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The Impact Of Cracked.com On The Media I Consume

 Over the weekend, I met a guy for beers.  The guy was the host of the Grand Rapidians Play Videogames podcast (which, upon further review, I have not actually reviewed yet).  We got talking about podcasts and media, and how we'd initially encountered each other on teh intarnetz:  through a Discord server for The Daily Zeitgeist podcast.  I made the comment about how I followed TDZ host, Jack O'Brien, from his former job at Cracked.com.  Without Jack starting Cracked.com, then leaving to form TDZ, and me getting into the TDZ Discord server, I wouldn't have met that guy for beers.

Cracked also begat Robert Evans, who has done battlefield reporting from places like Iraq and Syria, and has done front-line reporting in the upheavals in Portland, Oregon in summer 2020.  His insights into current events had influence on my attitudes toward future history.  It's important to reflect on current events as a historical blog, because that way, 20 years down the road, people will be able to look back and understand the personal context of what is happening right now.

Adam Tod Brown's Unpops Network was started as an offshoot of Cracked.  ATB was one of the first to leave Cracked after seeing the writing on the wall, and with ATB himself recognizing that Cracked wasn't his own path forward - he wanted to pursue standup comedy and branch out into more podcasting than writing, but Jack didn't see it that way, so they amicably parted ways.  Part of the Unpops Network includes the show Pretty Scary (Boo!), which planted the seed in my lil' ol' brain into pursuing true crime stories here in Holland, which eventually blossomed into this whole blog thing.

Speaking of this whole blog thing, it really was a series of 1,000 tiny cuts before I finally settled on writing.  I was inspired by a tweet from former Cracked writer, Daniel O'Brien, who currently hosts yet another podcast, Quick Question With Soren And Daniel.  The tweet was on my personal account, and was about just writing something in order to find my voice and establish a presence online.  That being said, I've considered podcasting and videos as well, but those have a substantially higher startup cost.  Straight up, this blog was *free* to start:  I already had a laptop, the library card where I did my first research was also free, and all the accounts were fo' free as well:  Google, including Blogger and Gmail; Twitter; Instagram.  Anyway, I like to think that my writing style would fit in well on Cracked.com in its glory days.

But, let's look back at The Daily Zeitgeist:  The format is the two hosts, Jack and Miles, and a guest or two discussing and making fun of current events.  It was one of the guests (who happened to be a moderator on the Discord server) who gave me an incredibly toxic experience on the Discord, by saying that I'm not racist, just everyone who acts and thinks like I do is (after discussing the 80's TV show The Dukes Of Hazzard and how viewing it through a 2020 "woke" lens is the wrong way to look at it), and that because of the color of my skin, my gender identity, and my sexual orientation, my thoughts and opinions weren't valid.  That ain't "woke."  That ain't progressive.  That's entirely as toxic as the folks that she/they (I disremember this person's preferred pronouns, but I'm trying to make an effort here because I'm not a trash human) were crusading against.  Anyway, it was here where I was introduced to Jamie Loftus and her content such as My Year In Mensa, where she explores the Mensa society.

Like all good stories, this one starts with a girl.  I was introduced to the old Stumbleupon app (circa 2006) by some smokin' hot babe in college...and that's where I first discovered Cracked.com.  But perhaps, that means that this is all about a girl, and not Cracked.com.

My entire premise has now been dumped all over the floor.

Thanks, internet, you've ruined my essay.

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