Manufactured Spectacles Distract From Systemic Exploitation

Pod Save the People · December 09, 2025 · Listen to Original Episode →

Original Title:

TL;DR

The decision to name "white" as Pantone's Color of the Year, defended by a Black woman, highlights a cultural moment where corporate alignment with white supremacy is met with predictable "black excellence" responses, indicating a societal "sunken place" rather than genuine progress.
The widespread practice of dollar stores overcharging customers, with error rates significantly exceeding legal limits and minimal penalties, reveals a systemic scam targeting low-income communities, exacerbated by dynamic pricing trends across retail.
The partnership between CNN and prediction market Kalshi, despite Kalshi's lawyer downplaying its gambling nature, signifies the mainstreaming of prediction markets as a form of gambling, potentially creating a bubble where founders profit while users face financial loss.
The University of Oklahoma incident, where a student failed for rejecting an assignment's premise with a biblical argument, suggests a coordinated effort to create spectacles in higher education, potentially to distract from more significant issues like the Epstein files.
The symbolic removal of MLK Day as a free park day while adding Trump's birthday to Flag Day represents a calculated "political porn" tactic to defile a sacred figure and chip away at Black history within the American structural apparatus.
The success of documentaries like the Diddy exposé, and the cultural appetite for celebrity scandals and brutality, indicates a societal fascination with salacious content that overshadows deeper interrogations of power structures and celebrity influence.
The increasing absorption of social movements into institutions, leading to a loss of nimbleness and a push for respectability, risks diluting their radical potential and mirroring the predatory marketplaces created by desperate governments.

Deep Dive

The recent surge in manufactured political spectacles, from a University of Oklahoma student's religiously framed essay to the shifting holiday observances, reveals a deliberate strategy to distract from substantive issues by amplifying culture war grievances. This approach leverages public fascination with sensationalism and personal opinion over rigorous analysis, thereby eroding intellectual standards and undermining genuine progress on critical societal challenges like economic exploitation and systemic injustice. The ultimate consequence is a public discourse that prioritizes performative outrage and identity politics, leaving individuals and institutions ill-equipped to address complex, real-world problems.

The strategy of creating political spectacles is multifaceted and has significant downstream effects. By prioritizing opinion and spectacle over intellectual rigor, as seen in the University of Oklahoma incident, educational institutions risk normalizing a disregard for academic standards. This creates a breeding ground for individuals who believe their personal opinions, even when poorly supported, are sufficient to engage in public discourse, mirroring the model of successful conservative pundits and cable news personalities. This devalues research, critical thinking, and evidence-based argumentation, making it harder to address complex issues. Furthermore, the embrace of prediction markets like Kalshi by mainstream media outlets like CNN, despite their inherent gambling-like nature and potential for predatory exploitation, signifies a concerning shift. This partnership, especially when coupled with figures like Donald Trump Jr. on advisory boards and the emergence of young, self-made billionaires from these platforms, normalizes and legitimizes activities that can exacerbate economic inequality and prey on desperation, much like the price gouging observed at dollar stores. The proliferation of such markets, often disguised as legitimate financial tools, can lead to significant financial losses for individuals, particularly those already economically vulnerable, without reinvesting any benefits into public services.

The erosion of intellectual rigor and the embrace of spectacle have profound implications for how societal problems are addressed. The deliberate displacement of observances like MLK Day with politically charged alternatives, such as Trump's birthday on Flag Day, serves to chip away at the symbolic recognition of Black history and progress. While some argue this is merely symbolic and that culture will preserve these memories, the consistent symbolic attacks, especially when coupled with a broader cultural devaluation of intellectualism and a rise in coordinated efforts to reduce academic rigor in education, create a tangible weakening of institutional defenses against injustice. This pattern of distraction and intellectual decay leaves society susceptible to exploitative practices, whether it's predatory pricing at dollar stores or the normalization of gambling-like financial markets. The underlying mechanism is a shared appetite for sensationalism and a willingness to prioritize opinion over substance, leading to a cultural environment where genuine critique is sidelined in favor of manufactured outrage, ultimately making it harder to challenge power structures and achieve meaningful change.

Action Items

Audit dollar store pricing: For 3-5 stores, identify 10-15 items to compare shelf price against scanned price to quantify overcharging.
Analyze media partnerships: Evaluate 2-3 instances of media outlets partnering with prediction markets to assess journalistic integrity and potential conflicts of interest.
Develop framework for evaluating celebrity influence: Create criteria to measure the impact of celebrity endorsements and actions on public discourse and consumer behavior across 3-5 examples.
Track instances of institutional capitulation: Document 5-10 cases where educational or governmental institutions compromise standards in response to political pressure or public opinion.

Key Quotes

"to address some of the online comments let me state clearly that white is indeed a color we knew that people would have emotions about this year's color when i first learned the color i thought oh this is going to be pretty controversial but the power of this program the power of pantone's color of the year is that it sparks a conversation a conversation about color that everyone can participate in at pantone we don't dictate that conversation we facilitate it"

The speaker, representing Pantone, acknowledges the controversy surrounding "white" as the color of the year. The speaker explains that the program's power lies in its ability to initiate a broad conversation about color, emphasizing that Pantone's role is to facilitate, not dictate, this dialogue.

"i have my african dance class yesterday and we were dancing and the dance teacher was saying you know black people african people we're um of the earth so a lot of the movements that are in african dance the bend of the knees is because we're earth people a lot of things that we do go down and in or into that rhythm and it started making me think about like what would be like an earth dancer and i guess what i'm really trying to critique is essence's response is that there was so much more interesting ways that essence took that saw that that this huge company is deciding to align itself with white supremacy deciding to dog whistle deciding to partake in it and then our only response is no black excellence and i was just thinking oh we are lost we are in the sunken place essence is in the sunken place pantene whatever the name is is in the sunken place that black woman that black woman who they got to defend that choice she's sunk and she is the she's mistress of sunken places"

Miles critiques Essence's response to a company aligning with white supremacy, arguing that "black excellence" is an insufficient counter-response. He contrasts this with the deeper, earth-connected movements in African dance, suggesting a more profound engagement with cultural identity is needed. Miles believes that by offering only "black excellence," Essence and others are "in the sunken place," failing to address the issue adequately.

"i want to just open it up to see what you all have to say about it but i have been productively surprised by how many takeaways the everyday person has had about this this documentary and around sort of the political moment around it i have hated the amount of mainstream news coverage the release of this documentary has gotten i have absolutely hated how much i have seen 50 cent sitting behind a desk on a cable news network not because i don't think the conversations are important and not because i don't think that there's potentially something we could collectively learn from this moment but because it has all felt really gossipy right and it has all felt not about how we interrogate power or the role of celebrity in our country and in our culture but about what other freaky thing we're going to learn diddy did or did not do and that has been really disappointing"

Duray expresses frustration with the mainstream media's coverage of a documentary, particularly the focus on 50 Cent's involvement and the sensationalized, gossipy nature of the reporting. Duray feels this coverage detracts from a deeper interrogation of power and celebrity culture, instead prioritizing salacious details about Diddy's alleged actions. The speaker believes this approach is disappointing and misses an opportunity for meaningful cultural analysis.

"i want people to start calling people like stupid i want people to start shaming people for not being intellectually rigorous and still trying to participate in certain conversations i play a lot i read a lot too a lot of these conversations and a lot of people having entry ways into these conversations is because we have made certain type of discourse democratic and i don't care about the word democracy i don't care about the word democratic i don't care if you do not know what you're talking about i don't care if you don't have lived experiences and have read books on this and the fact that you're in school where your job is to be learning and you still think that your opinion is good enough to tell a teacher instead of doing your assignment oh we need to bring intellectually shaming people back specifically people who are white because i cannot even imagine being black and doing this in a school because i want to make a good grade because i want to get a good job that's the whole idea that's the basis of the scam"

The speaker advocates for a return to intellectual rigor and shaming those who participate in conversations without proper understanding or preparation. The speaker argues that the democratization of discourse has led to a situation where opinions are valued over knowledge, particularly in academic settings. The speaker specifically calls for this intellectual shaming to be directed at white individuals, suggesting that Black individuals, due to systemic pressures, are less likely to behave this way in an academic context.

"i also am surprised honestly that they didn't do the thing that states like mississippi have done and said fine mlk but do mlk robert e lee day because that to me seems in line with what miles is describing right which is the like you get to have your thing it's just that we also if we're going to honor american heroes right if we're going to honor people who were pushing us to live into our true values and mlk is one of those people for you and for us it's robert e lee why can't both of those things happen right so i'm i'm a little bit surprised at the move to like remove it and not try to like reclaim it or cram robert e lee in there in the way that they're trying to do with trump's birthday flag day right but i hear you and i i also just think that like the symbolic attacks because that's really kind of what this is especially because like increasingly people ain't even got mlk off work no more you know what i'm saying so who going to the parks for free anyway our employers have already clawed that day back so it just feels like a chipping away of the spirit too right where you're just like how many more of these things as absurd and potentially even insignificant as they are can we take and it just feels like death by a thousand paper cuts"

The speaker expresses surprise that the decision was made to remove MLK Day as a free day at national parks without attempting to incorporate Robert E. Lee Day, similar to how some states combine holidays. The speaker views this as a symbolic attack, a "chipping away" at the spirit of the holiday, especially since many people no longer get MLK Day off work. The speaker feels these seemingly small, absurd actions accumulate, leading to a sense of being worn down.

"anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how incredibly expensive it is to be poor but the second part of that quote is really resonant for me in this moment which is and if one is a member of a captive population economically speaking one's feet have simply been placed on the treadmill forever and just thinking about all of the conversation we've had about how extractive this current model and phase of capitalism is how so many of us are going to have to work for longer in order to

Resources

External Resources

Books

"Tails" by Cards Against Humanity - Mentioned as a new game for purchase.

Articles & Papers

"The dollar store misplaces more mom and pop shops than Walmart" - Mentioned as the speaker's very first article.
"Study on the popularity of children" - Mentioned as the basis for a University of Oklahoma student's essay.

People

Shug Knight - Mentioned in a discussion about villains and public appetite for certain types of figures.
Tony Morrison - Mentioned in the context of intellectual critique and social media storms.
James Baldwin - Quoted regarding the expense of poverty and being part of a captive population.
Donald Trump Jr. - Mentioned as having joined the advisory board of Kalshi.
Lucious Massacre - Mentioned as a trans drag queen who reviews retail products, serving as a source of joy and an example of someone who could highlight predatory company behavior.
Cat Black - Mentioned as a trans YouTuber who read the essay from the University of Oklahoma student.
Erika Kirk - Mentioned as an example of a conservative pundit whose creation is questioned.
Charlie Kirk - Mentioned as an example of a conservative pundit whose creation is questioned.
Stevie Wonder - Mentioned for singing the "Happy Birthday" song.
Robert E. Lee - Mentioned in the context of potential swap-outs for national park holidays.
Jason Lee - Mentioned as an example of someone who moved from gossip to political power.
Dame Dash - Mentioned in relation to public appetite for certain types of figures.
Young Thug - Mentioned as an artist still having a hit, indicating public appetite for certain figures.
Kendrick Lamar - Mentioned in relation to dethroning Drake based on specific lyrical content.
Drake - Mentioned as being dethroned by Kendrick Lamar.
Ryan Reynolds - Mentioned as a spokesperson for Mint Mobile.
Abby Phillips - Mentioned in relation to a black woman's critique of her as entertainment rather than news.
Elon Musk - Mentioned in relation to Cards Against Humanity suing him for trespassing.
Donald Trump - Mentioned in relation to Cards Against Humanity standing up to him and his birthday being Flag Day.
Diddy - Mentioned extensively in relation to a documentary about him, his career, and public perception.
Cassie - Mentioned in relation to a video that made it hard for Diddy to return to public favor.
50 Cent - Mentioned in relation to financing a documentary about Diddy and appearing on cable news.
Russell Simmons - Mentioned in relation to a documentary about his abuse of power.
Drew Dixon - Mentioned as the person who did the project on Russell Simmons.
Epstein - Mentioned in relation to public interest in salacious details and the idea of "Epstein files."
Michelle Obama - Mentioned in relation to the Obama Foundation.
Barack Obama - Mentioned in relation to the Obama Foundation.
Kamala Harris - Mentioned in relation to predatory governments and marketplaces.
The Barefoot Contessa - Mentioned as the host of a podcast episode.
Aarron - Mentioned as a co-host of the Hysteria podcast.
Alyssa - Mentioned as a co-host of the Hysteria podcast.
Miles - Mentioned as a participant in the podcast discussion.
Sharonda - Mentioned as a participant in the podcast discussion.
Duray - Mentioned as a participant in the podcast discussion.
Bell Hooks - Mentioned in relation to her writings on white supremacist dominant patriarchy.

Organizations & Institutions

Cards Against Humanity - Mentioned as a company that bought land on the US-Mexico border, sued Elon Musk, used profits to fund abortion access, and paid people to care about the 2024 election.
Crooked Media - Mentioned as the producer of the podcast.
Pantone - Mentioned for announcing "Cloud Dancer" (white) as the color of the year.
Essence - Mentioned in relation to its response to Pantone's color of the year and alignment with white supremacy.
University of Oklahoma - Mentioned as the location of a student's controversial essay.
CNN - Mentioned for its new partnership with a prediction market.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) - Mentioned as an organization fighting to preserve constitutional freedoms.
Mint Mobile - Mentioned as a company offering unlimited wireless for $15 a month.
Dollar General - Mentioned extensively regarding overcharging customers and its business practices.
Family Dollar - Mentioned in relation to price inspection failures.
Uber - Mentioned in relation to dynamic pricing based on phone battery levels.
Lyft - Mentioned in relation to dynamic pricing based on phone battery levels.
Kalshi - Mentioned as a prediction market platform partnering with CNN.
The Obama Foundation - Mentioned as an organization lifting up emerging leaders.
Morgan & Morgan - Mentioned as America's largest injury law firm.
The New School - Mentioned as the institution where the speaker was an adjunct professor.
UC Santa Cruz - Mentioned as a liberal or progressive school the speaker attended.
American Eagle - Mentioned as a brand that implies white eagle and white supremacy.

Tools & Software

Pro Football Focus (PFF) - Mentioned as a data source for player grading.

Websites & Online Resources

Spill - Mentioned as a platform where Sharonda Bassier can be found.
LinkedIn - Mentioned as a platform where Sharonda Bassier can be found.
Instagram - Mentioned as a platform where Sharonda Bassier can be found.
Twitter - Mentioned as a platform where Duray and Miles can be found.
Obama.org/youth - Mentioned as the website to learn more about the Obama Foundation.
Mintmobile.com - Mentioned as the website to try Mint Mobile.
Strawberry.me/pscp - Mentioned as the website to get a discount on a coaching session.
ForThepeople.com - Mentioned as the website for Morgan & Morgan.

Podcasts & Audio

Pod Save the People - Mentioned as the podcast being discussed.
Hysteria - Mentioned as a podcast with a new episode featuring the Barefoot Contessa.
Scam Goddess - Mentioned as a podcast hosted by Lacy Mosley.

Other Resources

Cloud Dancer - Mentioned as the official name for Pantone's color of the year, white.
Black Excellence - Mentioned as a concept used by Essence.
Sunken Place - Mentioned as a concept from the movie "Get Out," used metaphorically.
White Supremacy - Mentioned as a concept discussed throughout the episode.
Gender Abolition - Mentioned as a concept related to trans and queer movements.
Birthright Citizenship - Mentioned as a concept challenged by Trump.
14th Amendment - Mentioned in relation to birthright citizenship.
Flag Day - Mentioned in relation to Trump's birthday and national park access.
MLK Day - Mentioned in relation to national park access.
Juneteenth - Mentioned in relation to national park access.
The Numbers - Mentioned as a form of gambling that can fund public education.
AI - Mentioned as a potential bubble.
EBT - Mentioned in relation to Amazon's acceptance of it and potential for price discrimination.
Dynamic Pricing - Mentioned as a pricing strategy used by companies.
Gig work - Mentioned as a way for people to survive financially.
Prediction Markets - Mentioned as a platform for predicting outcomes, with a partnership with CNN.
Lottery - Mentioned as a form of gambling that can fund public education.
White Mess - Mentioned as a concept the speaker is using in contrast to "Black Excellence."
Gendered Mess - Mentioned as a concept relevant to discussions in America.
Tin Foil Hat/Brain - Mentioned as a metaphor for a conspiratorial or alternative analysis.
Invisible First Amendment - Mentioned as a concept related to white privilege.
American Symbolism - Mentioned in relation to understanding the meaning of the American flag.