Watching #ThisPlaceRules on #HBO and ooh boy.

I'm pretty happy there's no algorithms here.

I'm watching #ThisPlaceRules and damn, I feel really bad for those kids. Their parents are screwing them up.

Can't quite recommend the #ThisPlaceRules doc on HBO. Appreciate the zany/unhinged characters in the run up to Jan 6, but ever try a follow-up question? Too many missed opportunities, namely not being in DC on Jan 6.

Just finished watching #ThisPlaceRules by #AndrewCallaghan and I kinda wish there was more unhinged libs depicted but still thought it was good. Not sure if/who id recommend it to

While watching I keep thinking about a college friend who moved to to the US, became a yoga instructor & fell down the yoga/woo woo Qanon rabbit hole & ended up like these chuds. She is unrecognizable to the person I knew. When her state flipped blue she moved her family to Florida to escape the deep state. I called out her conspiracy theories & she decided 30 years of friendship was done.
#ThisPlaceRules

Also when Trump said he likes the uneducated, he wasn't kidding. Grifting the wilfully ignorant is highly profitable.
#ThisPlaceRules

I'm 10 minutes into the #documentary #ThisPlaceRules & wow, we definitely need more investment in mental health access.
#movies #film #Cinemastodon

Andrew Callaghan's new documentary "This Place Rules" has given us this fantastic clip.

A perfect encapsulation of the right.
#ThisPlaceRules #AndrewCallaghan #QAnon #Documentary #HBO

Very revealing #NPR interview with #AndrewCallaghan about his #J6 documentary #ThisPlaceRules. She throws some confrontational questions at him that I think he handled beautifully that basically amount to "Why would you talk to _these_ people?"
I love NPR. Their reporting is definitely better than cable news, but they can't admit that they're not paragons of virtue. They wouldn't listen to those people because deep down they think they are better.
https://youtu.be/j9fz2PYoV84

Andrew Callaghan getting questioned by NPR about interviewing Alex Jones in his movie #ThisPlaceRules

#ThisPlaceRules is amazing. Lol wow.

Now watching: #ThisPlaceRules

Possibly the greatest "this u?" moment in cinematic history at the end right there.

#Movies #ThisPlaceRules https://letterboxd.com/rodhilton/film/this-place-rules/

My fellow Yankees and those with interests in #extremeism, check out the new #Channel5 documentary on HBO: #ThisPlaceRules - it is done so well, while showing the human. #Gonzo #journalism at its finest.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_place_rules

What I think is salient for organizers: the people you choose to organize and the leadership you invest in very much determines your capacity to seize a decisive moment. If you bring a bunch of conspiracy cranks and streamers to take over the US government, you aren't getting far, and you are going to send a lot of your own people to jail behind their own footage. Food for thought for those of us building power on the left.

This concludes my longest ever Mastodon thread! Go see #ThisPlaceRules

Maybe my favorite moment of #ThisPlaceRules was a quick interview Callaghan does with Brace Belden of #TrueAnon. Reflecting on the moment of January 6 itself, Belden makes a crucial point: the far right built its movement with leadership entirely drawn from the attention economy. Everybody was a social media star, a swag merchant, a speaking circuit worm, and above all else a livestreamer.

Then they suddenly breached the Capitol and had no idea what to do except...stream!

In the final analysis, I don't think anyone is going to mistake Callaghan for a conservative. He clearly holds the far right in contempt, and the few times he challenges people in interviews, it is over their embrace of right wing conspiracy theories or (in one memorable exchange) outright fascism.

But #ThisPlaceRules takes an easy out by declining to grapple with the politics of the attention economy it claims to analyze. If both sides are really to blame, where are the left wing grifters?

His understanding of the methodology seems sound, and #ThisPlaceRules is essentially a documentary-length video essay proving the case. But again and again, Callaghan and his team document three political forces -- the far right, the left, and liberal media -- and messily flatten them into two forces.

This is where the analysis breaks down, and it's fully visible on camera. Every interview Callaghan puts on screen with a grifter is someone from the far right. Alex Jones, Enrique Tarrio...

In fact, one way that #ThisPlaceRules is a little different from Callaghan's usual work is that it actually does give him more of a platform to express his own politics. And here I think we run into some problems. Callaghan seems really committed to a "both sides" analysis in which political operatives use fear to control the masses, grift off the attention economy, and secure their personal fortunes at the expense of the country and its people.

I watched #ThisPlaceRules last night and I have thoughts to share about how it comments on #uspol US politics and #organizing. There's no graceful way to do threads on here yet so please mute me for the next hour if this does not interest you!

Since some of this will be critical, I will start out by saying I've been watching #AndrewCallaghan since his All Gas No Brakes days and I think he's a great reporter. Some of his best attributes shine in this documentary!