I met Louis Theroux, White Supremacy, and Emo Tunes
12-18th May 2025
**🍉 300,000 children are on the brink of starvation in Gaza due to the failure of our Western governments and international institutions. Please consider writing to your elected official and/or donating what you can directly to charities working on the ground eg. Haya Washington 🍉**
Hello everybody,
As I write this it’s exactly one month until my birthday, meaning we’re almost half way through the year. (How am I another year older? Have I done enough with that year? etc etc). This newsletter does a good job of keeping me thankful for each week and even more thankful to the lovely people (you) who continue to read/listen to it.
In this addition of the rickleverse, I share an article that peaked my interest, tell you about meeting the legendary Louis Theroux, and recommend a good genre-bending album.
Happy reading!
Now That I Think About It
After writing about debates last week, I couldn’t help but feel I was missing something about how certain public figures come to have (what appears to me) such strange and extreme views. Then, a post came across my feed that absolutely blew me away.
Bea of ‘the digital meadow’ introduced me to a type of person that I didn’t know I was starving for - the public intellectual. Think Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, Simone de Beauvoir, these people were major heavy weights in the sphere of debate pre-interent times, bridging the gap between academia and the general public.
Existing in a time before the fear of getting cancelled, public intellectuals could provide fresh perspectives that had the power to change public opinion. Take the example of the 1965 Cambridge Union debate between James Baldwin and William F.Buckley, speaking on the motion ‘The American dream is at the expense of the American Negro’. I gave it a watch, and with a simple sentence, a long lost puzzle piece slid into place,
“It comes as a great shock to discover that the country which is your birthplace and to which you owe your life and your identity, has not, in its whole system of reality, evovled any place for you.’”
On hearing the phrase “system of reality” I suddenly realised that this is what I had been chewing over since last week. I realised that a lot of our leaders and public speakers either have not fully realised the reality with which they live in, or continue to promote it willingly. Thanks to Baldwin, I realised the white supremacist mindset has been bred through the ages since the first colonisers.
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This what public intellectuals are able to do so well. They use a combination of intelligence, wit and performing talent to hold up an undeniable mirror to us and our societies. James Baldwin won that debate 540 to 160 but what is more impressive is how he still continues to inspire whole new generation of thinkers.
Nowadays, as Bea argues in the article, our intellectuals have turned into influencers where information is digested through shorter and shorter form content. While this isn’t all bad, I believe we are all suffering from a representation in our big media spaces for real dissenting voices and are thus missing out on having our understanding challenged in a meaningful way.
‘Meet and Greets’ Should Be Banned
When my friend said she’d got us meet and greet tickets to see Louis Theroux I immediately began to panic. I can’t cope with famous people. I once saw Noel Fielding on the street and, despite being a mega fan, let him walk by out of pure fear.
Louis was in Scotland as part of the Ultimate Masterclass Festival. Interviewed by BBC’s Fiona Stalker, he talked about his career, covering all the major moments such as interviewing Jimmy Saville and his mini series on the Westborough Baptist Church. He said he had always been fascinated by groups of mad people - “one mad person isn’t that interesting”- and how they represent that strange, perverse side to human nature. He came across as an extremely bright, funny (surprisingly good at impressions), normal guy. He said his wife and kids were the best parts of his life.
As I was sitting there watching him I was figuring out what to ask him. Things like “Did you ever feel threatened?” or “Have you ever been anywhere and had your mind changed?” Yet when it came to it, I babbled, “What’s your favourite sitcom?” (he said he’d wanted to be a sitcom writer), to which he replied, “Seinfeld”. Then I quickly thanked him for the new Settlers documentary, before running from the building.
Thanks Louis, love you x
Art Corner
‘hey drake i heard you like em unspoilersed’ - kendrick lamar
🎧 Even in Arcadia, Sleep Token (2025, RCA Records) ☆☆☆☆☆
Within just the first listen I heard a Pink Floyd riff, mid western emo drums, and K-pop boyband piano riffs. There are so many easter eggs within a Sleep Token album which is what makes it so refreshing in a time where most new new music I get comes from a TikTok dance. My favourite tracks so far are the title track Even in Arcadia, Past Self, and Gethesame.
🎭 Little Women (2025, Adapted for Stage by Anne-Marie Casey) ☆☆☆
Great, but nothing can ever compare to the Greta Gerwig movie adaptation.
Weekly Stats
‘Oh no I’ve gone done burnt my legs!’ : 1
Times I oil pulled my teeth: 4
Dark chocolate covered cherries: 500
Junk mail shredded: 2 (including envelopes)
Lipbalm collection: 10
Next week on the rickleverse
I’ll tell you about why the world needs more comedy movies and include more ramblings that are both deeply meaningful and strangely don’t matter at all.
All my love forever,
Rachael
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