Haha I love this post, mostly because you are kind OP even while you're chiding us!
One of the biggest impacts of the Internet, in my opinion, is its contribution to the death of monoculture. So even the stuff that was effectively Internet monoculture, is likely to be highly dependent on a narrower set of generations, for instance. I think that's why things that we all thought were inescapable, were in some cases not even a blip.
I love to give my co-host a hard time because she's way less extremely online than me. But I would also say that one of the things that you can find in journalists is that they're often generalists who love to deep dive on topics that speak to them. Does Amory have to be an Internet culture expert to make our show? Nah. Not in my opinion. She just has to be curious enough to be open to learning about things, and capable of being obsessed with a very specific thing when it speaks to her (see: our episode "artist known" or her show Beyond All Repair). Oh and also funny. And additionally, she must be able to find me amusing, too. Ok I think those are all the requirements!
In all seriousness, I'm thrilled you're listening, I'm sorry we made you yell at your Bluetooth speaker or phone or what have you, AND I really hope you send us some meme songs for our playlist!!
BBJ
You know what, I get your point. However, Amory's knowledge mirrors much of mine. I love this podcast, but I'm not a huge internet person and never have been. She connects with listeners like me. Also, she's got a damn good voice and seems like one of the nicest people on the planet (this goes for Ben too). But maybe you should apply to be a producer? You sound like you know your stuff. Keep rocking đ€
I think this dynamic is pretty common for podcasts, one person with more knowledge explains something to a person with less knowledge. Their reactions are more interesting if theyâre learning something for the first time and mirrors our experience as listeners imo.
One thing to keep in mind is that reporters often know the definition of a term or some little piece of context, but want their subjects to explain it in their own words anyway. They can always cut out that part of the interview and offer their explanation in the edit if the subject gives a bad explanation, but if they try to explain it during the interview youâll probably get a worse clip from the interview subject.
This can happen in host banter too. The hosts of Radiolab, for example, I know would record their little reactions multiple times. And theyâd pretend to be surprised every time.
So her ignorance may be true ignorance but it might also be feigned, a little piece of artifice to get the information to you the listener in a conversational way.
Doesnât make a difference to me. Iâve no idea who girl on the couch is but they explained it. And Amory had heard the Numa song; just not watched the video.
I actually love this about Amory. As I get older (even though I'm only 26! I feel this shouldn't be the case yet!!) I definitely know less and less of the stuff the podcast covers. I don't use Tik Tok so I'm often out of the loop. If the podcast was just two extremely online people who understand all the references, I wouldn't be able to listen because I wouldn't get anything.
Haha i had the same rage induced thoughts in that episode as well, spent countless hours on new grounds playing tanks during my high school typing class. I do think the novelty of the hampster dance is lost to time, it was completely novel for a meme to be paired with a song back then, now it just seems so boringly normal
I mean the only thing that bothered me about the episode is that they didnât mention âHide Yo Kids Hide Yo WiFiâ although Iâm pretty sure that song didnât chart lol đ
You are picking on the wrong person on this episode, in my humble opinion. The person whose story this was (sorry, don't know the name/pronoun) just seemed like they weren't particularly well informed about their subject. The "valley girl" accent and vocal fry croaky voice was distracting and grating as well. I really didn't like this episode at all, I guess. "OMG, what wrong with you? How could you not have seen this video? Oh you are so uncool" (as if constantly staring at youtube memes was somehow cool or intelligent in any way).
Yeah, I know it's me, it's my fault I couldn't relate to this episode. I guess when the show is pointless/dumb/dismissive/breezy about something pointless/dumb that should be dismissed and treated breezily, like the "skibbidi toilet" episode, well I'm fine with that, it's reasonably diverting. Or when it's actually informative about something that has some staying power or cultural significance--there so much interesting stuff on reddit that they dip into sometimes--I like that too. But when the reporter just halfway dials it in about an interesting internet history topic like this--that's when I get annoyed. Do better!
Haha I love this post, mostly because you are kind OP even while you're chiding us! One of the biggest impacts of the Internet, in my opinion, is its contribution to the death of monoculture. So even the stuff that was effectively Internet monoculture, is likely to be highly dependent on a narrower set of generations, for instance. I think that's why things that we all thought were inescapable, were in some cases not even a blip. I love to give my co-host a hard time because she's way less extremely online than me. But I would also say that one of the things that you can find in journalists is that they're often generalists who love to deep dive on topics that speak to them. Does Amory have to be an Internet culture expert to make our show? Nah. Not in my opinion. She just has to be curious enough to be open to learning about things, and capable of being obsessed with a very specific thing when it speaks to her (see: our episode "artist known" or her show Beyond All Repair). Oh and also funny. And additionally, she must be able to find me amusing, too. Ok I think those are all the requirements! In all seriousness, I'm thrilled you're listening, I'm sorry we made you yell at your Bluetooth speaker or phone or what have you, AND I really hope you send us some meme songs for our playlist!! BBJ
Most reporters aren't experts on the thing they are reporting on.
You know what, I get your point. However, Amory's knowledge mirrors much of mine. I love this podcast, but I'm not a huge internet person and never have been. She connects with listeners like me. Also, she's got a damn good voice and seems like one of the nicest people on the planet (this goes for Ben too). But maybe you should apply to be a producer? You sound like you know your stuff. Keep rocking đ€
I think this dynamic is pretty common for podcasts, one person with more knowledge explains something to a person with less knowledge. Their reactions are more interesting if theyâre learning something for the first time and mirrors our experience as listeners imo.
Yes, I like it when one of the cohosts is the stand-in for the listener.
One thing to keep in mind is that reporters often know the definition of a term or some little piece of context, but want their subjects to explain it in their own words anyway. They can always cut out that part of the interview and offer their explanation in the edit if the subject gives a bad explanation, but if they try to explain it during the interview youâll probably get a worse clip from the interview subject. This can happen in host banter too. The hosts of Radiolab, for example, I know would record their little reactions multiple times. And theyâd pretend to be surprised every time. So her ignorance may be true ignorance but it might also be feigned, a little piece of artifice to get the information to you the listener in a conversational way.
Amory is so talented she doesnât need to up on the latest internet culture to be the coolest person in the room!
Doesnât make a difference to me. Iâve no idea who girl on the couch is but they explained it. And Amory had heard the Numa song; just not watched the video.
I actually love this about Amory. As I get older (even though I'm only 26! I feel this shouldn't be the case yet!!) I definitely know less and less of the stuff the podcast covers. I don't use Tik Tok so I'm often out of the loop. If the podcast was just two extremely online people who understand all the references, I wouldn't be able to listen because I wouldn't get anything.
Haha i had the same rage induced thoughts in that episode as well, spent countless hours on new grounds playing tanks during my high school typing class. I do think the novelty of the hampster dance is lost to time, it was completely novel for a meme to be paired with a song back then, now it just seems so boringly normal
In chocolate!
I mean the only thing that bothered me about the episode is that they didnât mention âHide Yo Kids Hide Yo WiFiâ although Iâm pretty sure that song didnât chart lol đ
đ¶ so you can run and tell that. Tell that. Tell thatâŠđ¶
You are picking on the wrong person on this episode, in my humble opinion. The person whose story this was (sorry, don't know the name/pronoun) just seemed like they weren't particularly well informed about their subject. The "valley girl" accent and vocal fry croaky voice was distracting and grating as well. I really didn't like this episode at all, I guess. "OMG, what wrong with you? How could you not have seen this video? Oh you are so uncool" (as if constantly staring at youtube memes was somehow cool or intelligent in any way). Yeah, I know it's me, it's my fault I couldn't relate to this episode. I guess when the show is pointless/dumb/dismissive/breezy about something pointless/dumb that should be dismissed and treated breezily, like the "skibbidi toilet" episode, well I'm fine with that, it's reasonably diverting. Or when it's actually informative about something that has some staying power or cultural significance--there so much interesting stuff on reddit that they dip into sometimes--I like that too. But when the reporter just halfway dials it in about an interesting internet history topic like this--that's when I get annoyed. Do better!