You can feel it, I can feel it, we all feel the pull of the algorithms that try to direct our attention in whichever way they decide today. We're still in the denial/dismissal stage of social media's influence on our attention. Some admit it's a problem, but most brush it off at the end of the day. In reality, social media's impact on what we pay a…

Vampire movies are either beloved or hated, but your feeling might be complicated if that vampire movie was directed by...David Lynch. A little-known novel matches the story of Mulholland Drive perfectly. Here's the interpretation of this movie that will make David Lynch's unusual style crystal clear. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ How David Lynch's Mulholla…

More people are drinking an illegal, dangerous, highly legislated beverage you've likely been warned about since childhood: raw milk. Are these raw milk extremists just throwing another contrarian tantrum or is there something deeper to why more people are opting for FDA-unapproved milk? Milk is an ancient food that can tell us more about our cultu…

Do you find yourself unable to discern between reality and satire some days? When serious headlines seem identical to The Onion's headlines, absurdism is the language of our time. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once is a movie that understands we're all losing our minds; is that a good thing or just another sign of our impending doom? ◬ In this epi…

The trad movement is yet another internet subculture that exposes the strange psychology of our time. Can we really RETVRN or is every belief system that claims to bring something back from the past a nostalgic delusion? The Wickerman is one of the great folk horror films that show us the psychology at play behind nostalgic movements and the horrif…

Our modern society is a totally different place from the one that artists we still idolize lived in, so how does modernity affect today's artists? Can atheists make good art or do artists need some relationship with divinity to create inspiring art? When it feels like so much mainstream art is tepid and ugly, what is really the purpose of art today…

Are people becoming more attached to their political identities than their own individuality? A better future requires more freedom from our political labels, not stronger shackles. But how? We're mixing a little Nietzsche, anarchy, and philosophy to find out whether relying on your internal compass can beat relying on ideology. ◬ Featured quote: "…

Nietzsche. 70s British horror. What more can you ask for? The film Absolution is a good window into two major problems we face today: confused morality and boring movies. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word of the podcast: Confess ⋗ When did movies start getting stale? ⋗ How this movie shows us Nietzsche's warning ⋗ Why do movies feel commercial and unorigin…

The one where Salomé's decides some anarchy might be in order. Is freedom cool? How much freedom? If you've ever wondered about the limits of freedom and the practicality of anarchy, this episode is for you. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ How libertarianism is more complex than many realize ⋗ What Salomé spoke at for LibertyCon ⋗ How freedom is the inevitabl…

Love him or hate him, Trump is never boring. Or has that changed with his latest speech: the announcement of his presidential campaign. Looking at Trump's speech from the lens of art criticism, we analyze what makes Trump such a unique speaker and point out some of his ideological flaws. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Why Trump is a natural comedian ⋗ How Tr…

Where have all the public intellectuals gone? In a time when cultural chaos abounds, the lack of reasonable and non-reactionary thinkers is more obvious than ever. In this mostly one-sided feud, Salomé argues for why Sam Harris has failed as a public thinker and epitomizes the anti-intellectualism growing in our culture. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Where …

No doomsday-ing here! This episode marks the beginning of Salomé's public breakdown and how our hyper-connected, reactive online world is making us all lose our minds. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Salomé x Sam Harris fake feud ⋗ Overcoming artistic repression ⋗ Appreciating Kanye's contribution to American culture ⋗ Appreciating and critiquing Sam Harris' …

Human dignity was based on the idea of a soul. If you view humans as no more special than a chimp, do you inadvertently accept the belief in treating them as such? Just like Hannibal Lecter viewed humans with rational detachment, modern science might not have the philosophical brakes to prevent dehumanizing its subjects. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word o…

Is the mindset of humans who lived in vastly different times so fundamentally different from our modern mindset that it's impossible to understand? In this episode, we try to understand feudal and ancient minds to better understand our own. ◬ Featured quote: "440. Of the nobility. That in which men and women of the nobility excel others and which g…

We had a golden moment where secular liberal people got to enjoy a more liberal society while still reaping the benefits of tradition. That moment has passed. Children of the Corn is an accidental character study of the person who enjoys liberalism while sneering at everything that helped produce it. Let's examine where our secular arrogance went w…

Would you get thrown into the Wickerman or would you do the throwing? The idea that some people must be sacrificed for others to thrive has been with humanity forever. Utopianism can be a driving force in getting people to do terrible things in the name of a wonderful, non-existent future. What's up with utopianism and can it be cured? ◬ In this ep…

Can you live with no regrets? This episode, Justin is stumped by Nietzsche's quote but Salomé appreciates its YOLO-esque message. We request your art critique of Salomé's new recording background. ◬ Featured quote: "563. Easily Resigned. One suffers little from disappointed wishes if one has trained one's imagination to blacken the past." ◬ In this…

A recent social media situation showed that even reasonable people now view a once derogatory term, "nerd", as a positive. What does it say about our culture when words meant to denote negative qualities become positive? We're looking at the history of "nerd" and whether it spells out a much bigger problem of cultural decline. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ …

This ON LOCATION episode of Peasant Radio exposes Salome's Carnival Cruise trauma and connects it to the state of our culture. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Analyzing Carnival Cruise passenger demographics ⋗ Baby Shark will destroy western civilization ⋗ Visiting an abandoned carnival in nowhere Florida ⋗ The Bahamas is fake ⋗ Carnival-induced depression ⋗ …

In the Silver Eye Society's AMA, we consider your questions in our usual absurdist form. In this public portion of July's AMA, we answer: ⋗ Q: How to school your children with the rise of indoctrination in public schools? ⋗ The real problem causing panic about indoctrination in schools ⋗ Do we indoctrinate our own kids? ⋗ Q: What's your view on lon…

Women are perfect and never have nor can they ever do anything wrong. Nothing to see here! This is a total non-episode on the absolute 0 vices of feminity as considered through a Nietzschean lens. There's simply no way that, when women have never had more systemic and cultural power, they might have just a bit of sway on society. Additionally, sinc…

The yard signs might be popular, but reality doesn't need to win a popularity contest to prevail. Nietzsche had a unique way of picking apart the kind of pathological nice-ness that pervades our culture today. There are plenty of modern examples to choose from for understanding Nietzsche's suspicion of this sickly form of sympathy. Let us know how …

Uh oh! More misinformation is hiding in your closet, lurking under your bed, ready to snatch your innocent children away. Alex Jones, aka the shadow ruler of the misinformation realm, is a figure that can teach us a lot about our culture and government by analyzing their reactions to him. Perhaps the politicians and pundits doth protest too much? ◬…

What does vengeance mean to you? Some concepts fade out of culture, but that doesn't mean the impulse doesn't still exist within us. The Northman brings the pursuit of vengeance to modern audiences, possibly being a reason some critics found the movie offensive. But perhaps more offensive is a society that doesn't understand its history nor itself.…

Where do you stand in between the two-party struggle? This discussion of deep political strategy, values-based voting, and libertarian party woes searches for new answers to a very old problem. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ What the F is FreedomFest? ⋗ How traditional liberals became libertarians ⋗ Can the libertarian party actually do anything? ⋗ Dealing w…

In the Silver Eye Society's AMA, we consider your questions in our usual absurdist form. ◬ In this public portion of June's AMA, we answer: ⋗ Q: What bands or artists that you liked as a child do you still enjoy listening to now? ⋗ Monk music and the power of sound ⋗ Navigating workplaces requiring ideological alignment to keep a job? ⋗ Deciding yo…

Censorship is a growing problem because the ethos that entitles one person to believe they hold more right to make decisions for other adults is a problem. A rather uncontroversial film became highly controversial when a group of unknown filmmakers made that exact decision: that you shouldn't be able to watch or consider films that they dislike. Bu…

Do video games cause violence? Did Nirvana cause nihilism? The influence art has on us is a much older debate than media scaremongering and concerned parents. Did Nietzsche predict the goth subculture? In this episode, you'll be armed with new ways to diss bad art. Let us know how you interpret Nietzsche's quote in the comments! ◬ In this episode: …

You know of alchemy, but do you know alchemy? Our modern mindset has led us astray in understanding what past societies sought in their seemingly silly practices, at least that's what Jung believes about alchemy. If you're thinking about doing a little at-home alchemy or want to glean the knowledge of ancient hermits, this episode is for you. ◬ In …

Dishonesty is more complex than the black and white moral lessons we learned as kids. "Don't lie" isn't enough to combat a more damaging but subtle kind of lie: self-deception. Crime and Punishment is popularly analyzed for its argument against nihilism, but Dostoevsky's perspective on dishonesty is just as powerful and insightful. ◬ In this episod…

Capitalism might as well be a curse word to some people. This episode isn't for those people. Using a pro-capitalism propaganda film from 1948, we have a rational conversation on capitalism, both its benefits and flaws. Enjoy the feeling of relating to other sane humans over a controversial topic in this unicorn of political content. ◬ In this epis…

Your Instagram ads might be an accidental window into the horror of our budding technocracy. Whether your ads are benign or unhinged, the targeted ads we're now accustomed to are actually a rabbit hole into our changing relationship with technology. Targeted ads might know something about you that you don't—or they might be a great example of the t…

Cults get a bad rep (which is mostly deserved). Yet, cults are a core part of American culture. The Koreshans of Florida are a beautiful example of the human desire to figure out the mysteries of life, the American desire to believe freely, and how fears over misinformation ignore that man cannot live by facts alone. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ If you don…

You use technology for things you don't even realize you use technology for. You think about "breaks" and "offline days" because a life spent offline is no longer imaginable. The cyborg future is close, but you can still resist. We're talking about how we've molded technology with our own human limitations and whether the Amish can save us. ◬ In th…

In the Silver Eye Society's AMA, we consider your questions in our usual absurdist form. ◬ In this public portion of May's AMA, we answer: ⋗ Q: Is the Netflix company culture change an indicator of the pendulum swinging back? ⋗ It's time for trans people to give the spotlight to the next disgruntled minority ⋗ Businesses like Netflix will learn to …

From the entertainment industry to the education sector, it seems like increasingly far-left politics are promoted by people with questionable intentions. What does Nike get from pandering to ideologies that criticize its existence? What do wealthy celebrities get from public groveling? Lenin's rise to power reveals patterns that explain today's st…

You might not think mimes are a problem, but a quick glance through any social media platform will show that mimicry is alive and thrives. Children use mimicry to develop socially, but what happens when adults are more like mimes than individuals? We're going deep into the minds of mimes and the psychology mimicry to find out where all the original…

In the Silver Eye Society's AMA, we consider your questions in our usual absurdist form. In this public portion of April's AMA, we answer: ⋗ Q: How to develop discernment versus judgment ⋗ Battle between Eastern and Western views on judgment ⋗ Q: What was the movie that got you into movies as serious art/philosophy? ⋗ Salomé's art film epiphany mov…

We treat today's problems like they're unprecedented signs of societal collapse, but history shows we've been dealing with the same problems for centuries. A look at one American president's life shows how similar today's controversies are to those of the past. Most importantly, what happens when we don't realize we're repeating history? ◬ In this …

Is everything that past generations dreamed of and suffered for destined to be scoffed at and subverted by subsequent generations? A podcast on navigating the American Dream become nightmare and how not to get swallowed by the suburbs. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word of the podcast: Vivarium ⋗ Do the achievements of the past inevitably become the burdens…

Could you survive the Cube? A group is a microcosm of society. Whether a tyrant rules over three people or 3 million, the same patterns and psychology are at play. Knowing what those patterns look like on the individual level makes you better able to see them when they're beginning to appear on the societal level. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word of the p…

The far-left politics that have gained popularity today aren't new—they were also popular with a figure whose ideals led to the deaths of millions. No conversation about today's lite far-leftist views can be complete without an understanding of Vladimir Lenin's views. And when you find that your views on free speech overlap with a figure who didn't…

Our culture might feel intensely serious but it's never been more absurd. Somewhere child soldiers march into battle while our college kids hyperventilate over "bad" words. Absurdism is exactly what's needed to make sense of a nonsensical society. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word of the podcast: Absurd ⋗ The absurdity of our meaningless existence ⋗ Have o…

In the Silver Eye Society's AMA, we consider your questions in our usual absurdist form. In this public portion of March's AMA, we answer: ⋗ Q: Why are those who presume to have free, open minds often so adversarial? ⋗ Compassion is often a mask for its opposite ⋗ Q: How to move beyond the Afro-Pessimism lens of progressive leftist racial worldview…

It's a movie you've never heard of told in a way stories are rarely still told today. Everyone has a camera and everyone has a public profile, but instead of sharing unprecedented levels of the human experience, most people perform and conform. Every person is capable of offering us insight, whether intentionally or accidentally. But when our cultu…

Was this year's Oscars ceremony a psy-op or the perfect encapsulation of contemporary American culture? ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word of the podcast: Oscar ⋗ Why does no one care about The Oscars anymore? ⋗ The Oscars isn't for us, but a tiny subculture of Americans ⋗ When political displays are popular, not a personal sacrifice ⋗ Leave Chris Rock alon…

You're addicted to screens that seduce you away from everything meaningful in life with neon flashes of phantom happiness. You haven't had an original thought in weeks because the newsfeed-to-brain pipeline we call a smartphone is ever-flowing. Issue after issue is either created or compounded by the man-made mechanisms that connect and then contro…

In the Silver Eye Society's AMA, we consider your questions in our usual absurdist form. In this public portion of February's AMA, we answer: ⋗ Video games we've played and their philosophical interpretations ⋗ Q: Is the mainstream media coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine reliable? ⋗ What the media has already gotten wrong about Ukraine & …

Fear is ancient, but so is the desire to exploit it. V for Vendetta is a crash course in how fear is used to control entire populations. When it seems like illness and violence are constantly competing for our attention today, understanding how fear changes us and our society is crucial. ◬ In this episode: ⋗ Word of the podcast: Vox Populi ⋗ Powerf…

It's hard to recognize tyranny when your belief system isn't built on principles, but on politics. The West has no shortage of art about government corruption and human rights horrors—unless those crimes come from the political left instead of the right. Are we doomed to learn that no government is immune to authoritarianism the hardest way? ◬ In t…