Podcast
Walter Rhein Podcast
Hosted by Walter Rhein · EN
Thoughts on culture, politics, racism, and what the United States has to do to make up for this embarrassment of an administration.
walterrhein.substack.com
walterrhein.substack.com
269episodes
Episodes
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“The Government Can’t Be Trusted” Was the Motto of the Confederacy
3d ago00:08:03Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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Trust Survivors Even When It's Difficult Because Otherwise You Become an Abuse Enabler
4d ago01:11:05Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI always appreciate these talks with LC! This is a challenging topic, but these are the conversations we need to have if we’re going to prevent the exploitation of decent and innocent people. We can no longer afford to be passive.Thank you Ben Ulansey, Ashleigh Alauren, PJ Schuster, Acejonesz, Dar 🇨🇦, and many others for tuning into my live video with LC - Silence is Complicity! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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How the Fear of Going Blind Helped Me Give Up My Smartphone
4d ago00:05:06Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI noticed the problem on the way to the airport. My eye felt itchy. Every time I looked at something bright, it was like I was looking through Vaseline. I saw the world through a soft focus lens. That’s great for a Christmas card, but it’s not ideal when you’re trying to avoid trucks on the highway.Fortunately I have two eyes. I closed one and drove with the other.We were on our way to visit my wife’s mother. She’s a nurse. I mentioned my eye.“It’s tired out,” she said. “That’s because of too much screen time. You’re not twenty anymore.” Then she ran and got me some eye drops. “Three times a day put in two drops, you’ll feel better.”I started following her recommendation. I woke up in the morning, put in the eye drops and noticed that my vision improved. I went downstairs. I got my coffee. I sat down on the sofa and picked up my smartphone for some comfort scrolling.Instantly it was as if somebody stabbed me in the eye.“Arghhh!” I cried.“What?” My wife said.“Looking at this phone makes my eye hurt again.”My wife gave me her best look of unamused authority. “Then stop looking at the phone, genius.”I put the phone down. Almost instantly my eye felt better. Of course it felt better! What have we been doing to ourselves? We spend all day every day staring at light sources. They might not be as bright as the sun, but we stare at them incessantly. We turn off our screens and shut our eyes and in the mornings our fingers twitch to hold our little comfort devices once again.What’s wrong with us?For the last two years, I’ve been hunkering down at home. The GOP has made the country unsafe. You can’t drive around your state anymore out of fear that you might get pulled over and shot by some domestic abuser cosplaying as a law enforcement agent.The first thing I noticed when I returned to a big city was how everyone has become captured by their devices. In the old days, people hid their cell phones in Lima, Peru. You didn’t want them to get stolen. Today, people are walking right into traffic. The same is true in Minneapolis and Chicago. When you take your seat on the airplane, it’s next to some zombie who is engrossed by the tiny screen.We used to stare at books. That was better for us because at least the page was wide enough that your eyes didn’t have to cross in order to read. Why is everything vertical display? If it was horizontal display, we wouldn’t all be going blind.But nobody reads horizontally because it’s uncomfortable to hold the phone sideways. The discomfort of a sore wrist is now, blindness is a concern for the future.Blindness!“But I have to work,” I protested to my wife.She pointed at my computer.I tried it. The image is bigger so you don’t have to strain. The screen is wider so you don’t have to go cross-eyed. There are fewer apps so you don’t get caught scrolling.Imagine giving up all your days watching sunsets and your grandchildren playing because you burned out your eyes on an endless zombie scroll.The screen is still bright on a computer, but I switched to dark mode. Instead of a beacon of bright white light, I looked upon text resembling a star field. I felt better.“This works.”“Great, now do it at home.”There’s nothing like physical pain to compel you to give up a bad habit. The days went by. I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’m not saying it’s easy. But every day I cut a few more minutes off my total screen time.For the last three days, I haven’t held my smartphone at all. I realized I don’t need it. My eyes need the break. The best part is that when you give the phone up, you can give up your data plan. You can stop being dependent on notifications.“Ding! Ding!”Aren’t you tired of hearing that noise? Aren’t you tired of jumping up from the task you were doing or the book you were reading or the conversation you were having?Aren’t you tired of finally getting some time together with your family only to have all of them sit around plugged into an independent device? We used to watch movies, link up, and experience the same thing together.Now, everybody watches all alone, and they feel lonely. They’re also going blind.Get a portable alarm for your bed. You don’t want that smartphone in there anyway. You can’t turn them off. You can’t take the battery out. They’re always recording. Do you want naked pictures of yourself all over the internet?For navigation, use a map. For photos, use a camera. For payments, use a credit card. It’s not inconvenient.Do you know what is inconvenient? Going blind!It’s been a month since I first noticed something wrong with my vision. I’ve been diligently putting in the eye drops. I’ve cut down on my screen time. I have a few appointments scheduled with the optometrist and doctor. But I already feel better.Giving up my smartphone improved my vision, but it also improved my sense of wellbeing. Those devices aren’t helping us. Those devices are toxic. They control us. They make us stressed out. They make us go blind. They’re too expensive.Switch to a flip phone and regain your freedom. Preserve your eyes for the sunrise. You’ll thank me someday.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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End of Life Planning Narcissist-Style with Walter Rhein
4d ago00:43:59Tap to summarizeNarcissism affects our personal lives, our families, and our government. Andra and I try to provide some advice on how to get through it.Thank you A. Eevie Bateman, Jason Gael, PJ Schuster, Ana warner, KarenC-Book Collector📚⚖️🗽🗳️🧿♒️, and many others for tuning into my live video with Andra Watkins! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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Powerful People Are About to Find Out They're Not As Important As They Think
5d ago00:05:33Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offThere are so many people out there who are so convinced of their superiority that it would take an act of God to make them see otherwise. Even then, they’ll probably embrace denial.I’ve talked to so many rich people who are so out of touch you wonder what keeps them tethered to the earth. These are individuals who never have to worry about their car breaking down. If something bad happens to them, they just start screaming at their chauffer.The only thing they care about is their own personal comfort. They’ve always lorded money and power over other human beings, and they’ve grown complacent in seeing their servants as less than human.But what happens when the floor drops away from beneath their feet? What happens when both the billionaire and the janitor find themselves in freefall with the ground rapidly approaching?They’re equal then.Actually, that’s not true. The janitor is far more important. The janitor knows how to sanitize a public area. He knows how to work with his hands. He knows how to overcome problems.The only thing the billionaire knows is how to threaten the people who work for him. When the illusion of power and money that has propped him up his whole life is gone, what purpose does he serve?What purpose?But this doesn’t just apply to billionaires. A lot of people are about to find out they’re not nearly as special as the world has always told them they are.I’m talking about the loser writers who got six figure deals on the strength of an AI generated manuscript. They’ve gone soft living in a gated community laughing at hardworking men and women who have taken the time to practice their craft.“Suckers!” they say. “Losers.”They know they can crank out some garbage on the weekend and have it propped up by an advertising campaign no real human being can overcome.But what happens when the money’s gone? What happens when the corrupt mechanism that lifts up this meritless population collapses under its own weight?If you look around modern society, it’s become obvious that everything is false. Malicious entities own the media. Malicious entities prevent decent people from getting ahead.There’s not enough money to pay the rent as it is, and the powers that hide themselves in shadows are doing everything they can to squeeze us of even more.Turning the dial to pain is the only thing they know how to do. They do it and laugh and point. They’re secure in the belief that they’ll never be held accountable. They believe that because they’ve never experienced it. They’ve seen rich and entitled monsters traffic, rape, and murder children and nothing’s ever happened.So, they’ve grown drunk on their own power.They’ve forgotten that power is an illusion and that we are all mortal. Whatever delusions people harbor about “superiority,” are going to leave them high and dry.If you commit yourself to an ideology of lies, you will fail eventually. You might have a brief moment of stolen luxury, but sooner or later the bill comes due.It’s going to happen.It’s going to happen soon.The simple fact is that a culture that’s built on cruelty is not sustainable. The USA has only managed to exist this long because we’ve had brief moments of progressive action that led to mutual prosperity. We keep riding the wave. The progressives lift us up and the conservatives drag us back down.They’ve dragged us too low this time. Their lie has been exposed. The whole thing is coming down.It’s the nature of evil that it eventually eats its own. There are people who watch and think, “Well, if everyone else is corrupt, why not me?”Then there are others that resist. There are others that stand for compassion and decency. There are others who are abused and laughed at and ignored and treated with scorn.That’s us.Despite all the hardships, we don’t capitulate. We meet the obstacles the nefarious men place. We develop our talents. We educate. We keep receipts.The con artists and the liars ride along on a wave that somebody else had to labor to create. That wave is losing its steam. It will drop. The forward motion of the criminals will stop, and we’ll rebuild.We, the workers.We, the people of merit.We, the meek.We’ll inherit the earth.It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen. When it does, all those men and women with their luxury cars and clothing and superior attitudes will find themselves standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of us. From habit, they’ll feel a compulsion to demand, “Labor for me! Do things for me! I insist that I’m entitled to my accustomed leisure and luxury!”The rest of us will say, “No.”And the look on their face will be something to see.We are on the precipice of a grand moment of accountability. I give you permission to enjoy it. The fate of the human race is about to be seized by people of integrity.It’s been too long coming. Judgment day is approaching. That’s a certainty.The power of the government is derived by the consent of the governed.We revoke our consent.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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Dismantling the Deceit and Indoctrination Inherent to Conservative Ideology
5d ago01:02:42Tap to summarizeThis was a great talk with Deuce Davis! He likes to “reality check” a lot of conservative publications and I think that’s critical work. I absolutely loved this conversation and I look forward to talking with him again. You can find him here:Thank you Evan Stern, A. Eevie Bateman, Skutt Hope, Stuart Cohen, Ms.Yuse, and many others for tuning into my live video with Deuce Davis! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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How to Harness the Winds of Change
6d ago01:08:58Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offIt’s always a pleasure to sit down with my friends Will Fullwood and Frederic Poag. For the last two years we’ve all been extra motivated to brainstorm the strategy that will lead us to a better future. It feels like we made some progress in this talk. I hope you enjoy it!Thank you A. Eevie Bateman, Cat: Poli-Psych, Jason Gael, Mandy Ohman, PJ Schuster, and many others for tuning into my live video with Will Fullwood and Frederic Poag! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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Communist Fox News Refused to Pay Me For Using My Content
6d ago00:06:07Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offWith the deranged right, every accusation is a confession. So, when they run around labeling everyone as a “communist” it’s because they’re confessing that they are the actual communists.Yes, American politics has become a never ending refrain of “I know you are but what am I?” It’s infantile, but here we are.Take the always odious and uninformative Fox news. It’s a communist propaganda station that eats, breathes and defecates communism. They use public air waves and public infrastructure and probably public subsidies to spew lies about how they work hard and everyone else is a “cheat” somehow.They recently called me a “socialist” in a hit piece even as they took my content and didn’t pay me. If they’re so into “capitalism” where is my check? It kind of seems to me that the only thing that Fox news stands for is self-righteous indignation and theft.I’m getting so sick of these right wing authoritarian communists that are nothing but parasitic attachments that live off the labor of the working class. That’s the whole damn Republican party. They all have state funded healthcare, but they scream and rage and do everything they can to prevent people who actually work from getting it.They’re WORTHLESS! They’re CORRUPT! They’re FRAUDS!Republican states literally cannot survive without blue state money. That’s because Republicans try to solve every problem with “thoughts and prayers.”Oh, the toilet is backed up? Thoughts and prayers!Oh, the infrastructure is breaking down? Thoughts and prayers!Oh, it hasn’t rained for three months and all the plants are dying? Thoughts and prayers!They’re really, really good at thoughts and prayers. The problem is that thoughts and prayers don’t do a god damned thing.You know what does do some good? Hard work! But communist parasitic Republicans are allergic to hard work. If you mention it, they accuse you of “attacking” them. They live in this perpetual grievance culture where they scream and yell complaints even though they never so much as raise a finger to help anyone at anything.How did they manage to get to power everywhere? Well, when you don’t have the integrity to actually put in a hard day’s work, and if you are completely without shame, you are basically handed a leadership position just like a former robber baron can hand his worthless kid the presidency. A lot of legacy fortunes were made from theft and prostitution rings, and a lot of the entitled dregs of humanity that inherited those fortunes are sitting in office.Lying, cheating, and stealing always works great in America. This is a nation that was built on genocide and slavery. The communist Republicans love it. They can spend all day committing crimes, and then blaming others for their transgressions.The public eats it up because Republicans own all the media distribution mechanisms. That’s what happens when you lie, cheat, steal, and murder your way into power.We’ve been putting up with this crap our whole lives. I’m fifty! That’s half a century of Republican communism b******t. They steal my labor. They steal my intellectual property. They refuse to pay me and they insult me to boot.Their fundamental trick is to get us on the defensive. They say, “You’re a communist!” What they want us to say is, “No I’m not.”Don’t do that.Never get defensive with lying, cheating, stealing, communist Republicans. They want us to squirm. Never squirm for them. Instead, remember the lessons you learned in grade school.“I’m rubber, you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”Or just call them a communist all the time. “Communist. Communist. Communist!” It’s hilarious. When you use their own confessions in the form of an accusation against them they get all confused. They turn their heads to the side like a dog.“Wait… we’re the ones calling you a communist,” they say.But don’t let them finish. “Stop with that Republican communism talk again, you communist, communist, dictator, child-rape enabling communist!”Oh, by the way, remember how they were all mad about us calling them fascists a while ago? They literally spent every single day whining about getting called fascists even as they built concentration camps and set forth a masked gestapo to abduct, murder, and rape innocent people.Somehow their objection was the fact that we used the label that applied.What was the response of the do-nothing center? Did they prosecute the secret police and defund the concentration camps? No. They basically apologized and sent our oppressors even more money. When the government sends Republicans money do you know what I call it?I CALL IT COMMUNISM!Don’t ever retreat from them. Meet them head on.Today, the right is jumping all over the word “communist.” This after years of lecturing us to not use “inciting rhetoric.”The layers upon layers of hypocrisy are overwhelming, but that’s because you’re trying to make sense of it. Stop taking it at face value. You don’t defeat bullies with reason, you defeat them with volume.If they call us a communist, say, “No, you’re the communist.”Say the word over and over and over until it loses all meaning. Never defend yourself against an absurd accusation. Instead, just return the accusation. Treat them like they treat us, which is without any respect.Does that make us like them? No! Do you know why? It’s because they don’t DESERVE any respect. We do! That’s why we’re different. The communist right hasn’t EARNED respect. Also they don’t show anybody any respect. They want everything for free which is why they’re a bunch of communists!Our side stands for using public funds for public good. That’s common sense.The right stands for being a bunch of disrespectful, worthless parasites that take all of our money and use it to buy child trafficking islands.Do not defend yourself to them.Go on the attack. The right is awful and we’re under no obligation to keep funding their loathsome, lazy, and entitled ideology. Take the gloves off. The Republicans can’t even fight for themselves, that’s just one more thing they insist others have some obligation to do for them.I’ve had enough.Quit defending yourself to the People’s Republic of Child Rape Enabling Republicanistan. They call us “communists” to hide their own guilt. Make them carry their own water for a change. Enough is enough.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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Rage Against the Patriarchy--We've Got to Go on the Attack!
6d ago01:04:09Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offThis was a wonderful conversation with my friends The Feminist Lens and A. Eevie Bateman about the challenges women are facing because of the cruelty of the Republican, authoritarian movement. Throughout this talk, I referenced this conversation with Dr. Yamicia Connor. Please restack that if you can.Here is Dr. Connor’s research:* Using AI tools to evaluate our representatives* Graphics on the lack of adequate health care by state* Graphic on the rise of the maternal mortality rateAlso, make sure to subscribe to all three of these brilliant women.Thank you LeftieProf, Tig Manzueta, SOSalty Resists, Stuart Cohen, Ms.Yuse, and many others for tuning into my live video with The Feminist Lens and A. Eevie Bateman! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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A Resource Officer Is Just an Armed Aggressor at Your Child's School
6d ago00:07:27Tap to summarizeThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe
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