The hottest Media Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Culture Topics

#252: The American spectacle of ‘Marty Supreme’

Maybe Baby • 1322 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. The film sets out to critique American individualistic ambition, but its glossy style and star-making spectacle end up glamorizing the same monomania it aims to condemn.
  2. It’s beautifully made and thrilling to watch with strong performances, yet it offers little interior depth and the emotional payoff, especially the ending, feels unearned.
  3. By mixing marketing, celebrity, and art, the movie reflects and reinforces a cultural obsession with measurable success and spectacle over communal or moral values.

How Trump is exploiting our scarcest resource

Robert Reich • 19988 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. Our attention is a scarce resource that is being exploited by individuals like Donald Trump for political gain.
  2. As demands on our attention increase from various sources like social media, our ability to focus elsewhere decreases.
  3. By dominating public attention through provocations, Trump can make other candidates, like Biden, appear weaker and less significant.

Art and Human Nature, Heritage Americans, Female Chimpanzees

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 1003 implied HN points • 04 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Female chimpanzees mate frequently with many males, which helps confuse paternity and reduces the risk of infanticide.
  2. Across many countries, attractive people are perceived as more intelligent, trustworthy, confident, responsible, caring, and sociable, and are also seen as happier and less odd.
  3. The average founder of a highly profitable tech company is about 42 years old, and older founders tend to have higher chances of success than the popular image of youthful founders suggests.

Nigeria’s Killing Fields. When a Loved One Gets Kidnapped. Plus . . .

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 245 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
📰 News Media
  1. Nigeria is trapped in cyclical, sectarian violence where jihadist groups and militias have killed and displaced large numbers of people, and the crisis gets too little sustained international attention.
  2. When a loved one is kidnapped, families are plunged into a void of fear and helplessness with almost no information or control, and survivors say coping means enduring uncertainty and finding ways to keep going.
  3. Internal documents show Instagram has struggled to protect teens and can amplify harmful content like eating-disorder material, prompting legal scrutiny and questions about whether Meta will change its business model.

The ‘Dirty Jew’ Ad Is Bad for Jews

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 783 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. A Super Bowl ad meant to fight antisemitism can actually feel harmful to Jewish people and weaken efforts to combat hate.
  2. Instead of reducing prejudice, the spot risks pushing people who already dislike Jews to hate them more.
  3. The ad comes across as tone-deaf and mis‑targeted, leaning on a victimhood narrative that seems aimed at Jewish Boomers and wastes a $15 million Super Bowl buy.
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Record Labels Are Running on Empty

The Honest Broker • 17919 implied HN points • 02 Jul 25
🎶 Music Media
  1. Record labels are focusing more on old music instead of investing in new artists. This trend shows a lack of faith in the future of music.
  2. Big record companies are becoming more like businesses that manage copyrights instead of nurturing new talent. This shift could hurt the music industry long-term.
  3. If the music industry doesn't support new artists, fans might seek music elsewhere. There needs to be a push to create new music for the health of the culture.

READING: JOHN WARNER: David Brooks Sucks

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 468 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. He avoids taking clear moral or factual stances in public, often deferring to investigations instead of calling out obvious wrongdoing.
  2. He repeatedly misrepresents, exaggerates, or invents research and data, turning weak or false claims into broad social theories.
  3. Major media and academic institutions keep giving him influential platforms, which amplifies misleading ideas and harms public discourse.

Moving to San Diego, Interviews, Book Reviews, and More

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 1219 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. Pro-natalism should be pursued pragmatically by uniting people who share the goal of raising fertility and using scientific approaches, even if they disagree on broader ideology.
  2. Entitlements and the gerontocracy concentrate resources in older generations, and winning reform will likely require political framing that casts older cohorts as a privileged group rather than abstract free-market arguments alone.
  3. Mass migration to factory work in China shows how urban anonymity and wage labor upend village hierarchies and gender norms, speeding the collapse of traditional patriarchy and contributing to falling birth rates with long-term societal effects.

On my bullshit tonight at 8 pm!

Disaffected Newsletter • 499 implied HN points • 04 Sep 24
🎙 Podcasts Media
  1. A live conversation is happening tonight at 8 pm Eastern time. You can join in to hear some interesting discussions.
  2. It's on Rumble, so you'll need an account to participate in the live chat. Make sure to sign up beforehand!
  3. The event will focus on American politics and themes of authoritarianism. It could be a good chance to gain new insights on these topics.

Ashley St Clair on trans rights, immigration, Elon and more

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1731 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Ashley St Clair, who built a large conservative following on culture‑war content, has recently been publicly speaking out about AI deepfakes and Elon Musk.
  2. The piece surveys current internet and creator‑economy trends — from liquid content and influencer doppelgangers to influencer lobbying, YouTube’s “vibecession,” viral pricey products, Gen Z travel hotspots, and China’s hottest apps.
  3. It highlights how influencer-driven media and personality-led platforms can channel political ideas and lobbying, creating a ‘red pill’ style pipeline around topics like trans rights and immigration and involving figures such as Nigel Farage.

I Told You So...

Unpopular Front • 151 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. Some right-wing intellectuals loudly complain about bad discourse while promoting or tolerating lies and demeaning rhetoric themselves.
  2. For decades conservative thinkers have attached themselves to demagogues and mob movements to stay relevant, even when those alliances conflict with their stated principles.
  3. They rarely learn or self-reflect, toggling between cynicism and gullibility as it suits their careers, and that makes it easy to whip up a mob but hard to hold it back when it turns on them.

When Were Things The Best?

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2822 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. People often remember the past as better than it was, but many concrete things are way better today — especially information access, medicine, electronics, food, entertainment, and travel.
  2. Important social and civic things have declined: close‑knit communities, intact families, long job tenure, political cohesion, roads/infrastructure, and dating ecosystems are notably worse and hurt wellbeing.
  3. The truth is mixed: celebrate huge material and technological gains, but focus effort on fixing the social problems and managing rising expectations that drive much of our unhappiness.

Jon Stewart is bad again (Odds and Ends #86)

Odds and Ends of History • 670 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
📰 News Media
  1. Jon Stewart has done something controversial again and is attracting criticism.
  2. Driverless cars may have a bigger and more surprising impact than people expect, with effects beyond just safety numbers.
  3. AI looks set to transform many parts of life and government, with wide-ranging disruptive consequences.

War on Iran: The Information Gap

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 160 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Media
  1. Commercial satellite firms are delaying public images over Israel and the Gulf, so independent observers lack real-time visual evidence of damage there while images of Iran remain available.
  2. Other reports claim heavy damage to U.S. bases and Israeli infrastructure, meaning repairs could take years and may weaken future U.S. presence in the region.
  3. Iran looks determined to keep fighting and seems unlikely to fold, and because Israel is small even a low rate of successful strikes can cause outsized damage while Iran’s size gives it greater staying power.

Am I gonna have to protest again?

The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (of Vooza) | Sent every Tuesday • 784 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. The increasing use of militarized federal forces far from the communities they serve is eroding trust and driving people back to the streets; local, community-rooted policing would help reduce that harm.
  2. AI deepfakes and online misinformation are turning everyone into amateur detectives, making it harder to know what’s real and intensifying information warfare.
  3. Media figures, politicians, and celebrities are leaning into grifting and spectacle for profit and influence, which weakens institutions and fuels public cynicism and protest.

Why the Drunken, Brawling Irish Got Me Thinking About Hannah Gadsby

I Might Be Wrong • 9 implied HN points • 20 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. St. Patrick’s Day commonly leans on flamboyant, non-PC Irish stereotypes—heavy drinking, fake accents, and leprechaun imagery—that most people treat as harmless fun.
  2. Because Irish people in America and Ireland have largely become socially and economically successful, those stereotypes are often shrugged off rather than seen as problematic.
  3. That contrast highlights Hannah Gadsby’s point in Nanette: self-deprecating humor can humiliate people who already exist on the margins, so marginalized comedians may rightly refuse to keep using it.

Theories of power, cattle grids and a blep (Odds and Ends #85)

Odds and Ends of History • 804 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
📰 News Media
  1. A wide-ranging mix of topics is curated, spanning governance, bureaucracy, urban change, creativity, planning rules, NHS challenges, and the future of sports broadcasting — with a lighthearted cat blep thrown in.
  2. There’s a clear emphasis on governance and reform, highlighting London-level politics, tweaks to how Whitehall works, and calls for a new "Theory of Power."
  3. Practical influence and resource-sharing matter: a personal post about rebooting social life sparked reader action, and recommended resources include a pro‑nuclear environmental book and a vaccine science event.

Hey, thanks friends!

Disaffected Newsletter • 2238 implied HN points • 17 Jul 24
🎙 Podcasts Media
  1. The creator is thankful for their subscribers and the support they provide. It's great to have people interested in the work.
  2. Having subscribers helps with finances, especially after transitioning to freelancing. It means a lot to get paid for their content.
  3. New essays will be coming soon, despite a busy week with work and shows. The creator wants to keep engaging with their audience.

Dealing, Personally with the Cognitive Distributed Disruption of Attention Crisis

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 345 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. The real problem today isn’t too many words but too little attention: when publishing is cheap, the volume of plausible content outstrips any one person’s cognitive bandwidth, so attention must be treated as a scarce resource.
  2. Build a ruthless decision architecture: triage incoming items into four bins (signal, elite positioning, noisy diagnostics, irrelevant), use a five-level engagement ladder so most things are ignored or skimmed, and keep a private ‘do not respond’ list to avoid getting baited.
  3. Actively manage your information portfolio and thinking time: allocate most reading to deepening core models (70/20/10 for core/adjacent/wild), read to update specific model parameters, and schedule separate deep-model days and regular synthesis memos.

Clavicular and the New Influencer Quietism

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 1779 implied HN points • 13 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. Trump’s appeal was personal and reshaped political coalitions, so his exit could cause a realignment rather than a smooth transfer of support to a successor.
  2. The 2024 coalition included unusual groups — tech elites, podcast audiences, alternative-health followers, and key swing-state voters — and those diverse constituencies may not back a new leader in the same way.
  3. Apolitical online influencers who push looks-focused self-improvement attract followers outside the left-right divide, so their indifference or future endorsements could meaningfully affect how coalitions form.

In Touch With The Inner Adult

The Fry Corner • 13848 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. People today can be very sensitive about their choices and how others comment on them. It's important to express observations without appearing critical.
  2. There has been a major shift in the way people interact with childhood memories and experiences. Many adults are embracing what were once seen as childish interests.
  3. Maturity and adulthood seem to have less appeal for some people now. Many are choosing to hold onto their youthful pleasures instead of fully embracing the traditional responsibilities of adulthood.

Why did CNN do it?

Robert Reich • 30051 implied HN points • 12 May 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. CNN's decision to give Donald Trump an hour of prime-time television was criticized for promoting lies and insults.
  2. The shift in CNN's news coverage towards more conservative guests and avoiding certain terms was linked to corporate interests and right-wing billionaire influence.
  3. Criticism of CNN's decisions highlights the importance of maintaining journalistic integrity and not giving a platform to misinformation and demagoguery.

There Are No Satantic Elites and the Scramble to Redefine "Woke"

Default Wisdom • 403 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Calling elites "Satanic" is a mistake — their ties to things like Kabbalah or Freemasonry aren’t the same as modern Satanism, and the more dangerous Satanic-adjacent networks today are lower-profile online groups, not secret elite cabals.
  2. The rush to rename or declare a new phase of "woke" is mostly a branding contest driven by incentives to be first, and fast, screen-based reporting often produces shaky theories rather than clear evidence of a coherent new movement.
  3. Looksmaxxing grew out of gay culture’s individualized sexual market and now spreads widely, encouraging endless self-optimization, risky DIY cosmetic procedures, and racialized pressures that can cause real harm to people who can’t access professional care.

Soviet Anime?

Animation Obsessive • 15786 implied HN points • 30 Jun 25
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Soviet audiences embraced Japanese anime as early as the 1960s, with films gaining popularity in the 1970s. This cultural exchange showed a unique appreciation for animation in the USSR.
  2. The film _The Mystery of the Third Planet_ was produced as a response to successful Japanese animations. It aimed to connect with teenage viewers and became a beloved classic.
  3. Director Roman Kachanov focused on creating relatable characters and a warm atmosphere in his films. He believed in capturing human emotions, which helped make his animation feel alive and engaging.

The Trust Trap

Can We Still Govern? • 324 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. Claiming that institutions have lost public trust is often used as a pretext to take control, but those who take charge frequently weaken the institutions instead of rebuilding them.
  2. Politicizing technical agencies and media erodes expert credibility and alienates core supporters, while failing to persuade the conspiracy-minded skeptics who drove the distrust in the first place.
  3. Be skeptical of loud calls to ‘restore trust’—they often come without realistic plans and can mask agendas that further degrade institutional legitimacy.

Stop Picking On Poor Little Israel

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2370 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Media
  1. People who criticize Israel are often dismissed as simply being antisemitic instead of being allowed to complain about alleged human rights abuses, lobbying, and suppression of dissent.
  2. Tragic events are portrayed as being used to wipe away prior criticisms and to justify harsher policies, effectively silencing opposition and reshaping the public conversation.
  3. The piece argues there’s an outsized, obsessive focus on one small state while ignoring wider historical and geopolitical factors, including Western imperial backing and powerful influence operations that shape other countries’ politics and media.

The demise of CNN

Robert Reich • 29167 implied HN points • 06 Jun 23
📰 News Media
  1. CNN underwent significant changes under Chris Licht's leadership.
  2. There was a shift towards aligning CNN more with Trump and right-wing views.
  3. Despite the changes, CNN's viewership declined rather than attracting new audiences.

Carl Wilson Should Give Himself More Credit

Freddie deBoer • 3001 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Poptimism has largely won: pop music now gets abundant praise and mainstream attention, so it’s wrong to act like pop is a marginalized underdog today.
  2. Large swaths of social media enforce pro-pop views aggressively, and critics who dissent can be publicly shamed or accused of bigotry, which chills honest disagreement.
  3. The erosion of sharp critical standards and negative judgment has flattened taste formation, making cultural discussion blander and depriving fans of the satisfying clash that helps define personal preferences.

Psycho

Nice Try • 379 implied HN points • 07 Sep 24
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. The movie _Psycho_ has a famous shower scene where a woman is killed, but it cleverly tricks viewers into questioning who the real 'psycho' is throughout the film.
  2. Marion Crane and Norman Bates have mirrored characteristics, showing how both characters are driven by desires that lead to their own downfalls.
  3. On multiple viewings of _Psycho_, you can notice different aspects of characters, suggesting many of them might also have their own hidden psychotic traits.

Look what you made us do

read • 13994 implied HN points • 07 Feb 24
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Taylor Swift's influence permeates global culture, politics, and media
  2. Writers on Substack provide original, insightful, and sometimes humorous analyses on Taylor Swift's impact
  3. Taylor Swift's actions, endorsements, and mere existence provoke strong reactions and shape narratives in various spheres

Pitfalls of AI journalism

The Ruffian • 405 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Media
  1. AI-detection tools can spot patterns that suggest a writer is using AI, but their findings aren’t always certain.
  2. Some journalists are moving from using AI to polish drafts to using it to draft entire pieces, especially when output is high during big events.
  3. Calling out suspected AI use can feel like public shaming and highlights the need for clear newsroom choices and transparency about how AI is used.

Why Conservative Influencers Can't Stop Talking About Brooklyn Beckham

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1104 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Right-wing influencers quickly weaponized Brooklyn Beckham's Instagram post, casting Nicola Peltz as a villain and comparing the situation to Meghan Markle while framing Brooklyn as a ‘Prince Harry 2.0’.
  2. The backlash reveals how people react when men set boundaries with powerful families — society often blames women for men’s choices and leans into boy-mom culture and gendered narratives.
  3. Tabloids, PR machines, and online influencers distort celebrity drama into smear campaigns and digital propaganda, manufacturing moral panic to control the story.

The Bad History of ‘Palestine 36’

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1182 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. The film Palestine 36 is internationally backed and has gained awards attention, but it presents a politically shaped version of the past.
  2. It omits key historical facts—especially Jewish immigration and presence in 1936—resulting in a distorted, incomplete account of the period.
  3. Renewed public interest in the conflict’s origins has produced both rigorous histories and dramatized films, and this movie favors political storytelling over historical accuracy.

Are We at an AI Precipice? David Mamet on Robert Duvall. In Defense of Processed Foods. Plus. . .

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 361 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26
📰 News Media
  1. People are debating whether AI is at a sudden tipping point that could quickly transform work and society. Some warn of rapid disruption and urge immediate adoption, while others are more cautious.
  2. Robert Duvall is remembered as a raw, unembellished actor who brought truth and intensity to his performances. His grit and straightforward approach influenced an entire generation of performers.
  3. Industrial processed foods have greatly improved food access and safety for many people. Rather than banning them, the argument is to reform and improve these systems to avoid making things worse.

Who Is Responsible for TikTok's Feeder Fetish?

Many Such Cases • 1218 implied HN points • 06 Aug 24
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. Mukbang videos on TikTok show people eating large amounts of food, which many find entertaining. Watching someone indulge can feel fun and even a bit luxurious.
  2. Some viewers develop a fetish for watching people gain weight, known as feederism. This can involve both the enjoyment of watching someone eat and the transformation of their body.
  3. Not everyone watching these videos has a sexual interest; they may just enjoy the visual of someone eating. This leads to debate about the intention behind such content and its widespread popularity.

Note on New Trump-Russia Disclosures

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 13408 implied HN points • 18 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Media
  1. New documents have been released that challenge the claims of Russian interference in the 2016 election. These documents suggest that intelligence officials knew there was no impact on the election results.
  2. The release of these documents points to a possible coordinated effort by high-level officials in the Obama administration to promote a false narrative about Trump and Russia. This could lead to serious accountability for those involved.
  3. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, is playing a key role in unveiling the truth about these past actions. More information is expected to come out soon, which could change the current understanding of the situation.

Open Thread 421.5

Astral Codex Ten • 412 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. It's a paywalled "Hidden Open Thread 421.5" posted Feb 20, 2026 and designated for paid subscribers.
  2. Readers are prompted to subscribe or sign in to access the content.
  3. The page shows navigation and small engagement metrics, suggesting limited visible interaction.

Doomscroll: Peter James Fowler

Joshua Citarella's Newsletter • 198 implied HN points • 09 Oct 24
🎙 Podcasts Media
  1. Young people can influence politics online, even starting at a very young age. It's surprising how a kid can run a political meme account with thousands of followers.
  2. The early internet had culture wars influenced by new atheism and the rise of conservative movements shaped by evangelical Christianity. These battles still affect us today.
  3. Our beliefs are influenced by our personal experiences and the political environment around us. It's important to recognize where our views come from.

The 99-Year-Old Film That Stops People

Animation Obsessive • 18567 implied HN points • 19 May 25
🎭️ Culture Media
  1. A film called _The Adventures of Prince Achmed_ is really special because it's the oldest animated feature still around. Even after almost 100 years, people are still amazed by its magic and creativity.
  2. The director, Lotte Reiniger, used a unique cut-out style that made her work stand out from others. Her approach was different from American cartoons, focusing more on artistic storytelling through puppetry and silhouettes.
  3. Despite the struggles during its creation and the trouble faced by her team with the rise of the Nazis, the film gained huge popularity and helped show the power of animation even in tough times.