On America This Week

A toast to America's Best Podcast..

An Ode To America This Week with Walter Kirn & Matt Taibbi

I was an early adapter to the podcast that Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi hosted together. (And with some luck, will continue to host.) But last night, amid a little confusion, Matt arrived on screen by himself for the first time, and announced the show was over. My heart sank. Literally, as ridiculous as it sounds, I was sad.

Before America This Week, I did not know who Walter Kirn was. I’d never heard of him. But Taibbi I have followed for years, decades actually. He was a sort of mythologic aspirational figure in my mind. He is just a few years older than me, but had gone a route part of my mind dreams it had done, though I chose my own path for quite specific reasons. But he’s a writer. He went early in his career adventuring to Russia and the Stans clearly for experience more than resume building, though it worked for both, then returned to the US and took the seat behind the desk once held by Hunter S Thompson. His writing has always had the classic mark of Gen X which includes a reverence for rebellion against authority, but the desire for contributing to the betterment of society. Taibbi wasn’t ever afraid to say the quiet part out loud, ask the question we all had in the back of our minds even when it wasn’t considered socially appropriate, and over the years of his work, I’ve found connection with his angle of view if not many of the specifics of it.

So, when he started this podcast with Walter Kirn, post covid nonsense, the two them created a new synergy and alliance of thought that I saw, and still see, incredible value in. The two were willing to tackle with wit and intelligent irreverence the babysitting culture that became political life during he covid era. Really that babysitting culture was nothing new, but a continuation of the post 9/11 era, with new wings, new faces, and new “sympathies.” It also had been combined in a cocktail of dei madness, modern racists theory, and glamorized socialism, and for a minute it looked like America was bound in inevitability to join the likes of the One World Vision presented yearly by the WEF, with all the trimmings of censorship and economic nihilism that comes with it. Free speech out the window. Cheap energy, the power behind any and every thriving economy, a thing of the past. Welcome to the New America. In decline, and just like every other western state. The covid era felt, and still feels a little on the edge, like it might be the beginning of the end of it. And a lot of that felt so because… it was how everyone was talking. All the media voices aligned. And even the “opposition” felt crazy. Everyone felt crazy. Everything felt crazy. Where were the voices of reason? Hadn’t we studied history? Didn’t we know how to tap good ideas any more?

The along came some voices. A quiet few at first, and then more. And in this new wave of voices, voices that made it over the barriers in number, that found traction with real audiences, enough in numbers to affect to the overall tone and topics of conversation, a few sane people emerged. And at the forefront, in my mind anyways, was America This Week with Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn.

It’s a silly podcast in a lot of ways. Low budget. Matt often flails with the microphones, or Walter has a hard time getting his camera to work. But the conversations are genuine and rich. They are planned but often go off track and along tangents that somehow, miraculously circle back. And in them, they hold a certain genuine American value that, we as a nation don’t need to be like everyone else. We are ourselves. We just do things. And this podcast played out the same. It didn’t strive to be like anyone else’s podcast, and didn’t worry if it’s format was rough around the edges. They were just doing it. And it worked. And they covered current events, after all it was (is?) called “America This Week” but they brought an extremely unusual twist with it.

And this was where I really got hooked.

When my friend introduced me to this podcast, very soon after it began, he said they did a book review at the end.

Those words made me hesitate. Listening to a book review, at the time, sounded something akin to joining a prayer circle or a poetry reading, neither of which I’d be interested in in the least. Poets, in my mind, are for the most part people who can not write more than page of interesting words. (Ok not all… I’ll leave room for a few, but yes, I make fun of a lot of modern poets, and I feel perfectly justified in doing so, so there.) Prayer circles, likewise, are for the most part vanity incarnate. (I grew up in this arena… yes, I know what I’m talking about.) Both are something akin to virtue signaling.

But I was wrong with regards to the book review in ATW, and in fact this part of the podcast became one of the components I looked forward to the most. What they were doing was both an effort to promote reading of old literature, and showing how literature ties to the modern world. And this I can get behind. A good book, a well written, and well thought out book, captures humanity and it’s place in the wild world, and that human nature, for all the changes in color, tone, texture, and technology, remains forever the same. Humanity is humanity is humanity.

In the beginning, when the podcast was once/week they delved into a short story every week for 15-20 minutes at the end of the episode, and this spurred me to dive heavily into short stories, both the ones they reviewed and beyond. And here in my late 40’s and early 50’s in an era in which I’m writing perhaps more than I ever have before, I found an incredible inspiration to go deeper, to pry further into how I think, why I think, what others think, and why they think that way, and how all of this has sorted and shaken out into the culture we currently live in, and how that is evolving. Because it is evolving. We never get to keep the sweetest moments, but we can help build upon them and try to keep those flames alive as our culture and society evolve. So what are those flames of hope? And how do we, or how do I as a writer and photographer, keep them alive?

As the podcast progressed and gained popularity it eventually evolved into a twice/week thing, a live show on Monday’s and a pre-recorded one on Fridays. It helped to pace my week.

Walter and Matt never ask their listeners to think like them. And in this vein I found solace. They just ask for conversation.

We are currently asked from so many in the media to suspend our own thoughts and beliefs, and to adapt specific narratives, and the refreshing part of America This Week is that they could talk about many of the same issues, but ask questions about them, reference old stories, history, philosphy, and even fiction, and see how it tall ties together. And the two of them brought incredibly complimentary form to the table. Taibbi is well versed in modern history, and when he sees a current event story is able to reference his last 30 years of journalistic inquiries and curiosity into to the conversation. Kirn brings a literature angle, and the stories humans have been writing for centuries. Kirn also brings a slightly older generation and ruralist component to the table, while Matt is clearly more urban in his approach. It was just enough contrast to keep it interesting, but also comfortable like listening to two old friends talking about the world over donuts and coffee.

And all the while, you as a listener were free to think clearly, think for yourself, and enjoy a refreshing conversation that often made me laugh out loud.

And that is one of the points of all of this and what I hope to not only offer my readers, but strive to find as my inputs. I don’t need to think like anyone else. I don’t need to agree with everyone else. I don’t expect anyone to think exactly like I do. We are all individuals with individual histories and stories and perceptions. Why should we ever expect for us all to think alike? What a boring world if that were the case. But also, sane conversation, outside the world of celebrity and industry promoted politicians is key to a sane world. America isn’t just the decisions made in Washington DC and all the state capitols. America is not just what Hollywood feeds us. America is us, sitting across the table from our friends. America is urban and rural. America isn’t any single one way of thinking, and as such it can be found far beyond the limelight, found in old stories and rural magazines. That is the America many are drunkenly forgetting for their own microcosm. Microcosms are great. We all live in one. But it would be remiss to think ours is the only one.

In a world of incessant insanity bombardment via the digital atmosphere, America This Week was the voice of reason I found great solace in. Even when I though one or the other said something crazy, or didn’t say the thing I was thinking, it was a platform of conversation that led me and others into the room and allowed us to realize our thoughts are as valid as anyone else’s. And that is a rare commodity, and if it sounds like high praise, I hope it does, because it deserves it.

There aren’t many podcasts I can say that about, that feel so very human and real. I enjoy the Dad Saves America quite a bit, again, even when I disagree with him. His approach is rational, sane, and open to opposition. It’s curious. And curiosity is one of the hallmarks of good thinking. But it’s more interviewer/interviewie in it’s approach, whereas America This Week was two friends sitting down discussing, and inviting all of us in the room.

With some luck Walter and Matt will figure out a way to keep it rolling, and if they do, I’ll be there waiting.

If they don’t… shit. I don’t know. Should I try to start such a thing? I feel it would be arrogant of me to even suggest I could try, but I could try. I’m not sure how or with whom, but I do feel I have the right perspective to tackle it… I don’t know. This is crazy talk. I swear I’m not drunk. I’d need to find my own Walter Kirn to join me. But I think instead I’ll start a prayer circle and just hope to high heaven that the two of these guys get it going again. In all honesty, it has the potential to be one of the biggest shows in America. Americans are craving sanity right now. We’ve been told so many insane things lately that when presented with sanity if feels at first like fiction, and then suddenly it feel like a drink of good cold water.

I’ll toast with that cup. Fresh from the mountain creek. If this is the end of America This Week, I say the most sincere “Thank You” to Walter Kirn & Matt Taibbi but my fingers are crossed… Hope to see you both on Friday.