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This week we talk to Cy Canterel (again!), about her recent video essay “Epstein, Elite Power Networks, and The Utility of Disgrace.” Cy is a New Orleans-based “feral scholar,” a media theorist/technologist decoding systems of power and meaning. We discussed:
* World Systems Theory as a map for understanding elite power: How Immanuel Wallerstein’s framework reveals the parallel reality inhabited by the ultra-wealthy—a class that exists “state-free” by choice, moving agnostically between systems to extract resources
* What the Epstein emails actually reveal: Beyond individual scandals, the documents show systematic patterns of how power consolidates—from the differential treatment of “core,” “semi-peripheral,” and “peripheral” actors to the strategic uses of disgrace itself
* The death of meritocracy: How discovering the emotional immaturity, illiteracy, and sheer cognitive dysfunction behind some of our most powerful institutions forces us to confront what we were really being acculturated into
* From neoliberalism to what comes next: Why it’s crucial not to reject everything that came before, and what figures like Zohran Mamdani might signal about a new paradigm that prioritizes collective flourishing over individual charisma
* Self-regulation as revolutionary act: How showing up with a “still center” in the face of chaos—without capitulating or getting mealy-mouthed about principles—offers a model we desperately need
Listen to Cy and get the whole archive of What Rough Beast and Magic and Loss for just 75% off!
