Panic World

Today we're joined again by journalist Kat Tenbarge to talk about one of the grossest guys on the internet. He’s also one of the most popular Twitch streamers there is. His name is Zack Hoyt, better known as Asmongold. His first video was in 2008, featuring him trying to catch a rat in his parents’ house. He then became obsessed with World of Warcraft and started streaming his gameplay. The rest is history.He has a “rat clock.” Roaches frequently join his streams of popular video games. Then, of course, he got radicalized by the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial and started getting political. How did we let this happen? And is he part of the manosphere or kind of his own thing? Ryan, Kat, and Grant try to determine what exactly is appealing about this kind of guy. Our guest Kat Tenbarge runs Spitfire News. Subscribe to Spitfire News at ⁠https://spitfirenews.com/⁠, and follow her on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok @kattenbarge. She also makes videos for our friends at COURIER, which you can find at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@COURIERHQ⁠. Patreon Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord? Sign up for a membership at:⁠ https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld⁠. Sponsors This episode is sponsored by Surfshark. If you want to make your online life feel just a little less exposed, go to ⁠https://surfshark.com/panic⁠ and use code PANIC at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The law Section 230 is maybe the invisible force that governs everything in our lives. With a California court ruling against Meta, what are we to do? How responsible should social media companies be for the content posted on them? Brian Reed joins us to discuss Section 230 and its implications, both past and present. Our guest Brian Reed is the host of Question Everything. Check it out anywhere you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2012, a strange message appeared on 4chan: “We are looking for highly intelligent individuals….” What followed became one of the internet’s most mysterious puzzles: Cicada 3301. Players uncovered hidden codes, real-world locations, encrypted files, and even phone numbers across the globe. Some believed it was a secret society. Others thought it was a CIA recruitment tool. Maybe the Illuminati. Or at least, very organized teens. So what was Cicada 3301 really? And could something like this even exist on today’s internet? Baths joins us to try to get to the bottom of it. Our guest Baths is a musician. You can find his work and tour dates here, or on streaming services like Apple and Spotify. Sponsors If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at https://www.mintmobile.com/courier Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. And if you want to see this conversation on video, ⁠Panic World is now posting episodes to YouTube! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did boomers “go crazy” — and was the internet actually to blame? Ryan is joined by Sam Seder to trace the long history of boomer radicalization, from the Fairness Doctrine and Rush Limbaugh to Fox News, 9/11, Alex Jones, and the algorithmic media ecosystem that followed. Together they argue that the internet didn’t create boomer brain rot so much as supercharge a worldview that had already been built by decades of grievance-driven mass media. Our guest Sam Seder hosts The Majority Report, whose past episodes can be found here, on YouTube, and all major podcast platforms (or check it out live Monday to Friday from 12-2:30pm). Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan & Grant convene their movie club to discuss The Secret Agent, one of — or maybe the — best film(s) of 2025, and what it says about where we're at as a society. Want to hear the rest of this conversation? And get even more extra content, like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re talking about the moral panic around “transvestigation,” an online “game” where people try to identify who is or isn’t trans. Particularly popular in right-wing corners of the internet, transvestigating is a subculture of people — with no background in biology at all — who analyze photos, facial features, and body proportions to “prove” their claims, that basically every celebrity is secretly trans. Kitty Kimz and Jeff from Free Country USA join us once again to trace the surprising early origins of this conspiratorial thinking about trans identities and how it’s continued to permeate culture on the internet and beyond. Our guests Kitty Kimz & Jeff host Free Country USA, a podcast you can find on YouTube @freecountrypod, Instagram @freecountrypodusa, and everywhere else you listen or watch pods. Sponsors Get 50% off and free breakfast for a year from Factor by going to https://www.factormeals.com/panic50off and use panic50off at checkout! Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did Jeffrey Epstein destroy the internet? Ryan posits his theory, after not going totally insane (we think) reading through hundreds of Epstein files: Epstein was the Forrest Gump of the 21st century and there’s pretty much no major event this century that he didn’t have some sort of weird interaction with. Marcus Parks of Last Podcast on the Left joins us to indulge these conspiracies — and throw in a few more. Our guest Marcus Parks is the co-host of Last Podcast on the Left. Check them out wherever you listen to podcasts, and watch the video versions on Spotify and Netflix. You can also follow Marcus on Instagram @marcusparks and his music history podcast, No Dogs in Space, here. This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile. Get your first three months for $45 by shopping plans at https://www.mintmobile.com/courier Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s cool and what’s cringe, and which generation gets to decide? Today we’re talking about Gen Z, formerly known as “iGen,” and its relationship with millennials (and vice versa). Expert on all things internet, Hank Green, joins us this week to talk about the tried-and-true tradition of generations ragging on each other. Get ready for a lot of talk about gooning, looksmaxxing, mogging, and 6-7 (we still can’t totally get to the bottom of that last one). Our guest Hank Green can be found pretty much everywhere on the internet. In particular, check out his YouTube channels @vlogbrothers and @hankschannel. You can find all of his other science and educational work at Complexly (featuring SciShow and Crash Course) at https://complexly.org/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When did liking women, as a straight man, become gay? Today, we posit that the “logical” endpoint of being in the manosphere is that eventually being so hateful toward women dictates that liking them, having sex with them, or getting married to them, is actually gay. Podcaster, activist, and pornstar Siri Dahl joins us to discuss… that.Our guest Siri Dahl’s work can be found at https://siridahl.com/. Her podcast First Thirst can be found wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can also follow her on Bluesky @siridahl.com (SFW), X @thesiridahl (NSFW), and Instagram @thesiridahlagain (SFW). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From research to vibe coding to therapy to girlfriends and boyfriends, how are we using AI these days? Let’s do a check-in on one of those topics that inevitably fires everyone up: AI. One person who’s fired up about it is Dexter Thomas of Kill Switch, who joins us to get into the interesting relationships people are forming with AI — for better and (mostly) worse.Our guest is Dexter Thomas, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and host of Kill Switch. You can find Kill Switch wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube here. Everywhere else, you can follow the show @killswitchpod and follow Dexter @dexdigi.SponsorsGet unlimited premium wireless from Mint Mobile for just $15 a month at https://www.mintmobile.com/courierGet 50% off and free breakfast for a year from Factor by going to https://www.factormeals.com/panic50off and use panic50off at checkout!Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus content, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan recounts everything he's learned from the Epstein files so far, and with Grant, begins connecting all the red threads. Turns out, there's basically no major event this century that Epstein didn't have some involvement in — from the Great Recession to Donald Trump's 2016 win. Want to hear the rest of the conversation, plus ad-free episodes, bonus content, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for just five bucks a month at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the first “internet things” that reached beyond a bunch of inevitably really cool people who hung out in chatrooms, was YouTube. Today, we’re going back in time to look back at a potential progenitor of our current era: lonelygirl15. Willa Paskin joins us from Decoder Ring to reminisce about the earliest vloggers and how they have continued to influence us across all other platforms, ever since the first video on YouTube hit a million views in 2005. Our guest Willa Paskin is a writer and the host of Decoder Ring. You can listen to that podcast here or anywhere you find them. Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to the Garbage Day Discord? Sign up for a membership at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. And if you want to see this conversation on video, ⁠Panic World is now posting episodes to YouTube! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan and Grant discuss the latest in Minneapolis after ICE shot and killed Alex Pretti – the second Minnesota resident to be killed be ICE in a matter of weeks. This bonus is on the house! But if you want to support the show, sign up for a membership at: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld and you'll get access to more ad-free and bonus and extended episodes as well as access to the Garbage Day Discord. And grab a Panic World tee at: https://store.couriernewsroom.com/products/panic-world-tee Subscribe to Panic World wherever you get your podcasts including here or on YouTube. Panic World is a production of COURIER. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where are the Epstein files? Representative Ro Khanna joins us to urge listeners why we need to keep asking that question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices