Episode Notes

Trigger Warning for those ahead: discussions will include the violence experienced by victims of the anticommunist crusade that American empire waged against the Global South and "Third World" which may be graphic and disturbing.

Indonesia, a country that today has in the realm of 270 million inhabitants, is a large island chain to the south of mainland Asia. A long and diverse history precedes the story we retell today, one of kingdoms and conflict and community formation. For us, however, we will focus on the mid twentieth century and the violent military coup (supported by the U.S. State Department and the CIA) which overthrew the elected government. Given lists of people to be eliminated for the rewards of bribes and aid from the capitalist powerhouse across the pacific, the Suharto military regime instituted a bloody terror that killed over 1 million people: targeting communists specifically but also sweeping up ethnic Chinese, feminists (declared as castrating witches), and workers in unions. The tactics developed in Indonesia - disappearances, torture and propoganda - would be copied in many other countries allied with the United States in the Cold War.

Information discussed in this episode is largely drawn from Vincent Bevins' book Jakarta Method as well as the documentary The Act of Killing.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

Why is it that almost every network procedural seems to be centered around cops? Detectives, Navy Investigators, Homicide units - all these cop shows and all these stakes. Through endless coverage and entertainment programming people absorb the belief that cops are always, without question the "good guys."

But we know that to be untrue. Policing in America is nothing like NCIS or Bones. Police in America are the edge of the coercive power of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Dominating neighborhoods, arresting and murdering people without cause or consequence, extracting what little people can collect through fines and civil asset forfeiture - what do cops provide that justifies the glowing coverage in entertainment and in news media? Phil and Kyle discuss this topic and wrap up with a round up on the latest news.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

Mutual Aid for people effected by the tornadoes in Kentucky: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YTzQFT4ANDcChivFDfUW9oC0gJWDyT9FHoDrAD2VA7A/htmlview

Published in 1922, the novella Siddhartha follows a young man, son of a Brahmin, on his journey through life to find a “true” Self.  The boy’s name is one commonly associated with the physical manifestation of the Buddha - Siddhartha Gautama - who makes an appearance in the book as “Gotama, the Illustrious One.”  

A brief - and maybe a bit orientalist - story about a young man seeking purpose and meaning and the Self. We discuss some of our impressions, main themes of unity in all things, and get on to the news of the day.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

Religion, belief, faith - social and personal structures that have followed and intertwined with human development for millennia. It's a broad topic, but we - woefully unqualified as we are - decided to take a stab at it. Do we live in a world where belief is entirely dissolved by capitalism in our supposedly secular society? Or are there other, sinister forces that have taken the place of faith and emerged as a new, "real" god?

Let's try to talk it through and see if staring into the eyes of the unholy turns us madder than we already are.

If you want to listen hear/read more on Ian Wright's essay "Marx on Capital as a Real God" please follow this link: Essay - https://ianwrightsite.wordpress.com/2020/09/03/marx-on-capital-as-a-real-god-2/ Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvp8khkvoQQ

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

We review a fine and dandy show "Squid Game" about playing a bunch of childhood games under the watchful eyes of our capitalist overlords.

If you have any Watchalong Suggestions, thoughts, angry emotes, or whatever else that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on Twitter @Unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

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Episode Notes

How does one self-actualize under the regime of capital and wage relations? Squander your youth and vigor on the menial tasks dictated to you by your boss and employer - that ought to make you feel fulfilled, right?

Kyle and Phil discuss the tippy-top of that pyramid in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Self Actualization. After dispensing with physiological and psychological needs, one finds oneself at the gates of true fulfillment. However, even when the most essential demands of human life are met, capital and the alienation it causes demand the sacrifice of our ability to be our best selves - unless it turns a profit. Join us in our rambling journey towards finding a f*cking purpose to all this.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

John Deere UAW Workers GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-john-deere-strike

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

Batman. He's the most complicated of super-figures. He's got dead parents, a conscience-wielding butler, and a boat load of cash.

Maybe not so complicated, I guess. Anyhow, we hop into the 78 minute animated movie and pseudo-detective-flick Batman: the Mask of the Phantasm. Released in 1993 as a longform attachment to the Batman: Animated Series. The film follows Batman as he remembers his fondest relationship to a beautiful, sassy woman named Andrea Beaumont - daughter of a mobbed-up lawyer and financier. The two share a common love for their parents, three of the four being deceased, and the film makes a lot of it to be sure.

Though marketed to kids, the movie - as well as the animated television show - are incredibly twisted and dark. The villain (the Phantasm) commits at least two very chilling - if not explicitly gory - murders on screen. There are obvious parallels between the paths of the non-violence (eh, that's not really the word) of Batman and the Phantasm's allegiance to bloody revenge. A beautifully told story within a universe that doesn't feel the need to conform to it's meta, this movie takes you through emotions of fond nostalgia and horrible despair for the loss of what could have been.

If you have any Watchalong Suggestions, thoughts, angry emotes, or whatever else that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on Twitter @Unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

My world's on fire, how 'bout yours? Today we discuss the thing that depresses us the most: climate change. The world's heating up, the water is rising, and there's nothing one person can do about it, which is why this week we really need to remember to share love and solidarity with each other.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

In this Unsociablist Watchalong, Phil and Kyle revisit an old favourite of the two's childhoods: Doug. An empathetic child making his way through junior high with an eclectic cast of fellow students whose troubles tend toward the silly. The art style is fun, the music is great, and the gags are funny as hell, but there's also a good message to be found underneath the trappings of this children's television show. Hmm, maybe we should watch something a bit more...advanced? Oh well, these are fun.

If you have any Watchalong Suggestions, thoughts, angry emotes, or whatever else that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected]. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/

Episode Notes

Phil and Kyle talk about the distorting effects of mediated reality, a society of individuals creating their own versions of the world, and the self absorption of those enmeshed in our Spectacle. Kyle has been reading; it's a terrible habit. Don't do it kids. Definitely don't believe that your consumption habits are praxis either.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, angry emotes, or whatever that you'd like to send us, please reach out at [email protected] or on twitter as @unsociablist. I recognize posting this will bring us spam and I dare you to do it.

Phil and Kyle would also like to give a shout out to those of us still in the streets fighting for the rights of Palestinians and those fighting for justice and abolition of the American police state. The best way to show solidarity with those struggling against the American empire is to struggle against the empire at home.

https://free-palestine.carrd.co/#donations

https://www.phillybailfund.org/

https://bailproject.org/