"Join Wall Street. Save the world," The Washington Post urged in 2013. "How to Know Your Donations Are Doing the Most Good," The New York Times proclaimed in 2015. "I give 10 percent of my income to charity. You should, too," Vox advised last November.

Each of these headlines tops a piece that extols the virtues of Effective Altruism, a philanthropic philosophy, for lack of a better term, ostensibly dedicated to the pursuit of the best ways to address large-scale, global ills like pandemics and factory farming, informed by “evidence and reason.” The school of thought, popularized by figures like the academic and author Peter Singer and disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has been widely embraced – or at least uncritically boosted – in mainline media for years.

Superficially, this makes sense. Effective Altruism seems unimpeachably virtuous: It’s great if people want to solve the world’s problems, and so much the better if they’ve done their research. But beneath this surface lies a deeply reactionary movement, predicated on an age-old desire to characterize the wealthy as the solution to, rather than the cause of, the very problems they purport to want to solve.

On this episode, we parse the rise, motives, and influence of Effective Altruism. We look at how the doctrine gamifies wealth distribution, falsely portrays the rich as uniquely qualified to make decisions about public welfare, often provides cover for eugenics and racism, and masquerades as a groundbreaking ethos of data-driven compassion while it merely regurgitates a 100-year-old rich person ideology of supposedly benevolent control over the masses.

Our guest is Dr. Linsey McGoey.

Ep 196: Benevolent Billionaire Despotism and US Media's Softball Treatment of 'Effective Altruism'

We give our annual post-Super Bowl report rating the spectacle and the ads, including the increasing, and increasingly funny, conservative opposition to the whole idea of “football”. Plus, a review of a tough week for Joe Biden, including a new round of trepidation about his age and fitness. Finally, we look at an amazing profile of Bill Ackman, a man who manages to be such an intense Wife Guy he’s ruined his wife’s life.

Chapo Trap House

806 - Hero of Wives (2/12/24)

Friend of the show & tech journalist Ed Zitron stops by to check in on the state of the internet. Have they cracked AI video yet? Does the VisionPro herald an en-goggled future? Just how stupid is Elon Musk, actually? We explore the end of the era of techno optimism and as our most advanced internet tech seems to aid less and abuse more.

Subscribe to the Better Offline podcast here: https://www.betteroffline.com/
Find Ed’s newsletter here: https://www.wheresyoured.at/tag/newsletter/

808 - Pussy in Bardo feat. Ed Zitron (2/19/24)

Alex joins us once again to look at the news of the day, starting with a more serious look at the recent self-immolation in protest of U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell. After that some lighter fare, with some stories of the bad Biden dog, Elizabeth Warren smoking weed with Ed Markey, and an article chronicling Biden’s stroke game going back to the 70’s. Finally, we read the big new piece on Bari Weiss’ University of Austin and its “Forbidden Courses”.

Check out Fortune Kit here or wherever you get pods: https://soundcloud.com/fortune-kit
And the FYM podcast here or wherever you get pods: https://chapofym.podbean.com/

810 - The Forbidden Zone feat. Alex Nichols (2/27/24)

Will and Hesse review the top films of 2023 in this special Movie Mindset Oscars Preview. We go through the major Best Picture nominees, give our takes on each, and give our picks for winners in the major categories, plus some discussion of notable snubs. Also, a little preview of Movie Mindset Season 2, launching April 24th.

We’ll have a blog post with a full official Season 2 schedule (plus where to stream/watch/consume options for each film) up sometime next week.

Movie Mindset

Movie Mindset Oscar Preview ‘24

We catch up on the biggest winners, losers, snubs and looks of the Illuminati Humiliation Ritual commonly known as the 96th Annual Academy Awards. Then speaking of Humiliation Rituals, we discuss the State of the Union, the response from GOP Senator Katie Britt, Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law being killed by her own Tesla, and how Zionists are having a hard time finding a date on the apps.

Catch Will, Amber & Felix on stage (and Chris at the bar) along with Girl God and Jacques from Seeking Derangements at the Lodge Room in LA Thursday, April 4:
https://www.lodgeroomhlp.com/shows/show-pig-a-live-comedy-podcast-spectacular-with-seeking-derangements/

NYC people: keep an eye out for a Movie Mindset season 2 kickoff event. Not fully confirmed yet, but I’d keep May 4th open for now.

814 - A Pond Too Far (3/11/24)

We take a look at the untimely death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, the myriad of scandals besetting the giant of American industry, the Epstein-esque deal lawyers are using to protect the company’s head honchos, and why it all keeps getting worse and worse.

Listen to our previous episode on why flying sucks so much now: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-310-87327154

Episode 362: Boeing, Boeing, Bong

Episode 1 and Fortune Kit’s Charles stops by the show today to look at a few real life individuals who remind us of E1 characters, including the streamer Destiny, who we’ve all seen clips of getting yelled at by Norm Finkelstein last week. We also check in on New York’s bling bishop, the Stonetoss doxxing, South Dakota Governor Kirsti Noem, and some “new” edgy Christians who like boobs, beer, & swearin’. Finally, Charles brings us some updates from one of Fortune Kit’s favorite guys, the king of “what’s a song that’s made up of notes?” vapid twitter engagement prompts, Eric Alper.

Find Episode 1 & Fortune Kit wherever you get podcasts.

Find Charles’ band Solipse’s music: https://solipse.bandcamp.com/track/looking-glass
And the music from E1, including from The Ballad of Brewer Grouse: https://episodeone.bandcamp.com/album/the-ballad-of-brewer-grouse

816 - Streampie feat. Charles Austin (3/18/24)

We bring on Max Read for a wide ranging psycho-discussion of everything from the TikTok ban to if you should have one iPad kid and one normal kid 

Check out Max’s substack here: https://maxread.substack.com/

Episode 363: Bannable Offense

We meet Claude Marks, founder/co-director of the Freedom Archives & former FBI most wanted for a talk about revolutionary radio, serious politics in the 1960s, and a life in movement.

Episode 369: Claude Marks

We hit the books and head back to school, checking out a couple of university encampments and comparing what we saw to what columnists and politicians are saying. Then we talk Israel, deflections, and students and donors as customers.

Episode 374: Quad Squad

TrueAnon is a podcast about your enemies made by your friends. Join unlicensed private investigators Liz Franczak, Brace Belden, and Yung Chomsky for a show that will drive you insane. Every other episode is a Patreon exclusive: patreon.com/TrueAnonPod

Episode 362: Boeing, Boeing, Bong

TrueAnon

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