Episodes

  • Blake Lively and the Amber Heard Effect

    Blake Lively and the Amber Heard Effect
    Jan 10 2025
    The first episode of this podcast ever recorded was about Amber Heard and the online public’s inability — or unwillingness — to distinguish between their organic feelings about celebrity abuse allegations and their participation in a strategic, well-funded smear campaign against a woman coming forward. Since that episode, journalist Kat Tenbarge and I have become best friends. She’s also reported on this exact news cycle over and over again with different women. Today, we break down the new yet familiar legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and attempt to sharpen our critical thinking skills, because the decisions we make online matter — and the success of these misogynistic campaigns can end with us. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • Why is the Media Coverage of Luigi Mangione So Bad?

    Why is the Media Coverage of Luigi Mangione So Bad?
    Dec 19 2024
    The remarkable dissonance between the public’s embrace of UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione and the mainstream media’s outward disdain for both Luigi and the public’s martyrization of him has been… bizarre. In a rare moment where the culture war has been traded in for the class war, billionaire-owned media corporations and politicians alike seem to be panicking. That panic should be a moment of clarity for everyday Americans. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Listen to Taylor’s podcast, Power User. Subscribe to Taylor’s newsletter, User Mag. Subscribe to Ken Klippenstein’s Substack. Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at www.factormeals.com/fruity50. Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • How Did Elon Musk Get Like This?

    How Did Elon Musk Get Like This?
    Dec 13 2024
    There was a time before Elon Musk was tweeting 60 times a day about trans people and the woke mind virus — and it wasn’t that long ago. As recently as 2018, Elon was boasting about Tesla scoring a 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index and telling anyone who was bothered by that to “not buy our car.” So what happened? Today, Ryan Mac and Kate Conger, authors of Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, unpack Elon’s personal and political midlife crisis — and the price we pay for it. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes: www.factormeals.com/fruity50 Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Is Glinda Good?

    Is Glinda Good?
    Nov 28 2024
    A Bit Fruity was due for a good old-fashioned film analysis. Wicked is a kids movie that is actually for adults, holding up a mirror to our increasingly fascistic reality and asking us to question our struggle against it — or place within it. Glinda the Good Witch, thoughtfully delivered by Ariana Grande, is both easy to love and easy to hate. But while some characters’ politics are obvious (a fascist Wizard, a radical Elphaba), Glinda’s are harder to pinpoint. Today, we attempt just that. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes: www.factormeals.com/fruity50. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 mins
  • How the Right is Winning Young Men (with Taylor Lorenz)

    How the Right is Winning Young Men (with Taylor Lorenz)
    Nov 15 2024
    This was the first election where the online far-right radicalization of young boys and men revealed itself in exit polls. After years of being fed diet-incel podcasts, one thing is clear: Gen Z will not, by some inherent virtue of youth, save us. Today, Taylor Lorenz and I break down the “epidemic of male loneliness”, the influencers exploiting it, the conservative media machine that funds them, and why we can’t just make a “leftist Joe Rogan.” Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Listen to Taylor’s podcast, Power User. Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at www.nordvpn.com/fruity. Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Riley Gaines: Tie for 5th, Grift for Life

    Riley Gaines: Tie for 5th, Grift for Life
    Oct 30 2024
    In America, the only thing standing between you and wealth beyond your wildest dreams is tying for fifth with a trans person. Today, media critic Ari Drennen takes us into the bizarre world of the 24-year-old whispering policy into Donald Trump’s ear. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Follow Ari's Substack. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Jubilee Must Be Stopped

    Jubilee Must Be Stopped
    Oct 10 2024
    The slogan of YouTube’s most popular debate channel, Jubilee, is “provoke understanding & create human connection.” So why is all of its content a cesspool of bigotry, rage-bait, and pseudoscientific slop? Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Huge thanks to the show's sponsors: Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Subscribe to Big Joel’s YouTube channel! Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • The Cult of Stan Culture (with Amanda Montell)

    The Cult of Stan Culture (with Amanda Montell)
    Sep 26 2024
    Well, I got Swiftied. As I sat there, sifting through ever more creative and graphic death threats, I wondered: is it time for a podcast episode? Today, Amanda Montell (of Sounds Like a Cult) takes us on an exploration of how online music fan culture co-opted the harassment tactics of the far right, which co-opted the social justice tactics of Black Twitter. Let’s go, girls. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Huge thanks to the show's sponsors: Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at www.nordvpn.com/fruity. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 17 mins