.

Live Show Beg-A-Thon: The Very Real Social Brain Rot of Ancient Aliens and Ancient Apocalypse

Might have gotten a little carried away on this one. Sorry in advance

Also, Tom lost his job, so we need your support on Patreon now more than ever: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 293: The Shackleton Condition

We look at Trump’s response to his federal indictment, and how he still manages to outswag Ron Dion DeSantis.

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248 - Wifi-Connected Vat-Grown Human Husks 05.05.23

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