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Hurkle-Durkle, Tradwives, and Hikikomori for White Women: Exploring Internet Subculture with Suzy Weiss
In this fascinating discussion with journalist Suzy Weiss, Malcolm and Simone dive into a range of internet subcultures and trends, from "Hercule Derkle" and the death of wellness culture to tradwives and the rise of unwellness influencers. They explore how ancient concepts like Wu Wei and Shabbat are being misappropriated to justify modern hedonism and the implications of a society where basic needs can be met without leaving one's bedroom. The conversation also touches on the contradictions of feminism, the allure of communal living, and the future of reproduction in an age of womb transplants and artificial wombs. Throughout the episode, the trio grapples with the ways in which these online phenomena reflect broader cultural shifts and the search for meaning in an increasingly atomized world.
Suzy Weiss: [00:00:00] Yeah, there's also like this weird way that medieval debunked science is being repackaged in the wellness world. Hikikomori, for those who don't know are, mostly men in Japan who are shut ins, they don't leave their room for years, sometimes at a time, their parents bring them food, they play video games, they're totally addicted to their screens, Japan is 10 years ahead of us in everything.
Malcolm Collins: Yeah. No, and fertility collapse
Suzy Weiss: fast food tastes like food enough, but it's not food and video games feel like problem solving and engaging, but it's really not doing those things.
And he described it as this slack noose around his neck where he technically forgot all of the things fulfilled. He was talking to people, he was eating, he was alive in the world, but at this really not at what's the word I'm looking for, like not at the level of.
Of actually living but not enough that he would go and change it. Like it wasn't dire enough.
Would you like to know more?
Simone Collins: Hi everyone. We are so excited to have our favorite writer on the podcast, Susie Weiss. She's with The Free Press. You can find her on [00:01:00] Twitter slash x.
At Snoozy Weiss. And she has written some amazing pieces. We first discovered her through this mind blowing article on Spoonies. But more recently, she wrote about a different type of kind of self care culture that we thought would be really fun to discuss today. Particularly referring to hergaldergal as a trending term, but also like bed rot and quiet quitting show up in the article as well.
Suzy Weiss: Yeah.
Simone Collins: We'd love to talk about this with you because there's so much going on here.
Suzy Weiss: We're really going to, we're going to get into tradwives. We're going to get, everyone should buckle up for a ride through the internet.
Simone Collins: You had this great quote in there, didn't you say something like tradwives are the girl bosses of the home or something?
Tradwives are the girl bosses of the, they're not different. They are. They're just villainized women. 100%. We're trying
Suzy Weiss: to get what they want, which is, I thought, what we all want, but I guess not.
Simone Collins: Yeah, well they're having it all, they're having it all in the home, yeah.
Malcolm Collins: If you go what you want. Well, it's so interesting the way that society is so [00:02:00] politicized that every subculture has a team.
And depending on what team you are in, that subculture is either an evil or good subculture from the perspective of each team. Yeah, the hustlers
Simone Collins: versus the quiet quitters and the trad wives versus the soft girls and yeah, there's, has to be this
Malcolm Collins: Yeah, it's actually almost odd when there are un teamified subcultures, like MLMs.
MLMs isn't explicitly a right or left th
Published on 1 year, 6 months ago