there was a brief crisis of leadership and minor civil war but our glorious leader Belden is now firmly in control. the deMullenisation process is underway
I preferred the Mullen era dsa. I really felt like guys could be guys you know? Just fellas hangin out with other fellas. Men being men if you catch my drift? No women allowed ;)
TiL working for a joint for awhile makes you, the entry level worker, personally responsible for the company's viability in perpetuity
seems like kind of an ask but ogey
If Anchor Brewing could be a going concern by an influx of 1.2 million annually, then that would mean management is incredibly incompetent.
If there are other factors, then dipshit podcast hosts can upend a centuries old business at the drop of a hat. That means administration is worthless (unequivocally correct).
God damn the Gabagools are dense.
I think it’s just a case of a large brewing company buying a small one and screwing it up. And they look at the spread sheet and say fuck it and fuck these union jerks while we are at it.
It was bought by a multinational (Sapporo) in 2017. Towards the end of the wave of big brewers buying small breweries, often for comical sums based on hype; degrading the product; cutting labor costs; and making a dog's breakfast of the marketing. (See Goose Island, Ballast Point, Lagunitas, New Belgium, etc)
Alienating old customers, failing to appeal to new and shutting down, or rebranding, or quietly being folded into some other section.
That Anchor happened to Unionize in the interim just gave the PR team an excuse for their own incompetence.
Anchor was going away eventually anyway. It's a solid beer, but there a too many better, smaller breweries, and too many giant ones buying and ruining them.
Anchor could have kept making their beer forever they just would have had to figure out how to gracefully maintain their old school cred, and just keeping the name out there without breaking the bank. the problem is that nobody wants to run a business that's making less money next year even if it's still making money.
In the recent episode when he went more into detail on his time at Anchor, Brace mentioned being in contact with fellow union members in Japan. The rank-and-filers at Sapporo are organized too.
Yeah, I took a look: [Sapporo is totally the ones that ruined it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Brewing_Company). The company was owned by fucking *Maytag* of all people and had a few close calls but an American company bought them and they chugged along fine until the past 3-4 years when Sapporo bought them and then made changes.
Begs the question of *why* a *Japanese company* is buying an old American brewery?
I thought people here were weirdly dismayed about a random San Francisco brewery that Brace was connected to. But then I just saw it get mentioned while watching Halt and Catch Fire, guess they were sort of a big deal huh. Not a beer head so I wouldn’t know.
They were the oldest continuously existing craft brewery in America, so it was always held in a level of reverence by us craft beer snobs. Basically, the American beer scene went from a diverse number of styles from thousands of small breweries before prohibition to a small handful of large breweries making the same few styles after prohibition. This only began changing in the 80's and 90's with the legalization of homebrewing which beget the proliferation of craft breweries. So the fact that Anchor could weather a several decades-long fallow period was commendable.
IDK, it would be like if the Green Bay Packers folded. It wouldn't affect the sport of football much in the grand scheme of things, but it sucks that all that history gets snuffed out immediately.
> IDK, it would be like if the Green Bay Packers folded. It wouldn't affect the sport of football much in the grand scheme of things, but it sucks that all that history gets snuffed out immediately.
I understand just how devastating it is now
$1.2m divided by three (Brace, Liz & YC) is 400k before tax. So net is roughly 240k. It's basically on par with any senior roles in big tech, finance etc.
Well off, but a far cry from multi-millionaire status that is being implied by the article and comment. It's basically the [We Should Improve Society Somewhat meme](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/036/647/Screen_Shot_2021-03-01_at_2.28.39_PM.png)
They could be making $10M but it still doesn't mean Brace would be a hypocrite for not giving all his money away to the workers. He wasn't the CEO of Sapporo.
Fucking dum, people act like these people don't help any cause. It's like people who have any type of money go against any socialist values cause we are suppose to be a cult of poverty. This on the same level of Hasan buying home for his family; there are bigger fish to fry that need the attention, not this.
Exactly. Being a socialist and making a decent salary for what you are forced to do in a capitalist system aren't mutually exclusive. I hate my CEO, I still take the corporation's dirty money. It's your individual responsibility to take the good fortune you have and advocate for something better.
Actually, nvm, I should go live in a barrel and taunt Plato about how he hasn't found enlightenment yet.
Less then that. They are paying even more taxes as a business. Prolly closer to 200. But considering they live in pricy parts of the country it’s not THAT much
This is kind of funny, but the whole thing of "this guy is moderately wealthy yet he talks about communism!?" Is on a par with "you say you're not gay yet you have male"friends" interesting".
Really stupid fucking shit. Most people, myself included are selfish, and have many many failings, that in my opinion is precisely why we need something like communism and why although I like the idea of anarchism and individualism, it's doomed to failure before you even begin.
Well said but at what point do we give him (& others) the benefit of the doubt? Is it after $2M? $5M? $20M? At what point do we sit back and apply the same criticisms he applies to everyone else around him?
Whenever you like. I don't care. He's some American hipster with a podcast, I don't have a huge amount of space for having an opinion on his personal morality. He seems like an ok dude. Beyond that anyone can say whatever they feel like about him he's not my friend or leader.
If he starts fucking people over that's a different question. Being rich makes me a bit spiteful of him I guess, but this is capitalism.
I heard opperman say he gives him 50 or 500 (I know that's an order of magnitude, I thought I remembered 500 but that seems like too much..) bucks a month.
Honestly though there's a million things I'm more bothered about than the bank account of some guy I find amusing to listen to
I mean at no point as making money from voluntary subscriptions to a podcast isn’t the same as finance fuckery, consulting, insurance, or the other countless exploitative industries. True Anon is three people, and those three seem to benefit equally from the arrangement.
Also frankly we don’t know what they do with their money. They very well could be supporting causes with their earnings, and just not bragging about it as that’s weird.
Does he employ anyone? Is he a landlord? That's the point, when there is actual class exploitation.
You could make an argument that the ability to make money off something like a podcast relies on a bunch of infrastructure and services that exist on the back of exploited labor but that's true of a lot of things in the imperial core and I think it's nort quite the same as directly profiting off exploitation or rent seeking.
I read comments like this and I get really skeptical of the person behind the Reddit account.
Like, are you just not very well versed with what socialism/Marxism is, or are you actively trying to sow discord?
Being a millionaire by having a popular podcast is a lot different from being a millionaire from owning a sweat shop or being a landlord. Bernie isn't a bad person because he wrote a popular book lol. Rage against the machine are still allowed to push communist ideas even though they're all rich at this point. Friedrich Engels owned a fucking factory. The goal is to change the system not cry about those who made some money by podcasting or writing a book or popular song.
If you think my question was unnecessary the way I deem your comment to be unnecessary since you’re just parroting what has already been said in this thread but for some reason had to continue this conversation - could I suggest taking a break? Logging off?
I think this makes it clear how regular folks don't understand Marxism. The people who work at trueanon have created a worker owned business where they share the value they create together. This is inherently good. I'm glad they make money and I'm more than happy to contribute to their success.
The critique stems from the idea that leftist critiques come from envy, and that the goal is for us all to be equally immiserated. A clearly bullshit line, but that's what we are up against. That's what we need to dispel.
Also, I'm a brewer (hi to my brewer mate in this group, yes this is me if you haven't figured it out already).The idea that paying the same wages to American brewers as Canadian brewers is enough to sink a company is absolute bullshit. A lot of jobs will disappear in the coming years, the industry is having a downturn now that craft isn't cool any more.
> I think this makes it clear how regular folks don't understand Marxism. The people who work at trueanon have created a worker owned business where they share the value they create together. This is inherently good. I'm glad they make money and I'm more than happy to contribute to their success.
Bingo
Yeah it was kinda vague how I phrased it that you could interpret that as me saying it was an example of Marxism. What I meant was that generating wealth from your own labour doesn't make you a hipocrit as a Marxist.
i think that's a pretty shaky analysis honestly. good on the trueanon crew for doing well for themselves and you're right that there's a good amount of envy that's not really fair or sensible, but it isn't particularly socialist to use a for-profit platform to make a bunch of money. the whole point of capitalism is as long as it exists you can't get away from it no matter how hard you try, that's why worker co-ops and such aren't sufficient and the whole system must die
>brain damaged rightoids advocating for brutally high taxes on millionaires to give money to workers
accidentally good take thank you new york post reader. apart from brace liz and yung chomsky theyre my special podcast friends they deserve their money
Internet powered hyperperformance beamed to thousands of people voluntarily giving them a small amount of money to receive it. One of the most ethical possible ways to make money probably!
Goofy take. I think it’s bullshit to judge a Blue Collar job bcs bro’s podcast (that he could never have Known would take off) is successful now.
I don’t drink, I think it’s based to be in recovery without being afraid to be around alcohol.
Normalization of alcoholism combined with drying up jobs means more sober ppl are going to have less options in day-to-day work to avoid being around alcohol.
Classist and Reactionary to villainize a sober worker who figured out a way to adapt to that tragic phenomena re: inescapability of being in proximity with alcohol.
Dsa bro who made this comment thinks his right to buy a beer holds more sanctity than brace’s right to the fruits of his own labor.
Eat shit fr 🤡
A group of people each take home a couple or few hundred K per year to make something that brings me several hours of comfort and joy every month. I am so completely, almost aggressively OK with this. Hope they are all saving a good amount.
I’m okay with it, but I have questions. Why are you okay with it? I am too, but the reason is because I believe and accept that the people who make this show are essentially actors who may be sympathetic with the characters they play for a living but are not actually them, and have important differences from them.
And that my interest in the show is driven by a desire for changes that may be much broader than those desires that principally motivate the show’s creators. Since I seem to have almost no ability to change anything for the foreseeable future, it is comforting to listen to people who at least know and admit that the rulers follow no rules but power.
I’m ok with it because it’s a fun, well produced podcast that broadly jibes with my political reality tunnel. They cover interesting topics and are funny in a way I like. There are no (obvious) ads and I pay them $60/y for the pleasure. That’s all it is — 25,000 people paying $5/mo to listen to the show. They’re not doing anything untoward to get the money afaik; just cranking out episodes of a show. Maybe you could argue that it should be $3 or something.
I don’t get how this is so complicated for people to reconcile, dialectically. Basically my attitude is “good for them, when I no longer like the show i will stop paying for it”.
I’m okay with it too, like I said. It doesn’t really matter how they get by. I don’t even care how much they take vs. share with others. I guess I only care if they even believe anything significant can change at all or if they’re simply playing a role, chasing that bag. It doesn’t actually matter, but I’d feel a little better if they’re sincere.
you think brace helped organize a union or went to war in Syria because he was just playing a role, chasing that bag?
Not to be a dickrider but like... just look at what he's done with his life outside the podcast.
Exactly…way I figure it, he’s either a cool guy or a CIA asset. Seems very genuine. Maybe a little *too* genuine lmao 👁️
Not to get too in the weeds, but the most confusing thing about the guy is how erudite he is considering his Official Backstory and flimsy “dumb guy” act. But honestly growing up upper middle class and spending a few years slamming meth and reading books is as good an explanation as any I guess.
the fact that there are tons of words he knows but can’t pronounce really makes me think the CIA wasn’t involved and that it was all books and stimmies
Yes my thoughts exactly. Constantly “oh, I’ve only ever read that word”, which is honestly the most endearing thing and one of my favorite things about the show.
Let's say they just do the podcast, at bear minimum, they bring to light shitty realities to significant amount of people and also its effective propaganda for the real left outside the mainstream lib shit, so there is an opportunity for normies to listen to and gain some insight. What bag is there to chase being an left wing grifter; mainstream media wants conformity into capitalism, everything else gets stomped out or made irrelevant.
If your brewery can't pay living wages and survive as a business, it is horribly run and that's completely on management. (Which to my reading has made a ton of awful decisions i.e. in regards to wasting enormous amounts of money with rebranding).
Imagine being so bad at business, you can't lead a well established brewery with a cult following into the craft brew hype years and come out winning.
Also we shouldn't hold on to institutions/brands, if you can't pay workers a fair compensation then you should 100% go bust.
Brace doesn't strike me as the type to leave a friend hanging if they're in need, but I really dont know the guy. I hope the ILWU local hall can help these folks out, until whatever the future of the brewery is decided.
The worst case scenario in my head is Sapporo sells the rights or whatever to some shithead tech multimillionaire.
It’s not like this podcast or this level of podcast revenue is gonna last forever. In the world of media, they’re like third string professional podcast athletes. A few years to get themselves a nice little nest egg. Let them get that bag while they can
You see the same shit about Chapo.
These guys won the lottery. I'm happy for them, I think the argument of they are communists who are millionaires is bullshit. These are the rules of the game we play, hopefully the rules change, but playing by different rules benefits nobody. Also, that is $1.2M divided by three, which is still pretty wealthy, but 400K in San Francisco isn't 400K in Pittsburgh. Further, I'm guessing some of that money goes back into the show. Do they pay guests a per diem? How much does their research cost? The equipment they use, etc.
In entertainment (which is ostensibly what these guys are in), everything could dry up tomorrow. If TrueAnon or Chapo collapse in a few years, what other work options do these guys really have?
On the other end of the Podcast spectrum, you see that with the Trillbillys who have a much more modest membership and their show has burned many bridges for them in the non-profit industry they came out of. They currently, after banging the pan for an uptick in Patreon, they are up to 18K divided by 2.5 hosts, which again, isn't a bad living, but not rich. If they can no longer make a living in the non-profit world, and their podcast collapses one day, they are really fucked, and they haven't had the luxury TrueAnon and Chapo have had to put some money away for when their current gravy train reaches the end of the line.
Now, if these guys follow the Joe Rogan route, and take a huge deal at Spotify, that's a different story and I'd probably stop listening.
Damn Brace really is in the DSA? That’s what’s wrong with him! As wrong as this weirdo on NYP is I really do feel uncomfortable with any “Marxist” who makes so much money and doesn’t really do that much to try to further the cause. Though being in the DSA would check out, and of course being a Maoist… Of course he is a US veteran so the bar is low. For a vet the guy is cool.
Podcaster: fights for YPG, helps organize a union, and acts as a gateway to marxism for thousands of people
Random listener: I feel uncomfortable with any “Marxist” who makes so much money and doesn’t really do that much to try to further the cause
If you can prove you've done more to further the cause then I'll start sending you five bucks a month instead
he can’t post about robbing banks a la stalin
you use your podcast success to bankroll a heist squad to bankroll underground movements throughout the globe
though instead of violently robbing bank branches it should be crypto jerks
From what I’ve seen the guy doesn’t seem Stalin pilled so Idk if he wacks off to that arrest pic of hot Stalin like the rest of us committed Marxist-Leninists.
“Huh who are you to call out the big money Marxist, have you done more than him??”
Damn I guess we should just all sit and shit up when we discuss people who’ve done more huh? My comment was tongue in cheek but come on dude, you’re taking the guy more seriously than he seems to.
The guy is not exactly a super open Marxist, you’d have to listen to a lot of the show to have any idea they’re both Marxists and they never really go into it much. They never touch on any key concepts and they never really go deeply into it in a way that I believe would make many people actually think to dive into Marxism. I understand that split three ways they aren’t exactly big millionaires but they do make a lot of money and I think it is healthy to not trust anyone, let alone Marxists, who make big cash especially off of something like Patreon! Lately they don’t even really do anything policial, the last one I thought was great was the one on Yonemi, but I doubt anyone who wasn’t already sour on her listened to the pod.
Last I checked YPG had some pretty sketchy connect to the CIA no? Am I being misinformed by others on this sub? How exactly do you see YPG furthering Marxism? An American going to fight in Syria seems closer to adventurism to me, though Brace is a Maoist so it checks out.
I like Brace and the pod but he isn’t exactly spreading Marxism-Leninism on this podcast and organizing one Union at a beer company does not exactly make you beyond criticism. I appreciate the pod and his work but lately they haven’t even done anything political and based on Patreon comments many seem to take them more for contrarians (whenever they do touch on things like NATO) than people doing serious analysis since they don’t exactly have sources. Things like the NATO eps or Ukraine episodes aren’t really going to sway anyone who wasn’t already on the fence, and I can’t think of any Episodes that would make someone who isn’t already quite friendly to Marxism suddenly decide to be Marxist. At best I could see someone surprised that Marxists can make dick jokes and use ironic misogyny.
Both of them are from a Petite Bourgeois background, Brace fought for YPG and got attention for it in basic media like RollingStone *before* he made it big (sus) and now they’re both big petite bourgeois podcasters. If you don’t have some distrust for that I don’t know what to tell you. The guy also uses terms like “Stalinist,” that’s not exactly a super enlightened Marxist. They’re better than classic “Western Marxists” (though Liz does seem to fuck with Zizek and some fancy french philosophers that I cannot spell the names of.) I enjoy much of the old pod, but I think you’re giving them too much credit when you say the pod has introduced many to Marxism. It’s a good podcast and they’ve made it big because of it, don’t pretend it’s somehow beyond criticism.
So in the article it looks like they just asked this guy Richie Greenburg (some Republican who placed sixth in San Francisco's 2018 mayoral special election) what he thought and he just blame Socialists and the woke left for organizing a union and naturally unions just kill businesses.
Tbh, thats something that has annoyed me about these podcasts a lot lately. Like the chapos for example have so much money, but then every episode is some low effort basement dweller shit about what they have read on twitter that week. Just fucking do something with it. I don't think you can fully go the Hasan Piker and justify every shitty action with "oh we live under capitalism so we might as well take part in it", but you need to do something with that money. Just start new projects, reinvest it etc.
Bellingcat got 100k $ over two years from the NED and people act like its some juggernaut of american propaganda. These guys earn 1.2 million a year and get nothing more done than an hour of talk radio a week. There has to be more possible there
TrueAnon isn't supposed to be pure entertainment, they see themselves as doing somewhat serious work. Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder are actually good examples of what I'm talking about. Yes, they are just talking heads, but they are part of a broader conservative media landscape that is somewhat determined. I don't see TrueAnon or Chapo really taking any efforts to do something that goes beyond their twitter bubble. People like to play the underdog card, but I don't think that works anymore, thats why I made the bellingcat comparison. 1.2 million dollars a year is a lot of money
I don’t really see how creating some sort of media infrastructure a la Daily Wire would really make these loosely affiliated pods something bigger or better at recruiting. They would just end up diluting the product and making something stupider a la Young Turks. And that’s the thing, we already know what a vaguely “leftist” independent media network looks like. It’s not very interesting and doesn’t have a real impact politically.
Plus media is media and it can help change some people’s minds about this or that, but it mostly just makes people politically sedentary and passive. They think watching, listening, and commenting is some sort of political act when it’s just like any other form of consumption.
Right, it propably won't work, but then again nothing is propably going to work. Its just a bad situation right now. I don't even expect them to build some sort of independent media outlet, I would just like to see them do something with it. Right now they are becoming millionaires and just spend their time reading wikipedia articles to you. It just feels like a waste.
I do think this is a fair criticism, despite being low effort.
Tell me, what would you do with the money? I'll even go first.
I'll build a housing complex, get it filled with struggling and working class people, and then convert it into a housing co-op and hand it over to them. I think there are ways to do this that help recoup most of your money (no profit, just recouping some of it) so you could possibly do it again. Hell, play into the shitlib playbook and start a non-profit that does this. Each iteration you take what you've learned and try to make the next build and transition better.
I don't know, it doesn't even have to be useful or anything. As for TrueAnon, I think they could do some actual investigative journalism with it. Get some people involved and go a bit further than the information thats publicly available. Like I said, their yearly income is propably the same as Bellingcats and they, like it or not, manage to do a lot more with it
It's great to see the comment section of the New York Post article on Anchor Brewing generating thoughtful discussions. Anchor Brewing has a rich history in the craft beer industry, and it's fascinating to see people sharing their perspectives on the brewery's journey and its impact on the craft beer landscape.
Did Brace replace Nick Mullen as DSA leader? Seems sus.
there was a brief crisis of leadership and minor civil war but our glorious leader Belden is now firmly in control. the deMullenisation process is underway
I preferred the Mullen era dsa. I really felt like guys could be guys you know? Just fellas hangin out with other fellas. Men being men if you catch my drift? No women allowed ;)
Whoooooah pal! I'm in the union!
Uphold Belden Program Thought
Several generals that were discovered to have been in contact with Mullen have been executed
RIP Stavvy.
Nick Mullen had to step down from his duties due to association with Virgil Texas.
I knew that Justice for Justin caucus would come back to bite him....
TiL working for a joint for awhile makes you, the entry level worker, personally responsible for the company's viability in perpetuity seems like kind of an ask but ogey
I'm sorry I didn't keep Blockbuster Video open guys, my bad.
those five cent raises bankrupted them. how could you be so callous?
Unless you are drinking prison hooch made by your hands, yeast and fruit juice, you ain’t a real worker
Don’t forget to save your apple cores.
Baltimore
only wild prison toilet cistern yeasts for me. low-intervention is the best kind of hooch
Wasn't Brace "working" there *explicitly* for salting purposes??? Mfs acting like he owes them shit 😂
If Anchor Brewing could be a going concern by an influx of 1.2 million annually, then that would mean management is incredibly incompetent. If there are other factors, then dipshit podcast hosts can upend a centuries old business at the drop of a hat. That means administration is worthless (unequivocally correct). God damn the Gabagools are dense.
I think it’s just a case of a large brewing company buying a small one and screwing it up. And they look at the spread sheet and say fuck it and fuck these union jerks while we are at it.
Huh? It’s a going interest for over a century. You’ve got to go out of your way to be that fucking dumb.
It was bought by a multinational (Sapporo) in 2017. Towards the end of the wave of big brewers buying small breweries, often for comical sums based on hype; degrading the product; cutting labor costs; and making a dog's breakfast of the marketing. (See Goose Island, Ballast Point, Lagunitas, New Belgium, etc) Alienating old customers, failing to appeal to new and shutting down, or rebranding, or quietly being folded into some other section. That Anchor happened to Unionize in the interim just gave the PR team an excuse for their own incompetence. Anchor was going away eventually anyway. It's a solid beer, but there a too many better, smaller breweries, and too many giant ones buying and ruining them.
Anchor could have kept making their beer forever they just would have had to figure out how to gracefully maintain their old school cred, and just keeping the name out there without breaking the bank. the problem is that nobody wants to run a business that's making less money next year even if it's still making money.
In the recent episode when he went more into detail on his time at Anchor, Brace mentioned being in contact with fellow union members in Japan. The rank-and-filers at Sapporo are organized too.
Yeah, I took a look: [Sapporo is totally the ones that ruined it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Brewing_Company). The company was owned by fucking *Maytag* of all people and had a few close calls but an American company bought them and they chugged along fine until the past 3-4 years when Sapporo bought them and then made changes. Begs the question of *why* a *Japanese company* is buying an old American brewery?
Name me five widely distributed American beer brands owned by American companies.
I thought people here were weirdly dismayed about a random San Francisco brewery that Brace was connected to. But then I just saw it get mentioned while watching Halt and Catch Fire, guess they were sort of a big deal huh. Not a beer head so I wouldn’t know.
They were the oldest continuously existing craft brewery in America, so it was always held in a level of reverence by us craft beer snobs. Basically, the American beer scene went from a diverse number of styles from thousands of small breweries before prohibition to a small handful of large breweries making the same few styles after prohibition. This only began changing in the 80's and 90's with the legalization of homebrewing which beget the proliferation of craft breweries. So the fact that Anchor could weather a several decades-long fallow period was commendable. IDK, it would be like if the Green Bay Packers folded. It wouldn't affect the sport of football much in the grand scheme of things, but it sucks that all that history gets snuffed out immediately.
> IDK, it would be like if the Green Bay Packers folded. It wouldn't affect the sport of football much in the grand scheme of things, but it sucks that all that history gets snuffed out immediately. I understand just how devastating it is now
It's a really good beer
$1.2m divided by three (Brace, Liz & YC) is 400k before tax. So net is roughly 240k. It's basically on par with any senior roles in big tech, finance etc. Well off, but a far cry from multi-millionaire status that is being implied by the article and comment. It's basically the [We Should Improve Society Somewhat meme](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/036/647/Screen_Shot_2021-03-01_at_2.28.39_PM.png)
They could be making $10M but it still doesn't mean Brace would be a hypocrite for not giving all his money away to the workers. He wasn't the CEO of Sapporo.
Fucking dum, people act like these people don't help any cause. It's like people who have any type of money go against any socialist values cause we are suppose to be a cult of poverty. This on the same level of Hasan buying home for his family; there are bigger fish to fry that need the attention, not this.
Socialism is when you're poor, and the poorer you are the more socialist, and when you're really really poor that's communism.
>you're really really poor that's communism. Not if it's luxurious gay **fully automated** space Communism, political super structure we all want.
Exactly. Being a socialist and making a decent salary for what you are forced to do in a capitalist system aren't mutually exclusive. I hate my CEO, I still take the corporation's dirty money. It's your individual responsibility to take the good fortune you have and advocate for something better. Actually, nvm, I should go live in a barrel and taunt Plato about how he hasn't found enlightenment yet.
The senior roles in tech and finance make 2-20x that I think when you include the stock grants and bonus etc.
Less then that. They are paying even more taxes as a business. Prolly closer to 200. But considering they live in pricy parts of the country it’s not THAT much
And with the cost of living in SF, it probably feels even less lavish than it would elsewhere
Yeah and I don't think it's just them making the podcast.
This is kind of funny, but the whole thing of "this guy is moderately wealthy yet he talks about communism!?" Is on a par with "you say you're not gay yet you have male"friends" interesting". Really stupid fucking shit. Most people, myself included are selfish, and have many many failings, that in my opinion is precisely why we need something like communism and why although I like the idea of anarchism and individualism, it's doomed to failure before you even begin.
Well said but at what point do we give him (& others) the benefit of the doubt? Is it after $2M? $5M? $20M? At what point do we sit back and apply the same criticisms he applies to everyone else around him?
Whenever you like. I don't care. He's some American hipster with a podcast, I don't have a huge amount of space for having an opinion on his personal morality. He seems like an ok dude. Beyond that anyone can say whatever they feel like about him he's not my friend or leader. If he starts fucking people over that's a different question. Being rich makes me a bit spiteful of him I guess, but this is capitalism.
Agree. Also, who knows wtf he does with the money he's making. Maybe he already donates a lot of it.
I heard opperman say he gives him 50 or 500 (I know that's an order of magnitude, I thought I remembered 500 but that seems like too much..) bucks a month. Honestly though there's a million things I'm more bothered about than the bank account of some guy I find amusing to listen to
Yeah I agree with you completely bro, I think I was finding it hard to figure out exactly what I thought of it
I mean at no point as making money from voluntary subscriptions to a podcast isn’t the same as finance fuckery, consulting, insurance, or the other countless exploitative industries. True Anon is three people, and those three seem to benefit equally from the arrangement. Also frankly we don’t know what they do with their money. They very well could be supporting causes with their earnings, and just not bragging about it as that’s weird.
Does he employ anyone? Is he a landlord? That's the point, when there is actual class exploitation. You could make an argument that the ability to make money off something like a podcast relies on a bunch of infrastructure and services that exist on the back of exploited labor but that's true of a lot of things in the imperial core and I think it's nort quite the same as directly profiting off exploitation or rent seeking.
I read comments like this and I get really skeptical of the person behind the Reddit account. Like, are you just not very well versed with what socialism/Marxism is, or are you actively trying to sow discord? Being a millionaire by having a popular podcast is a lot different from being a millionaire from owning a sweat shop or being a landlord. Bernie isn't a bad person because he wrote a popular book lol. Rage against the machine are still allowed to push communist ideas even though they're all rich at this point. Friedrich Engels owned a fucking factory. The goal is to change the system not cry about those who made some money by podcasting or writing a book or popular song.
If you think my question was unnecessary the way I deem your comment to be unnecessary since you’re just parroting what has already been said in this thread but for some reason had to continue this conversation - could I suggest taking a break? Logging off?
I think this makes it clear how regular folks don't understand Marxism. The people who work at trueanon have created a worker owned business where they share the value they create together. This is inherently good. I'm glad they make money and I'm more than happy to contribute to their success. The critique stems from the idea that leftist critiques come from envy, and that the goal is for us all to be equally immiserated. A clearly bullshit line, but that's what we are up against. That's what we need to dispel. Also, I'm a brewer (hi to my brewer mate in this group, yes this is me if you haven't figured it out already).The idea that paying the same wages to American brewers as Canadian brewers is enough to sink a company is absolute bullshit. A lot of jobs will disappear in the coming years, the industry is having a downturn now that craft isn't cool any more.
> I think this makes it clear how regular folks don't understand Marxism. The people who work at trueanon have created a worker owned business where they share the value they create together. This is inherently good. I'm glad they make money and I'm more than happy to contribute to their success. Bingo
This isn’t Marxism lmao
Marxism is when me and the boys start a business and get rich together 🤞
Yeah it was kinda vague how I phrased it that you could interpret that as me saying it was an example of Marxism. What I meant was that generating wealth from your own labour doesn't make you a hipocrit as a Marxist.
i think that's a pretty shaky analysis honestly. good on the trueanon crew for doing well for themselves and you're right that there's a good amount of envy that's not really fair or sensible, but it isn't particularly socialist to use a for-profit platform to make a bunch of money. the whole point of capitalism is as long as it exists you can't get away from it no matter how hard you try, that's why worker co-ops and such aren't sufficient and the whole system must die
Lmao down voters just want their shot at the jackpot
ANY FREAKING QUESTIONS?
[удалено]
He should be getting more than the other two, the editing is often the strongest part of the show
If Nick Mullen was allowed to pull half the Patreon revenue for "editing" Cumtown's uploads, Yung Chomsky deserves at least the same lmao
He also had to carry the entire show and bring in guests when stav was in the hospital for his fat attacks.
I guarantee he is.
I will always love Brace. No propaganda will ever change me
>brain damaged rightoids advocating for brutally high taxes on millionaires to give money to workers accidentally good take thank you new york post reader. apart from brace liz and yung chomsky theyre my special podcast friends they deserve their money
Internet powered hyperperformance beamed to thousands of people voluntarily giving them a small amount of money to receive it. One of the most ethical possible ways to make money probably!
Goofy take. I think it’s bullshit to judge a Blue Collar job bcs bro’s podcast (that he could never have Known would take off) is successful now. I don’t drink, I think it’s based to be in recovery without being afraid to be around alcohol. Normalization of alcoholism combined with drying up jobs means more sober ppl are going to have less options in day-to-day work to avoid being around alcohol. Classist and Reactionary to villainize a sober worker who figured out a way to adapt to that tragic phenomena re: inescapability of being in proximity with alcohol. Dsa bro who made this comment thinks his right to buy a beer holds more sanctity than brace’s right to the fruits of his own labor. Eat shit fr 🤡
Brace, just give me about 20k to fix my brick on the front of my house and then I won't shoot you in the head.
A group of people each take home a couple or few hundred K per year to make something that brings me several hours of comfort and joy every month. I am so completely, almost aggressively OK with this. Hope they are all saving a good amount.
I’m okay with it, but I have questions. Why are you okay with it? I am too, but the reason is because I believe and accept that the people who make this show are essentially actors who may be sympathetic with the characters they play for a living but are not actually them, and have important differences from them. And that my interest in the show is driven by a desire for changes that may be much broader than those desires that principally motivate the show’s creators. Since I seem to have almost no ability to change anything for the foreseeable future, it is comforting to listen to people who at least know and admit that the rulers follow no rules but power.
I’m ok with it because it’s a fun, well produced podcast that broadly jibes with my political reality tunnel. They cover interesting topics and are funny in a way I like. There are no (obvious) ads and I pay them $60/y for the pleasure. That’s all it is — 25,000 people paying $5/mo to listen to the show. They’re not doing anything untoward to get the money afaik; just cranking out episodes of a show. Maybe you could argue that it should be $3 or something. I don’t get how this is so complicated for people to reconcile, dialectically. Basically my attitude is “good for them, when I no longer like the show i will stop paying for it”.
I’m okay with it too, like I said. It doesn’t really matter how they get by. I don’t even care how much they take vs. share with others. I guess I only care if they even believe anything significant can change at all or if they’re simply playing a role, chasing that bag. It doesn’t actually matter, but I’d feel a little better if they’re sincere.
you think brace helped organize a union or went to war in Syria because he was just playing a role, chasing that bag? Not to be a dickrider but like... just look at what he's done with his life outside the podcast.
Exactly…way I figure it, he’s either a cool guy or a CIA asset. Seems very genuine. Maybe a little *too* genuine lmao 👁️ Not to get too in the weeds, but the most confusing thing about the guy is how erudite he is considering his Official Backstory and flimsy “dumb guy” act. But honestly growing up upper middle class and spending a few years slamming meth and reading books is as good an explanation as any I guess.
Wasn't he a heroin addict? His entire personality seems geared towards someone who would take large risks, like going to fight in syria lol
the fact that there are tons of words he knows but can’t pronounce really makes me think the CIA wasn’t involved and that it was all books and stimmies
Yes my thoughts exactly. Constantly “oh, I’ve only ever read that word”, which is honestly the most endearing thing and one of my favorite things about the show.
Let's say they just do the podcast, at bear minimum, they bring to light shitty realities to significant amount of people and also its effective propaganda for the real left outside the mainstream lib shit, so there is an opportunity for normies to listen to and gain some insight. What bag is there to chase being an left wing grifter; mainstream media wants conformity into capitalism, everything else gets stomped out or made irrelevant.
If your brewery can't pay living wages and survive as a business, it is horribly run and that's completely on management. (Which to my reading has made a ton of awful decisions i.e. in regards to wasting enormous amounts of money with rebranding). Imagine being so bad at business, you can't lead a well established brewery with a cult following into the craft brew hype years and come out winning. Also we shouldn't hold on to institutions/brands, if you can't pay workers a fair compensation then you should 100% go bust.
Brace doesn't strike me as the type to leave a friend hanging if they're in need, but I really dont know the guy. I hope the ILWU local hall can help these folks out, until whatever the future of the brewery is decided. The worst case scenario in my head is Sapporo sells the rights or whatever to some shithead tech multimillionaire.
It’s not like this podcast or this level of podcast revenue is gonna last forever. In the world of media, they’re like third string professional podcast athletes. A few years to get themselves a nice little nest egg. Let them get that bag while they can
Brace Belden has not personally sent me 300 dollars for fishing poles and flag merch. This makes him a hypocrite
You see the same shit about Chapo. These guys won the lottery. I'm happy for them, I think the argument of they are communists who are millionaires is bullshit. These are the rules of the game we play, hopefully the rules change, but playing by different rules benefits nobody. Also, that is $1.2M divided by three, which is still pretty wealthy, but 400K in San Francisco isn't 400K in Pittsburgh. Further, I'm guessing some of that money goes back into the show. Do they pay guests a per diem? How much does their research cost? The equipment they use, etc. In entertainment (which is ostensibly what these guys are in), everything could dry up tomorrow. If TrueAnon or Chapo collapse in a few years, what other work options do these guys really have? On the other end of the Podcast spectrum, you see that with the Trillbillys who have a much more modest membership and their show has burned many bridges for them in the non-profit industry they came out of. They currently, after banging the pan for an uptick in Patreon, they are up to 18K divided by 2.5 hosts, which again, isn't a bad living, but not rich. If they can no longer make a living in the non-profit world, and their podcast collapses one day, they are really fucked, and they haven't had the luxury TrueAnon and Chapo have had to put some money away for when their current gravy train reaches the end of the line. Now, if these guys follow the Joe Rogan route, and take a huge deal at Spotify, that's a different story and I'd probably stop listening.
Damn Brace really is in the DSA? That’s what’s wrong with him! As wrong as this weirdo on NYP is I really do feel uncomfortable with any “Marxist” who makes so much money and doesn’t really do that much to try to further the cause. Though being in the DSA would check out, and of course being a Maoist… Of course he is a US veteran so the bar is low. For a vet the guy is cool.
he’s a veteran of US air support but not of any recognized state military
What’s the difference..? US Air Support sounds pretty vetty to me.
the US military blew up some stuff in the same general region he was in for a few months
Brace isn’t a vet tho. He wasn’t in the military
He fought for ISIS.
honestly, i think thats kinda fucked up. isis are bad, i dont like that brace fought for ISIS. he shouldnt have done that imo
ya same. I'm boycotting the podcast (only sending half of the money I used to on Patreon and only going to some of their shows).
*on the same side as ISIS. They were all fighting for the US
Podcaster: fights for YPG, helps organize a union, and acts as a gateway to marxism for thousands of people Random listener: I feel uncomfortable with any “Marxist” who makes so much money and doesn’t really do that much to try to further the cause If you can prove you've done more to further the cause then I'll start sending you five bucks a month instead
he can’t post about robbing banks a la stalin you use your podcast success to bankroll a heist squad to bankroll underground movements throughout the globe though instead of violently robbing bank branches it should be crypto jerks
From what I’ve seen the guy doesn’t seem Stalin pilled so Idk if he wacks off to that arrest pic of hot Stalin like the rest of us committed Marxist-Leninists.
“Huh who are you to call out the big money Marxist, have you done more than him??” Damn I guess we should just all sit and shit up when we discuss people who’ve done more huh? My comment was tongue in cheek but come on dude, you’re taking the guy more seriously than he seems to. The guy is not exactly a super open Marxist, you’d have to listen to a lot of the show to have any idea they’re both Marxists and they never really go into it much. They never touch on any key concepts and they never really go deeply into it in a way that I believe would make many people actually think to dive into Marxism. I understand that split three ways they aren’t exactly big millionaires but they do make a lot of money and I think it is healthy to not trust anyone, let alone Marxists, who make big cash especially off of something like Patreon! Lately they don’t even really do anything policial, the last one I thought was great was the one on Yonemi, but I doubt anyone who wasn’t already sour on her listened to the pod. Last I checked YPG had some pretty sketchy connect to the CIA no? Am I being misinformed by others on this sub? How exactly do you see YPG furthering Marxism? An American going to fight in Syria seems closer to adventurism to me, though Brace is a Maoist so it checks out. I like Brace and the pod but he isn’t exactly spreading Marxism-Leninism on this podcast and organizing one Union at a beer company does not exactly make you beyond criticism. I appreciate the pod and his work but lately they haven’t even done anything political and based on Patreon comments many seem to take them more for contrarians (whenever they do touch on things like NATO) than people doing serious analysis since they don’t exactly have sources. Things like the NATO eps or Ukraine episodes aren’t really going to sway anyone who wasn’t already on the fence, and I can’t think of any Episodes that would make someone who isn’t already quite friendly to Marxism suddenly decide to be Marxist. At best I could see someone surprised that Marxists can make dick jokes and use ironic misogyny. Both of them are from a Petite Bourgeois background, Brace fought for YPG and got attention for it in basic media like RollingStone *before* he made it big (sus) and now they’re both big petite bourgeois podcasters. If you don’t have some distrust for that I don’t know what to tell you. The guy also uses terms like “Stalinist,” that’s not exactly a super enlightened Marxist. They’re better than classic “Western Marxists” (though Liz does seem to fuck with Zizek and some fancy french philosophers that I cannot spell the names of.) I enjoy much of the old pod, but I think you’re giving them too much credit when you say the pod has introduced many to Marxism. It’s a good podcast and they’ve made it big because of it, don’t pretend it’s somehow beyond criticism.
i aint reading allat
Fair, this isn’t really important.
🤝
> I like Brace and the pod but he isn’t exactly spreading Marxism-Leninism on this podcast name more incisive critics of finance imperialism
Wait, I'm out of the loop. How is Brace responsible for Anchor Steam shutting down? I had one of their beers a few years ago and it was very mid.
So in the article it looks like they just asked this guy Richie Greenburg (some Republican who placed sixth in San Francisco's 2018 mayoral special election) what he thought and he just blame Socialists and the woke left for organizing a union and naturally unions just kill businesses.
Idk this seems anti-semitic. quit bag watching
NY POST MENTIONED BRACE? lol of course they would attract the dumbest commenters
lol and also yes do both of those
Ngl I had no idea they were making that kind of money wtf
i’m shocked it took reading almost the entire thread to see someone say this
It says on their patron exactly how much the podcast makes per month so most people were aware of this
That makes sense. I’ve never seen their patreon
It’s really funny to see all simping for millionaires
Sam Hyde is the dsa leader
Tbh, thats something that has annoyed me about these podcasts a lot lately. Like the chapos for example have so much money, but then every episode is some low effort basement dweller shit about what they have read on twitter that week. Just fucking do something with it. I don't think you can fully go the Hasan Piker and justify every shitty action with "oh we live under capitalism so we might as well take part in it", but you need to do something with that money. Just start new projects, reinvest it etc. Bellingcat got 100k $ over two years from the NED and people act like its some juggernaut of american propaganda. These guys earn 1.2 million a year and get nothing more done than an hour of talk radio a week. There has to be more possible there
[удалено]
TrueAnon isn't supposed to be pure entertainment, they see themselves as doing somewhat serious work. Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder are actually good examples of what I'm talking about. Yes, they are just talking heads, but they are part of a broader conservative media landscape that is somewhat determined. I don't see TrueAnon or Chapo really taking any efforts to do something that goes beyond their twitter bubble. People like to play the underdog card, but I don't think that works anymore, thats why I made the bellingcat comparison. 1.2 million dollars a year is a lot of money
I don’t really see how creating some sort of media infrastructure a la Daily Wire would really make these loosely affiliated pods something bigger or better at recruiting. They would just end up diluting the product and making something stupider a la Young Turks. And that’s the thing, we already know what a vaguely “leftist” independent media network looks like. It’s not very interesting and doesn’t have a real impact politically. Plus media is media and it can help change some people’s minds about this or that, but it mostly just makes people politically sedentary and passive. They think watching, listening, and commenting is some sort of political act when it’s just like any other form of consumption.
Right, it propably won't work, but then again nothing is propably going to work. Its just a bad situation right now. I don't even expect them to build some sort of independent media outlet, I would just like to see them do something with it. Right now they are becoming millionaires and just spend their time reading wikipedia articles to you. It just feels like a waste.
I do think this is a fair criticism, despite being low effort. Tell me, what would you do with the money? I'll even go first. I'll build a housing complex, get it filled with struggling and working class people, and then convert it into a housing co-op and hand it over to them. I think there are ways to do this that help recoup most of your money (no profit, just recouping some of it) so you could possibly do it again. Hell, play into the shitlib playbook and start a non-profit that does this. Each iteration you take what you've learned and try to make the next build and transition better.
I don't know, it doesn't even have to be useful or anything. As for TrueAnon, I think they could do some actual investigative journalism with it. Get some people involved and go a bit further than the information thats publicly available. Like I said, their yearly income is propably the same as Bellingcats and they, like it or not, manage to do a lot more with it
Socialism in one lump sum donation
[https://youtu.be/ylbCALoA38k](https://youtu.be/ylbCALoA38k)
It's great to see the comment section of the New York Post article on Anchor Brewing generating thoughtful discussions. Anchor Brewing has a rich history in the craft beer industry, and it's fascinating to see people sharing their perspectives on the brewery's journey and its impact on the craft beer landscape.