Rep. Thomas Massie (R – Kentucky) is not just an unusual politician, he’s an unusual man. I didn’t realize how remarkable he is until I listened to a conversation he had with Tucker Carlson which Tucker published on his X account on June 7th.
In the old days before the internet, publicly available information was broadly limited to whatever the newspapers and TV chose to publish — media that were controlled by large corporations. They had the power to curate what content that the public got to read, listen to or watch. Certainly everyone had the de jure freedom of expression but only those who owned the presses or radio and TV stations could de facto exercise that freedom.
Now things are different. The internet has brought true freedom of speech and of the press to the untold millions who have something to express. We should be grateful for that although there’s the downside that we have to exercise caution on what we choose to pay attention to. We suffer information overload and then there’s the danger of getting stuck in an echo chamber.
Here’s what I am grateful for: the scores of thoughtful people whose knowledge and wisdom I have access to from the comfort of my home or even when I am out and about, thanks to the smartphone. I particularly like the long form interviews and podcasts. In the past, it was just not possible for someone to go on the radio or TV and talk for a couple of hours.
Now I routinely listen to podcasts like Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History on YouTube where the shorter episodes are only a couple of hours long but the long ones often go on for four hours or more. Dan doesn’t own any TV or radio station, just like the rest of us.
But his content is so compelling to people that his podcasts are downloaded millions of times by people all over the world. He enjoys the freedom to talk and I enjoy the freedom to listen, and I don’t have to pay a penny to him if I don’t choose to. Win-win all around.
The mainstream media is fast becoming irrelevant — and not too soon in my opinion. They have become a “bevy of camp-following whores” (to borrow a phrase from James Buchanan) that peddle the worst sort of ideological bovine excrement. Examples: The New York Times and NPR and CNN.
Well, I should get back to the point of this post: Thomas Massie. Tucker is a brilliant interlocutor. He gets interesting guests. His chat with Massie is 2 hours 20 minutes long. The whole bit is interesting but I liked the last bit (starting around 1hr:14min mark) amazing.
I don’t want you to tell you what it is about. I don’t want to spoil your fun. Just listen.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 
He fell for some oversimplified nonsense as a teenager. I doubt he learnt anything after that, other than some ready-made debate points to go with his “I told you so”.
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