The show itself I haven't listened to very much, to be honest. But the concept fascinates me, especially as it relates to the cultural and philosophical movement called New Sincerity. Here's the program's host, Jesse Thorn, as quoted in Wikipedia:
My position is irony is dead (...) but at the same time, just to return to old-fashioned sincerity, and particularly the kind of sentimentality that that draws in with it...we don't need it. So that's why we've created the New Sincerity. A perfect example of the New Sincerity is Evel Knievel. There's no way to take Evel Knievel literally. It's impossible. The man has a leather jumpsuit and he drives a rocket car. The leather jumpsuit has red, white, and blue stars and stripes on it. It's absolutely preposterous. On the other hand, there's no way to appreciate Evel Knievel ironically. He's too awesome. He has--I don't know if we've mentioned this--a leather jumpsuit with the Stars and Stripes on it and a rocket-powered car. That's why we appreciate Evel Knievel with the New Sincerity.
I decided, after thinking about that quote for the last couple of days, to dedicate this blog to things that are awesome. My goal is to find at least one thing every day that is, like Evel Knievel, truly awesome. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up on my own, so please send me your suggestions of things that are truly awesome. E-mail them to jfwinters at gmail.com or send them via good old fashioned snail-mail to Jonathon Winters, 607 Tasker St #2, Philadelphia, PA 19148
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