Last time we had Charlie Warzel on, it was to determine whether the insurrection had been a political success. Now, 100+ days into Trump 2.0, he joins us again to answer some simple questions: Should we be worrying about the survival of American democracy now? And also, with the fallout from tariffs revealing the first cracks in Trump’s base, is this whole thing good for anyone? Plus, are we ready for Dave Portnoy 2028?Our guest Charlie Warzel is a writer for The Atlantic and for his Substack, Galaxy Brain (https://warzel.substack.com/). You can follow him there or @cwarzel on X and Instagram, or @cwarzel.bsky.social.Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld.SponsorsWant to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.Credits- Host: Ryan Broderick- Producer: Grant Irving- Engineer: Rebecca Seidel- Researcher: Adam Bumas- Business Manager: Josh FjelstadSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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1:02:11
The effects of true crime brain rot
In the past decade, true crime has gone from a niche and somewhat disparaged genre to one of entertainment’s most prolific. What is it about true crime that’s made it become such a huge part of popular culture? Through the lens of the mysterious disappearance (and reappearance) of Hannah Kobayashi, journalist Jennifer Swann joins us to talk about how missing persons’ cases take on lives on their own online.Our guest Jennifer Swann is a journalist and producer. She has a newsletter, Self Storage, https://jennswann.substack.com/ and produces the investigative true crime podcast My Friend Daisy, which you can find anywhere you listen to podcasts.Listen to the extended conversation on Panic World's Patreon — and enjoy ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord — for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld.SponsorsWant to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.Credits- Host: Ryan Broderick- Producer: Grant Irving- Engineer: Rebecca Seidel- Researcher: Adam Bumas- Business Manager: Josh FjelstadSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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58:06
That time a 4chan user got thrown in a Taliban prison
Today, we’re telling a story of human ingenuity. Except, in a dumb way. It’s one of the craziest things that has happened in a long time — which is really saying something — when some bro on 4chan ended up in a Taliban prison. Arturo Castro joins us to talk about a British guy named Miles Rutledge.Our guest Arturo Castro is an actor and currently hosts Greatest Escapes, a podcast where Arturo is joined by friends to learn the stories behind other "great escapes" like today's episode. Check out Greatest Escapes here or wherever you listen to them!Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld.SponsorsWant to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.Credits- Host: Ryan Broderick- Producer: Grant Irving- Engineer: Rebecca Seidel- Researcher: Adam Bumas- Business Manager: Josh FjelstadSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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56:34
Netflix's "Adolescence" and the masculinity crisis
On March 13, 2025, Netflix released Adolescence, and ever since, parents have been learning that Andrew Tate is bad. What are we to do? Ryan talks to Grant about how the problems we have on the internet now are not dramatically new, it’s just that everyone has the internet in their pocket all the time — and, to borrow a 2010s phrase, the solution to that might surprise you.Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld.SponsorsWant to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.Credits- Host: Ryan Broderick- Producer: Grant Irving- Engineer: Rebecca Seidel- Researcher: Adam Bumas- Business Manager: Josh FjelstadSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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1:02:01
Has China already won the internet?
Today we’re talking about a panic that’s been simmering for a while but has, in the past couple of years, become a full-blown panic. And that’s the technological Cold War that the US is waging with China. (Okay, and now also the tariff war, but that’s with pretty much everyone.) Are the Chinese really so radically different from us, or — at least when we’re browsing the net — are we the same? Tianyu Fang joins us to compare Chinese and American internet culture, and who suffers from more online brain rot.Our guest Tianyu Fang is a Technology and Democracy Fellow at New America, an editor at Reboot, and formerly co-founded Chaoyang Trap. You can follow him on Twitter @tianyuf, and all of his latest endeavors at https://www.tianyufang.net/. Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld.SponsorsWant to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.Credits- Host: Ryan Broderick- Producer: Grant Irving- Engineer: Rebecca Seidel- Researcher: Adam Bumas- Business Manager: Josh FjelstadSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A weekly podcast from Ryan Broderick of Garbage Day about the moral panics, witch hunts, and viral freakouts that bubble up out of the weirdest corners of the internet.
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