Nathan Radke

I mean, political chaos is real.

Division is real.

Economic hardship is real.

But those aren't monsters that you can just sort of like easily stick into a meme.

And I think in the end with this Leviathan story, there's actually, I think, two fantasies in this meme.

One, that there's a colossal monster off the eastern coast of the United States.

but two, that the government is competent and concerned enough to do something about it.

Yeah, but it's kind of reassuring.

That's the weird thing about monster stories is that they're almost reassuring in a way because if it's a monster, it's a thing that can be confronted.

It's a thing that can be battled.

Whereas so many of the things that we're afraid of right now, there doesn't seem to be any ways for us to even understand them, let alone fight back against them.

I mean, you came really close.

You almost had it right on the runway, and then at the last second, there was a bit of a jolt, but I think we made it.

No, absolutely.

So, of course, there's a really complicated relationship between truth and knowledge and power.

And talking about conspiracies, the entire focal point of a conspiracy is that the knowledge of the truth is hidden from us by people in power.

And in hiding that truth, they're able to get more power.

And one of the clearest examples of that relationship is when people in positions of power gaslight the population.

Now, what gaslighting is, it's unfortunately, it's a very useful concept.

It's not just lying.