The PopCulteer
September 13, 2024

It’s magazine deadline week, which means that PopCult is going into “lite” mode for a few days. Since today is The PopCulteer, we will just take this space to refer you to this post which I revived a couple of days ago, and point you to a couple of politically-relevant websites. I usually try to keep PopCult less than obviously political, preferring my own brand of subtle subversion, but since this week the pop culture landscape is littered with the tiny hands, half-eaten cats and concepts of policies left over from the presidential debate, today we’re making an exception so I can send you to a couple of enlightening websites.

If you only come here for the toys, travel photos, comic book reviews, local and independent music and fart jokes, you might want to give this week’s PopCulteer a pass.But you could learn a lot of important stuff if you stick around.

Notes Before You Vote

First up we have a new project from Douglas Imbrogno, the person who instigated and named this blog way back long ago, in the print newspaper era.

Doug has a new Substack called Notes Before You Vote, hosted by AMP Media, and it’s a bit of an outlet for him to express overtly political thoughts and musings without intruding on his other projects like WestVirginiaVille and TheStoryIsTheThing.

Here’s what Doug told me about this project…

At the DNC, Michelle Obama exhorted us to “do something,” while Tim Walz urges us “to get in the game,” with under 60 days to the election. Here’s my doing something.

Notes Before You Vote is a collection of short videos compiled and created by Doug that are filled with pertinent, thought-provoking tidbits of information in an easy-to-digest bite-sized form, perfect for sharing on social media.  As the home page says, these are “Some important things to consider before you cast your vote for the future direction of America in the Nov. 5 Presidential Election.”

For an installment about some interesting quotes from a certain Vice Presidential candidate, couched in his own unique verbiage, just check this out…

You can subscribe to Notes Before You Vote HERE, and catch up with WestVirginiaVille HERE.

The Turtle Diaries

I started following Amanda Moore onTwitter shortly after she “came out” after spending a year undercover with MAGA. She was at January 6, but not in the capitol, and while posing as a die-hard Trumper, she rubbed shoulders with many of the heavy hitters in the former president’s dirty, dirty schemes. She told her story as an undercover MAGAt in a great article in The Nation, and since her identity was revealed, she’s devoted her time to shadowing and exposing the deep ties between the GOP and the most extreme lunatics on the far right, like the Groypers, Proud Boys and other Neo-Nazi, Old-school Nazi, Christian Nationalist and KKK-affliated groups.

Amanda writes for The Nation and was interviewed for The Daily Beast‘s Fever Dreams podcast, but she also works independently, publishing stories on her SubStack, The Turtle Diaries, which is vital for anybody who wants to keep tabs on the really dangerous extremists groups that have way, way too much influence in this country.

She’s been stalked, threatened, harrassed, thrown out of events after paying registration fees, and she deals with daily hate from online trolls with strength, class, dignity and humor.  It’s the humor that bothers them the most.  This is an engaging, unfiltered and laser-focused look at the dark underbelly of the far-right wing in this country.

Amanda does not get a lot of mainstream press, possibly because corporate-owned media outlets are afraid that their own ties to these extreme groups will be uncovered and discussed, so except for The Nation and Mother Jones, she hasn’t been given much of a chance to tell her story and share her reporting with a wider audience. Aside from being extremely important, her adventures in the world of hate would also make for one outstanding movie.

It’s a hell of a story, and pretty damned terrifying when you realize the horrors contained within the visions of our future held by these lunatics. It’s wonderfully written journalism, as fascinating as it is terrifying.  You can subscribe HERE.

For the pop culture angle, I believe the title of her SubStack is taken from the 1985 movie of the same name.

And with that, we wrap this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, even when I’m working on a paying gig.