They Saved Jonah’s Brain

Did you watch The Bear yet?

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If you thought the Ruminant was incoherent at the best of times, you may be completely unprepared for today’s unpredictable onslaught of twists and turns. Grappling with a serious hangover, Jonah begins with a reflection on the war in Ukraine and somehow ends by discussing his newfound love for The Bear, all the while emitting a distracting array of grunts and groans. Along the way, he also finds time for a few more substantial and vituperative rants, which primarily concern his disdain for Adam McKay and what we get wrong about college admissions.

This episode is sponsored by our friends at FIRE. FIRE’s mission is to safeguard and uphold the right of all Americans to freedom of speech. Be a part of the front line of a growing movement by joining the FIRE Update.

Show Notes:

– The M*A*S*H Up GLoP

– Scott Lincicome: “‘The Bear’ Is a Tribute to Dynamism—and What Blocks It”

– Jonah on friends on the life and legacy of Paul Cantor (skip to 2:55:35 to hear Jonah’s most despised question)

– Brown’s social contagion?

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Comments (25)
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  1. April

    I vote for Stirewalt or Hayes please.

    Completely agree with you on the college admissions process and Succession (that is why I stopped watching it, awful people) doing awful things to each other).

    Re Russia, we would never tolerate a version of NATO between Russia and Mexico/Canada on our border. Why do we think Russia should?

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    Fdterritory

    Great stuff. Really like the stuff on subsidizing whining. BTW you absolutely owe me what you were going to say about ergodicity because I had to look it up and as a math nerd I'm intrigued.

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  3. Pjheyer

    Agree with entire analysis re: Succession/Bear. Only one challenge: all you had to say was “it’s such a fine line between stupid and clever”

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  4. Jennifer Stanowski

    The recent pod about ex-prisoners and the endless convos about college kids has me thinking, I would love to hear a podcast about veterans who were enlisted, and how they fare after their service. Have somebody on who can get into all the social science around that group of people. Also, does the Dispatch employ any folks who served and do not have a college degree? If so, I would be very interested to hear about that person's experience. Thank you.

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    Ben Connelly

    Also I would love to hear Steve guest hosting the Remnant!

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    Ben Connelly

    The college admissions essays were already going in that direction 10 years ago when I was applying to schools. It’s of apiece with America’s increasing victimhood culture, which I have long thought was a serious problem. You couldn’t ask for a better illustration of the phenomenon whereby people incur status and are ranked in a hierarchy on the basis of their “oppression.” No doubt some applicants have faced real oppression! But the incentive for a lot of middle class American kids who haven’t face such oppression (like me in 2013) is to come up with ways to pass themselves off as having been victims, often by overemphasizing the negative and underemphasizing the positive in their lives. Sure, kids will game the system and just pretend to have suffered more than they have. But they’ll also begin to internalize some of it and that is not healthy for human beings. If anything, the college essay thing is a rather anodyne example of something I find very pernicious.

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    Kyzyl Tuva

    Please get Sarah to sub for you Jonah! She’s awesome.

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    Charley Warns

    Q: Why should we help Ukraine?
    A: It's about the desire to commit to some project larger than ourselves.

    50+ years ago, the self-righteous virtue signalers would argue that we should not spend $ going to the moon while children are starving. Tucker Carlson is using that same schtick to argue against supporting Ukraine. (He took Pence out of context.) I get that Tucker, Trump, and their minions are out for themselves, but if Americans won't commit to a project larger than themselves, who will?

    Reductio ad Hitlerum is typically gaslighting, but I feel playing the Hitler card is justified in that it's splitting hairs to argue Putin is less evil than Hitler. Get aggressive in rebuttal! "Let me ask you this Tucker: Doesn't the torture, rape, kidnapping, and killing of civilians bother you ... or are you only out for yourself? Btw, that's a rhetorical question."

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  9. Laura Zaner

    Can you share the fair Jessica’s recipe for cherry coke ribs?

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  10. Bard Geesaman

    The section on “The Bear” was profoundly moving and I’m glad my 9 year old twins listened intently with me. We had a long discussion about why what you said was important. Thanks, Jonah.

    Bard

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    1. Sam19952005

      I agree. The Bear was JD at the top of his love and passion for the belief of the dream. He always articulates what sits inside the soul.

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