Modern WisdomMichael Malice - The Corporate Press Are Losing Control
CHAPTERS
Corporate press as the real power: politicians as “the tail”
Michael argues conservatives misidentify the main enemy: it’s not individual politicians or parties, but the corporate press that shapes incentives and narratives. He frames media as the force “wagging the dog,” pushing both politicians and the public into predictable reactions.
- •Politicians (Biden/Corbyn) are downstream of media narratives
- •Media’s role is not just biased but power-wielding
- •Why electoral wins don’t fix the underlying problem
- •Sets the episode’s central thesis about control and narrative
Canadian truckers and “meme magic”: honking, narrative warfare, and class contempt
They unpack the Canadian trucker protests as a symbol of narrative breakdown: what began as a working-class protest quickly drew accusations of extremism. Michael highlights how institutions reframe dissent and how public mockery (the honking/clown world meme) becomes a potent counter-weapon.
- •“Clown world” memes becoming literal protest tactics
- •Progressive coalitions treat groups as tools, then discard them when defiant
- •Working-class protests reframed as extremist threats
- •Mainstream media’s predictable escalation pattern
GoFundMe backlash and accelerating cultural bifurcation
The conversation shifts to GoFundMe’s attempt to redirect or restrict convoy funds and the backlash that followed. Michael argues the key ‘win’ is exposing ideological decision-making, forcing people to pick sides and accelerating parallel institutions.
- •GoFundMe decision seen as ideological power, not neutral policy
- •Public backlash, refunds, and reputational damage
- •Forced in-group/out-group sorting since ~2015
- •Rise of alternative mechanisms as institutions lose trust
Victimhood as status: anxiety, neurosis, and incentive to suffer publicly
They explore how claiming victim status functions as a high-status marker in modern culture. Michael links COVID-era anxiety to a desire for external blame, while Chris brings in dating-app dynamics showing a complicated social response to trauma disclosure.
- •Victimhood can confer moral status and perceived virtue
- •COVID as an external justification for personal distress
- •Dating profiles: trauma disclosure vs perceived ‘ick’ factor
- •Trauma as taboo when presented too early in relationships
Russia–Ukraine: war drums, incentives for escalation, and perspective-taking
Michael expresses concern about media-driven escalation and the incentives governments have to lean into conflict. He emphasizes viewing events from Russia’s perspective and warns that US/NATO involvement can easily intensify a crisis beyond what local actors intend.
- •Media amplification vs on-the-ground assessments
- •Military-industrial incentives and rally-round-the-flag politics
- •Putin’s view of NATO/UK involvement near borders
- •Risk of American intervention making a limited conflict worse
UK politics tangent: Boris Johnson, personalization, and the ‘presidential’ shift
They detour into UK leadership dynamics, arguing modern politics hinges too much on the figurehead. Michael traces this to changes since Thatcher (and Blair), making leadership scandals cascade across entire parties and elections.
- •Boris’s vulnerability amid party and polling pressures
- •Leadership as brand: personality-driven politics
- •Thatcher/Blair as turning points toward a presidential model
- •How personalization affects accountability and party stability
Whoopi Goldberg controversy: intent, punishment, and making issues radioactive
They discuss Whoopi Goldberg’s Holocaust comments, with Michael arguing she spoke awkwardly rather than maliciously. The suspension is framed as performative, turning serious subjects into culture-war weapons rather than encouraging careful discussion.
- •Whoopi characterized as pro-Jewish, not antisemitic
- •Distinction between poor wording and hateful intent
- •Performative discipline vs meaningful accountability
- •Culture-war dynamics encourage maximum outrage
Post-COVID control vacuum: finding the next fear lever
Michael suggests institutions relied on COVID as a uniquely powerful justification for social control and now struggle to replace it. Attempts to pivot to less tangible threats (e.g., “white supremacy”) are less persuasive and harder to operationalize at mass scale.
- •COVID as a uniquely effective universal ‘permission slip’
- •Need for a new pretext to maintain control
- •Diminishing returns of smaller, fragmented panic cycles
- •Public becoming faster at predicting the narrative arc
Why the media are worse than government: ambient anxiety and obedience enforcement
Michael argues politicians were often trapped by media-created ‘ambient anxiety’—even questioning weak policies could end careers. He explains how media sets the permissible range of discourse, making government appear more powerful than it is while actually being disciplined by coverage.
- •Politicians can’t publicly question ‘settled’ narratives without punishment
- •Example: social distancing rules and media enforcement
- •Hypocrisy scandals show elites didn’t fully believe rules
- •Media as the upstream constraint on political behavior
Agenda vs bias: manipulating emotions, not informing the public
Chris summarizes the press as an entity with its own agenda; Michael sharpens the distinction between ordinary bias and deliberate manipulation. The chapter centers on media’s goal: generate feelings and behavior change rather than deliver neutral information.
- •Bias = viewpoint; agenda = intent to manipulate outcomes
- •Media’s target is emotional state: fear, outrage, urgency
- •‘One mind, many persons’ as a model of institutional coherence
- •Why this concentration of narrative power is socially dangerous
Corporate capture and the ‘tryhard’ effect: why woke signaling spreads (and may fade)
They examine whether ‘woke’ ideology is declining in real life versus online, and how satire can make status-signaling unattractive. Michael argues corporate America digests fringe ideas, repackages them, and pushes them broadly—often through bandwagon imitation and fear of reputational attack.
- •Satire/mockery as a powerful decontamination tool
- •‘Tryhard’ signaling triggers aversion independent of content
- •Corporate America as a slow, mindless trend amplifier
- •Fear-driven compliance (e.g., black squares) vs genuine belief
The dark side of corporations: loyalty-free firings and selling war with a smile
The discussion turns to corporate sociopathy—how institutions discard people ruthlessly and sanitize moral horror. Michael connects this to war profiteering and dehumanized messaging, arguing the same mentality enables both HR brutality and military marketing.
- •CrossFit leadership purge as a risk-management story
- •Corporate loyalty demanded but not returned
- •War marketing (‘shock and awe’) framed like product hype
- •Sociopathy rewarded in power-seeking institutional environments
What the press won’t cover: China spyware apps, 3D-printed guns, and ‘no-solution’ stories
They contrast intense media focus on culture-war personalities with underplayed high-stakes stories like surveillance tech and unstoppable decentralization (3D-printed weapons). Michael claims media prefers problems where it can position itself (or its allies) as the solution and victor.
- •Beijing Olympics health app alleged as spyware and mass data capture
- •Suggested defiance tactics (Tiananmen searches, ‘Tank Man’ symbolism)
- •Cody Wilson/Defense Distributed: regulation can’t keep pace with files
- •Media avoids stories that end with ‘nothing can be done’
Tesla factory night with Elon, Rogan, and Peterson + closing updates (Holodomor writing)
Michael recounts the surreal, high-security-feeling Tesla factory visit and the ‘imposter syndrome’ of being among major public figures. The episode closes with his current work on the Holodomor and reflections on how atrocity fades from public memory—often aided by journalists who covered it up.
- •Tesla tour described as awe-inspiring but tense and guarded
- •Not wanting to ‘be that guy’ when meeting Elon
- •Holodomor explained: Stalin’s famine and brutal enforcement tactics
- •Media narratives shape what atrocities are remembered or forgotten
