A picture's worth a thousand words, or in this case, a podcast episode.
This week Ben and Amory bring two very different stories from Reddit about pictures on the internet. First – what legal rights do we have over our photos after posting them on Instagram? Then, Ben indoctrinates Amory to The Game.
Show notes:
Unauthorized use of my photo being displayed in every corporate store in US. Where to start? (Reddit)
Let's confuse the younger generation (Reddit)
This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.
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24:07
When the government wants your socials
Jeffrey Ngo is from Hong Kong. He used to talk about politics all of the time with his friends in group chats and on social media, from casually sending memes, to planning protests.
What happens to online speech when you're unsure how much the government is monitoring your speech, and what the repurcussions will be if they don't like it?
Show notes:
PROFILE: For Jeffrey Ngo, The Fight For Hong Kong is Far From Over
(The Hoya)
Social Media and the Hong Kong Protests (The New Yorker)
Hong Kong protesters join hands in 30-mile human chain (The Guardian)
Hong Kong national security law: What is it and is it worrying? (BBC)
Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. It was co-hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.
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34:11
Derek 'The Menswear Guy' Guy
Men's fashion might seem like a niche topic. But people of all genders and sartorial sensibilities follow Derek Guy on X for his clothing takes... even if they're not quite sure how they found his page.
Endless Thread talks to Derek about how he weaves together humor, history, cultural criticism, and political commentary to make fashion feel relevant to people who have never seriously considered it before.
Show notes
@dieworkwear (X)
Die, Workwear!
The Post Trend Universe (The New York Times Style Magazine)
Status and Culture, by W. David Marx
Credits: This episode was produced by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Production assistance from Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.
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35:24
Get inked! Or... not!
'Tis the season to show some skin! Perhaps some tattoo-adorned skin?
In this week's episode, Ben tells Amory about the r/tattoos community's reaction to a man whose friends made him self-conscious about his flowery tattoo. Amory tells Ben about the science behind why tattoos stay put on our bodies, which has only recently come to be understood.
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19:14
Group Chats: The Dark Matter of American Politics
The thing about social media when it was created was that it was public. Ideas shared were debated for all to see. Today much of that is happening behind closed doors—in group chats.
Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of the media outlet Semafor and co-host of the podcast Mixed Signals, speaks with Endless Thread about the elite group chats on Signal and WhatsApp that are shaping American politics.
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Credits: This episode was produced by Dean Russell. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski. The co-hosts are Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.
Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.
South Africa