Episode 61: Breaking the Monoculture, the Rise of “Premium Mediocre”, and Choosing Your Suck

About the Episode

Ever feel like culture’s splitting into countless micro-worlds where everyone’s just vibing to their own thing? In this episode, I introduce my theory on the “Jazzification of Everything.” Drew and I dive into how our subcultures of music, entertainment, and even personal obsessions have evolved into these aging communities, totally detached from the cultural monocultures of the past. Whether it’s metal fans in their forties or electronic music lovers growing older with their favorite DJs, we explore how the media landscape and algorithms have encouraged us to stick to what we know—and why this shift could be both a gift and a curse.

We also dig into why “premium mediocre” is taking over our consumer habits, and whether or not that’s actually a bad thing. We discuss how these tiny, exclusive-seeming trends might be fooling us, offering superficial luxuries instead of anything truly valuable. We cap it off with a big question about whether chasing after anything is worth it, or if we’re just dooming ourselves to disappointment. Give it a listen. Enjoy.

Mark Manson Quotes From the Episode

The more meaningful the moment, the more people remove themselves from the present moment by pulling out their phones.

Being lazy sucks, working hard sucks. Being healthy sucks, being unhealthy sucks. Like just choose the suck you want to have.

Choose the suck that you either think is worth it or you enjoy having, because there is some suckage that you actually do enjoy having.

It’s easier to create the perception of value than to actually create something valuable.