My brand of politics has always been pretty weird and hard to explain. I've always considered myself to fall somewhere on the extreme left. I'm right at home with giving communism or socialism a whirl. Those words haven't been tainted for me like they have with so many others. But there's so much more to it than that. Lately I've been looking at politics as more of a two dimensional dynamic rather than just left vs right.
In fact, the whole left vs right dynamic is becoming less relevant every year. The system is so broken that both sides serve the same master: imperialism. The coin gets flipped every few years but no matter what side it lands on: authoritarians are in charge.
Years ago I always thought it was weird that I got along so well with libertarians. I lean so far left, and libertarians traditionally lean a little right. Most of my friends are pretty far left wing as well, but every time I come across a libertarian I just become fascinated.
I'm on board for eliminating government overreach and bringing the means of production back to the people in a decentralized fashion. And I'm not a fan of gun control (regulation/force) or even taxes. There's a better way to go about these things. Maybe that's just "anarchism", but even the implied connotations surrounding that word are largely misinterpreted as well, so perhaps there is currently no word that accurately describes what I'm trying to convey.
So yeah I was taking a look at these Nolan charts and immediately realized why I get along with libertarians so well. It's because I am one, but just not the kind you'd think about when you think "libertarian". As a simultaneously left-wing extremist and libertarian extremist I find myself on the outskirts of the political spectrum; a political unicorn.
I was trying to think of another person that has similar politics to me, but as a political unicorn it's pretty tough to identify another known entity with similar viewpoints. Closest would be Bo Burnham.
Bo Burnham is a brilliantly tortured and talented artist/comedian. He really puts himself out there. He's super smart, a bit immature (required for comedy) and struggles with extreme depression and suicidal tendencies.
Like me, he leans extremely left, but he isn't judgmental or authoritarian about it. He's not trying to force other people to think or act a certain way. He's just trying to do what he personally thinks is right and attempts to better himself while also pointing out the ridiculousness of everything. A lot of his comedy is extremely dark to the point of not even really being funny anymore. Luckily, I am a fan of dark comedy, no matter how extreme.
This is one of his more politically left comedy songs he's done. I've already posted this one twice in previous posts because I think it's hilarious. Basically just a song about "privilege" from a "straight white man's" perspective. Doesn't really matter if you think the message is right or wrong. He hits the nail right on the head when it comes to explaining the issue in a comedic fashion.
But this post isn't about his old stuff.
Bo Burnham released his latest special two weeks ago on Netflix and it is literally insane. It's quite the talk of the town and has been hailed as a masterpiece all over social media. It's been hashed and rehashed a thousand times already by critics big and small.
INSIDE!
Netflix has been removing YouTube videos left and right due to IP violations, so hopefully none of the links posted here get broken later.
So due to mental health issues, Bo Burnham has actually been out of the game for quite a while. Right when he was thinking about getting back on the horse (January 2020) "The funniest thing happened." *queue laugh track*
So he worked on this special for like an entire year (much longer than anticipated). He did everything himself and filmed the entire thing in one or 2 rooms. The stuff he does with camera angles, lighting, aspect-ratio, etc etc is very impressive. He's a super talented artist even when working alone. He made the best with what he had. That in itself was part of the artistry and is portrayed in a meta-type fashion throughout the entire special.
He's constantly battling with the fact that he's just one person and the world is totally fucked and all he can do is watch. We are all just staring at the tidal wave waiting for the crash.
On to the main event!
Haha, so much yes. Holy god.
There's a lot of good stuff in here, but this is my clear favorite by a huge margin. A lot of the liberals who watch this kinda just brush it off like he's just joking around. Yeah, well, he's only joking a little bit. Ha... ha...
I don’t know about that, Socko. How about you give it a try?
All right.
♪ The simple narrative taught In every history class ♪
♪ Is demonstrably false And pedagogically classist ♪
♪ Don’t you know The world is built with blood ♪
♪ And genocide and exploitation ♪
♪ The global network of capital Essentially functions ♪
♪ To separate the worker From the means of production ♪
♪ And the FBI killed Martin Luther King ♪
♪ Private property’s inherently theft ♪
♪ And neoliberal fascists Are destroying the left ♪
♪ And every politician ♪
♪ Every cop on the street ♪
♪ Protects the interests Of the pedophilic corporate elite ♪
♪ That is how the world works… ♪
Really?
♪ That is how the world works ♪
♪ Genocide The Natives say you got to it first ♪
♪ That’s how ♪
♪ It works ♪
That’s pretty intense.
No shit.
What can I do to help?
Read a book or something. I don’t know. Just don’t burden me with the responsibility of educating you. It’s incredibly exhausting.
I’m sorry, Socko. I was just trying to become a better person.
Why do you rich fucking white people insist on seeing every socio-political conflict through the myopic lens of your own self-actualization? This isn’t about you. So either get with it, or get out of the fucking way.
Watch your mouth, buddy. Remember who’s on whose hand here.
But that’s what I– Have you not been fucking listening? We are entrenched in–
All right.
Wait! No, please! I don’t want to go back. I can’t go… I can’t go back. Please. Please. I’m sorry.
Are you gonna behave yourself?
Yes.
Yes, what?
Yes, sir.
Look at me.
Yes, sir.
That’s better.
♪ That is how the world works ♪
♪ That is how the world works ♪
♪ I hope you learned your lesson ♪
♪ I did and it hurt! ♪
♪ That’s how ♪
♪ It works ♪
No!
Full version (no video)
So after singing a nice synergistic idealist song about the world he brings out the sock puppet to lay down the law and talk about how fucked up everything is. Pretty perfect. Not only that when the sock talks back he dominates it just like imperialism dominates everyone.
This is definitely the one skit to point out because it appeals to a lot of the people who are involved with crypto.
♪ And neoliberal fascists Are destroying the left ♪
This is when I fully realized that Bo Burnham's politics are extremely similar to my own. And the only way to get there is to know "how the world works". Aka blatant exploitative capitalism and imperialism.
The people calling themselves anti-fascists are really just left-wing neoliberal fascists, and they are indeed "destroying the left" which is supposed to be our 'team', so to speak. Now we have no team and find ourselves outcast.
The biggest problem is that the fascist authoritarians (on the left and right) have no idea that they are even fascists. that's how these things work. No one admits that they are the villain, and they can justify all matter of wrong actions using the mental gymnastics they've developed.
The pandemic hit Bo about x1000 times harder than it hit me. I'm doing just fine, as an extremely introverted person I've always been quite the island. I've been "social distancing" on my own for decades. Being locked "Inside" doesn't have the same affect on me as it does this tortured artist. But he still represents a lot of my viewpoints quite well.
WELCOME TO THE INTERNET!
Here's another instant classic. No better description of the Internet has ever been so accurately portrayed. The chaos and diversity of the Internet is undeniable, and the lockdown magnified worldwide usage by quite a bit.
A little bit of everything, all of the time.
Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime.
Purposely bad transitions.
Throughout the entire special there are extremely jarring transitions to the next scene on purpose. This is a perfect example of how imperfections can be purposefully used as part of the content creation process. It's funny cause it's bad... on purpose. It's also a nice way to show he isn't taking himself too seriously, adding a somewhat campy vibe to the madness.
Guilty Pleasures favorite.
It just so happens that there are two separate super short transition songs about Jeff Bezos that absolutely crack me up because of my job at Amazon:
♪ CEO, entrepreneur ♪
♪ Born in 1964 ♪
♪ Jeffrey ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ CEO, entrepreneur ♪
♪ Born in 1964 ♪
♪ Jeffrey ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Come on, Jeffrey, you can do it ♪
♪ Pave the way, put your back into it ♪
♪ Tell us why Show us how ♪
♪ Look at where you came from Look at you now ♪
lol wtf
♪ Zuckerberg and Gates and Buffet ♪
♪ Amateurs can fucking suck it ♪
♪ Fuck their wives, drink their blood ♪
♪ Come on, Jeff, get ’em! ♪
Too funny...
There are so many subtle things that he does throughout the special. The attention to detail is quite impressive. I even watched a few Youtube analysis videos just to catch all the random Easter eggs that get thrown into the mix. Even tiny things like pronouncing 'entrepreneur' a little differently so it rhymes better with 1964 make a difference.
Round 2: fight!
One Bezos song wasn't enough!
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Ah ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ You did it! ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Jeffrey Bezos ♪
♪ Congratulations! ♪
I can't help but feel like there is a lot more meaning behind stupid nothing songs like this. Bezos, considered the richest man at the time... he did it! He won capitalism!
But from Bo Burnham's perspective none of this matters. Bo is already living a very comfortable life, and it seems like the more famous and rich he becomes the more depressed he gets. Money doesn't matter when the world is in complete disarray.
Visual remix:
As you can see the fans of Inside are taking it quite seriously. The thing that really caught my attention here was the real-time chart showing the "richest" people in the world over time. I had to go on a little detour to find it.
We see that Bill Gates was in the lead for the vast majority of the time. It's amazing these stats even exist, being calculated seemingly every day for the past 24 years. Around 6 minutes in we see that Bezos takes a massive lead and has "won capitalism".
Funny because the richest people in the world aren't actually the richest people in the world. Hilarious how the dinosaurs that own the entire central banking system don't even seem to register. I guess when you can print money on demand you don't need to flaunt your wealth so publicly. The tier of elites above the corporate elite are seemingly ghosts.
Somewhere in the special Bo comments on the fact that the legacy systems we've built are beneficial to literally no one, and he's right. Humanity would be far better off with a system that wasn't completely broken. Even the billionaires of today would be far more relatively powerful than they are today given a system that doesn't constantly topple over. But perhaps I'm preaching to the choir there because that's what crypto is all about.
Impact on economy.
This "comedy" special really highlights what I've been saying about summertime. Citizens have been going stir crazy from these lockdowns and social distancing rules for over a year now. The fishtail from that economic impact is sure to materialize over the next couple months. I imagine a lot of money is going to be spent, even if that money is unsustainable debt.
wtf did I just watch?
Apparently there are like 1000 TikTok video's confirming this is accurate. Bo Burnham has your number, ladies. Again it's a weird dichotomy because many would argue that making fun of "basic bitch" derivative activities on social media is offensive... but he's also a comedian. Also I feel like he unleashes this feminine side just to simultaneously make people uncomfortable and fuel the joke.
Suicidal
Having trouble finding a clip, but Burnham has been "joking" about killing himself for over a decade. Every year that goes by that he lives almost surprises me. His understanding of the world is a burden, and he even gives reasons for not killing oneself during Inside because "death is forever". But if he could kill himself for a couple years "he would do it".
Towards the middle and end of the special it gets extremely dark. He gets especially depressed when he turns 30 on camera and hasn't finished the project yet. Then later he is afraid to stop working on it because working is the only thing keeping him going during the pandemic. Pretty heavy stuff.
Conclusion
Even after writing these thousands of words of analysis about Inside, no amount of description could really do it justice. Whether you agree with the messages or not, whether or not you think it's funny or just dark or just stupid, it still remains a technical masterpiece essentially constructed alone by a tortured artist during lockdown. Pretty crazy stuff.
Considering all the hype and constant shout outs and analysis and praise by others, Inside is a great representation of life during the Pandemic. It's not everyone's experience, but it does hit home with a lot of people, even if it is often times immature and completely unhinged.
In many ways it's similar to Trey Parker (creator of Southpark) winning multiple prestigious awards for his works like the Book of Mormon even though the content is extremely crass and low-brow. It is simultaneously garbage and a masterpiece all at once. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but I think a lot of people on Hive can relate to "Socko" and the threat of unmitigated authoritarianism.
♪ Are you feeling nervous? ♪
♪ Are you having fun? ♪
♪ It’s almost over ♪
♪ It’s just begun ♪
♪ Don’t overthink this ♪
♪ Look in my eye ♪
♪ Don’t be scared, don’t be shy ♪
♪ Come on in, the water’s fine ♪
♪ You say the ocean’s rising ♪
♪ Like I give a shit ♪
♪ You say the whole world’s ending ♪
♪ Honey, it already did ♪
♪ You’re not gonna slow it ♪
♪ Heaven knows you tried ♪
♪ Got it? Good. Now get inside ♪
I hope he makes it another couple years.
Not enough people know how the sausage is made.