After Party with Emily Jashinsky

Episode Summary: "Why Kids Can’t Handle Free Speech, Celeb Body Image Cope, and Clickbait Rage, with Bridget Phetasy"
Date: December 4, 2025 | Host: Emily Jashinsky | Guest: Bridget Phetasy

Episode Overview

This episode features a sharp, entertaining dive into the intersections of media, digital culture, and generational psyche. Host Emily Jashinsky welcomes writer/comic Bridget Phetasy to unpack three big themes:

1. Why young people increasingly believe words are “violence,” and what that says about free speech and campus culture.
2. The ever-evolving conversation around body image, sex positivity, and the contradictions of pop stardom.
3. How the Internet and algorithms fuel outrage, performativity, and misinformation—plus the challenges of spotting what’s real or bot-made.

The episode blends timely polling, news analysis, and raucous pop culture breakdowns with biting humor, skepticism, and a dash of generational exasperation.

1. Bridget Phetasy’s Media Origin Story

Timestamp: 06:08–11:03

• Bridget’s media journey: From aspiring writer, to Playboy columnist, to Federalist contributor, podcast host (Dumpster Fire, Walk-Ins Welcome), and commentator.
  • “In 2013, I quit drinking and smoking weed and pretty much all the great drugs. And then I got addicted to the best drug, which is Twitter... I found my way to editors.” (Bridget, 07:47)
• She discusses backlash early on, especially after crossing partisan lines with her writing. Sharing work for The Federalist soured her Playboy gig and clarified how intensely media tribes react to “wrong” outlets.
  • “I was just excited to get... paid for more writing... I posted it very excitedly in my Facebook and online. And people were like, I'm done with you. You wrote for the Federalist.” (Bridget, 08:42)
• She emphasizes the winding, independent, and financially unpredictable road of new media careers.

2. The Double-Edged Sword of Online Culture

Timestamp: 11:03–19:20

The Ben Shapiro "Touch Grass" Clip on X/Twitter

12:58–13:25

• Shapiro argues: “The more online we are, the more polarized we are... the more time you're spending on X or TikTok, maybe the less informed you are and also the more polarized.”

• Emily and Bridget reflect on social media’s addictive qualities and the paradox of being “informed” via platforms trafficked by foreign bots, rage-baiters, and reward-driven creators.

• Bridget: Twitter “is influential, not necessarily representative... it behaves like a giant think tank,” but warns that everyone from “12-year-olds or like a Pakistani” can be shaping American discourse, often invisibly. (15:33)

• Bridget supports the “touch grass” refrain but is conflicted: “All my opportunities... Twitter gave me wings, truly... It is my favorite of all the social medias... but now you can’t know if someone is who they say they are and that’s a big problem... If it is going to be the kind of global town square you, you kind of knew people who you could somewhat trust that they were who they said they were.” (17:28)

• On TikTok, Bridget jokes that she “went on for 7 seconds… this will melt your brain.”

The “Dead Internet” and AI Takeover

23:49 — 26:14

• Bridget describes her essay on the “dead internet theory”: we’re approaching a tipping point where “there will be more bots and AI talking to one another than actual humans who are online.”
• Warns: Media literacy is crucial—otherwise, scammers and machine content will exploit everyone, especially older generations: “They're going to take all $84 trillion from the boomers.” (25:00)
• “We need to be teaching media literacy... Even someone like you and I should do some kind of fun show just as a public service...” (24:36)

3. Generational Drift: “Words as Violence” and Campus Sensitivities

Timestamp: 41:41–55:03

FIRE Polling and the Violence of Speech

42:16–46:07

• Emily: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found nearly half of college students believe the phrase “words can be violence” describes their thinking.
• Bridget: “That’s crazy to me... I learned pretty young what violence was. I just don’t know if these, do these kids actually know what violence is?” (42:55)
• Discusses possible causes:
  • Kids spent more childhood socializing online than IRL, making digital slights feel more “real.”
  • They may have experienced online pile-ons and bullying—or they’re mimicking academic language divorced from working-class realities.
• “My bad faith interpretation is that they’re all pussies, and somebody needs to just punch them in the face, and then they’ll learn the difference between violence and speech.” (46:07, Bridget—tongue-in-cheek)

Atlantic Story: Disability Accommodations at Elite Schools

47:51–54:56

• Atlantic reports that at elite universities like Harvard and Brown, 20% of undergrads are now registered as disabled, mostly for “invisible” conditions like anxiety/ADHD—far higher than the actual prevalence.
• Bridget: “Elite children have learned how to work the system. News at 11... If you were going to allow cry closets and safe spaces... obviously kids are going to start going, ‘Well, I have test anxiety…’” (49:41)
• Both note that some students probably sincerely believe they have disabilities, not realizing how much their environment and coddling have shaped these perceptions.
• Emily: “I think a lot of them actually see themselves as disabled... because they have an anxiety disorder and therefore they should register at the school as disabled. They should be treated the same as kids in wheelchairs.” (51:49)

4. Outrage Clickbait & Performativity: Recent Media Drama

Timestamp: 30:10–40:51

Olivia Nuzzi, Ryan Lizza, and “Revenge Porn” Journalism

• Olivia Nuzzi’s book about her time covering (and dating) power players has drawn condemnation—her ex, Ryan Lizza, has written about their breakup, which she calls “fan fiction and revenge porn.”
  • “He has presented his harassment of me… as some sort of crusade that’s in the public interest… some combination of like fan fiction and revenge porn.” (Nuzzi, 31:15)
• Bridget, exasperated with the whole media incest drama:
  • “I hate all these people, they all deserve each other... I find it rich that she’s talking about journalistic integrity in this clip. None of you have journalistic integrity.” (32:41)
• Emily: The wildness of the whole saga underlines the attention economy’s rewards for drama, not substance.
• Bridget: “If everyone in our media and journalists and all of our politicians are on drugs, all of America right now makes sense to me.” (33:13)

5. The Feminine Body Image and Sexuality Whiplash

Timestamp: 60:20–71:03

Pop Stars, Sex Positivity, and the Body Image Contradictions

• Sabrina Carpenter, former child star, faces criticism for “unabashedly horny” lyrics and open sexuality. “But I also can’t really help that. It’s not my fault that I got a job when I was 12 and you won’t let me evolve now.” (Carpenter, quoting Variety)

• Bridget: “I was listening to Like a Prayer when I was 11 years old. Like, get, who cares?... Who’s getting mad at her, exactly? Her fans?” (61:34)

• Emily and Bridget discuss Gen Z’s confusion on sex and body norms. Billie Eilish goes modest; Sabrina and Sydney Sweeney lean sexual. Emily: “I think Gen Z is incredibly confused.”

• Body image whiplash: “We overcorrected completely to body positivity… Now, what’s interesting is you have somebody like Ariana Grande… weaponizing that (eating disorder history) and saying, you guys can’t body shame me. Which is, I mean, truly manipulative and also kind of brilliant…” (67:21)

• Bridget notes the proliferation of pro-anorexia subcultures online in the 2010s and how new trends like Ozempic undermine old “body positivity” rhetoric: “The whole time. It was cope. And it was understandable. Cope…” (70:13)

6. Foreign Interference in US Media: Federalist Suppression Story

Timestamp: 74:54–80:34

• Emily breaks down a bombshell exposé revealing the UK Labour Party (via “Labour Together”) funded and directed efforts to demonetize/constrain US outlets like Breitbart and The Federalist by laundering “misinformation” allegations through the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
• NBC’s Ben Collins “uncritically laundered” a foreign political op’s report to Google, which almost got The Federalist deplatformed during a crucial coverage period (COVID, civil unrest, 2020 election).
• “A journalist was uncritically laundering a BS NGO’s report about other journalists to a big tech company to suppress those journalists.” (79:19)
• Emily: “The idea of journalists cheerleading corporations to punish other journalists is just so ridiculous. And I feel like we could snap back into it at any time.” (80:34)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “You can be a grumpy piece of shit on Twitter and People will be like cool, we get it. You can be depressed, you can be whatever.” (Bridget, 17:28)
• “You’re probably fighting with a 12 year old or like a Pakistani on Twitter. Don’t waste your time doing that.” (Bridget, 16:37)
• “If I had only been bullied online and had kids or friends who had wanted to take their life or maybe did... I’m trying to be, I’m trying to come up with, like, my best faith interpretation...” (Bridget, 45:09)
• “It comes very naturally to me... but now you can’t know if someone is who they say they are and that’s a big problem...” (Bridget, 17:28)
• “Elite children have learned how to work the system. News at 11… ‘I have test anxiety’… obviously kids are going to work the system.” (Bridget, 49:41)
• “Hyper-novelty” is how Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein describe humanity’s frantic struggle to adapt to the pace of technological change. (Referenced by Emily, 57:16)

Segment Timestamps

• Bridget's Story & Media Career: 06:08–11:03
• On Social Media, Bots, and Algorithms: 11:03–19:20; 23:46–26:14
• Generational Drift, Free Speech & Youth: 41:41–55:03
• Olivia Nuzzi/Ryan Lizza/Lamenting Modern Journalism: 30:10–40:51
• Body Image, Pop Sexuality & Influence: 60:20–71:03
• Federalist Suppression by Foreign Op: 74:54–80:34

Tone and Style

Emily and Bridget keep the conversation irreverent, highly skeptical of media dogma, and willing to call out performativity and hypocrisy on all sides. The dialogue is fast-paced, snarky, and deeply plugged into the media/information ecosystem—always returning to the question: How much of what we believe (about ourselves, our health, our politics) is shaped by attention-driven algorithms, online culture, and elite grift?

If you're seeking a fun, wide-ranging, and critical listen about why “free speech” feels more fraught, what’s breaking young people’s brains, and why almost nothing in pop culture is as organic as it appears—this episode delivers.