Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything - Influencers (part II of II)

Episode Date: June 28, 2017

Frankie isn’t a real Media Influencer but the Government saw the 500k followers he bought for his Instagram profile back in the day and arrested him anyway. Now he’s in a Media internment camp. This is PART TWO of a special collaboration with the Truth podcast. Head over there to get part one. This is our contribution to Radiotopia’s new crossover series. We all investigate Doing Time to mark the arrival of the new Radiotopia Podcast Earhustle.

You are listening to Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything. At Radiotopia, we now have a select group of amazing supporters that help us make all our shows possible. If you would like to have your company or product sponsor this podcast, then get in touch. Drop a line to sponsor at radiotopia.fm. Thanks. episode. Why is there something called influencer voice? What's the deal with the TikTok shop? What is posting disease and do you have it? Why can it be so scary and yet feel so great to block someone on social media? The Neverpost team wonders why the internet and the world because of the internet is the way it is. They talk to artists, lawyers, linguists, content creators, sociologists, historians, and more about our current tech and media moment. From PRX's Radiotopia, Never Post, a podcast for and about the Internet.

Episodes every other week at neverpo.st and wherever you find pods. This installment is called Influencers Part 2. And that's part two, as in part two of a two-part story. And in order to get part one, you're going to need to find the podcast feed for The Truth. That's at thetruthpodcast.com. You can also hear it at radiotopia.fm. So Jonathan Mitchell, the host and ringmaster for the Truth Podcast. We're both radiotopians, two of the first bunch, and have worked together in strange projects over the years.

I think we met when we were doing an audio tour of Boston hosted by Steven Tyler. Oh man, before we had even an idea what a podcast was. Yeah. Amazing. And here we are many, many years later. But I've always admired what you do and I felt really excited to get an opportunity to write something for you.

But I've also been very jealous that you have such a clear and easy descriptor for your podcast. It's called Movies for Your Ears, is what we say. It's what it says on the website. It gives me an image. Yeah. I know what to expect. And some people say, well, isn't that just radio drama? And I say, yeah, yeah, it is. But I like to think of it as really cinematic approach to audio drama. And I like to make things that create a really vivid image in your imagination. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I spent a lot of late nights working on this script for you and for this collaboration. And it definitely felt like I was writing a

screenplay. Yeah. And I had this idea that in this environment with our president, President Trump, who's so openly contemptuous of the media, you know, he calls them enemies of the people. It was very easy for me to imagine, you know, a scene, you know, maybe a couple steps away from now where these enemies of the people are interned together in a camp. Journalists. Influencers, as we're calling the series. It's influencers. Yeah. Because our main character

might not supposed to be there. But you can meet him and listen to part one by just going over to the truth and then coming back here and listening to part two. And for those of you who have already heard part one, here is part two of Influencers. of influencers. I'll tell you 13 little known secrets about this place. Frankie Thomas, ace writer for the Daily Magazine. Where are we? Guys, come on, move. Where is everybody? Howdy.

Lauren? Joanne. What are you doing here? They got all of us. You guys know each other? Joanne's an old friend. She runs Consumer Reviews at Amazon. Ran.

They shut Amazon down. Arrested everyone. What? What authority? How did they catch you? Didn't you get my message? I tried to warn you. What are you talking about?

Well, I knew something was up. They've had us working on promotional materials for the new magazine for weeks. Of course. I'm actually in charge of the new Deal of the Day campaign. Who's this guy? That's Frankie. He's one of us. He's the one who sent the message using the code.

I never got it. They must have blocked it. Did they round everyone up? Yeah, everyone. Nick and Carrie, they accused them of being in the resistance and they sent them to the wall. It's over. Roll call, goddammit, right

now! So much work to do today. The Daily Maga is now in charge of the brand new Magazon. And we have imported a key figure from the now defunct Amazon to help show us what we need to be doing. So line up now or I'll start busting

heads. So now I'm just supposed to forget about all my friends and start collaborating? Line up! I can't do it. No, I can't do it. I just can't. It's dangerous. How can you all live with yourselves? What happened to you? What happened to your integrity? You're journalists. Time to shut up and get in line. There is no way in hell

that I'm getting in line for you fascists. Oh, God, come on. Grab her. Hey, stop. No. Get off of me. I'm an American. A real American. Somebody help me. No! Alright.

Now the rest of you. Line up. Line up now. Since we're now in charge of Amazon, what if we start writing about books? Nope. Terrible idea, Wolf. What do you got, Ben? How about we write up a special on belts? Put them in the Infinite Closet. That's promising. You know, we could add different accessories, one a month. You know, this is good. Why don't you write me up a sample of that belt idea today?

Ashley, what are you doing? I'm still trying to sell the special edition electoral college victory mats. You know, what if people just don't want to be reminded of that night because... No, no, no, Ashley. No, there's a way to do it. You just gotta focus on the colors. Everyone likes red. Frankie Thomas, we got another delivery for you.

This time it's a box of MAGA burgers. Awesome. Save me some and we can figure out a trade. Oh, wow, these are the new big leagues. Frankie, I'd really like a MAGA burger. Sorry, Wolf. Why don't you help Ben deliver on his belt campaign and we'll talk. Hey, Frankie, what do you got?

Lauren. Hey, yeah, look at all this stuff. Look, I got Bigleys. I got MAGA caps. I have some suits I haven't even opened yet. Wow. Yeah, I guess in a way it's kind of like a payoff for all the followers I bought. You bought followers?

Yeah, for my Instagram profile. No, I know. Okay. No, I know. Okay, look, I know it's kind of embarrassing. But it was because of my friend Bruno. He got asked to join the group, the fame crew, the Instagram group. Yeah, I remember them. They were big. So he gets like a million followers overnight.

Oh, my God. Just like that. So then I see him a couple weeks later, and he's wearing a Rolex. He got it for free. They sent it to him. They just wanted him to be photographed with the fame crew wearing it. Yeah. They used to send me stuff like that all the time, but I would just send it back.

Yeah, so I immediately go online, and I buy like 500,000 followers. And that's how you ended up here? Yeah, well, it took a while, but I think my investment is paying off. Look at all this stuff. It's awesome. You think it's paying off? Yeah, look. You're in a prison camp.

Okay, do you want any of this stuff? I mean, some of it's yours. I owe you. What do you mean? The message. I flaked. What? I mean, some of it's yours. I owe you. What do you mean? The message. I flaked. What? I hope you're friends. Okay.

No, Frankie, she isn't. Okay, I'm sorry. Oh, my God. I had a lot of stuff going on. Do you really want to make things up to me, Frankie? Yeah, yes. Yeah, of course. Well, I need enough stuff to bribe Officer Williams to look the other way because I'm getting in a delivery truck tomorrow and I'm escaping. What?

That's crazy. Are you in? Yeah, yes. Yeah, okay, I just gotta get enough stuff together and I'll come find you in a couple hours, okay? Okay, what do you got for me? This better be good. I can get in real trouble helping out an enemy of the people.

Let's see. Box of biglies. Two suits. Not bad. Mega streetwear caps. Aha, these are great. And what's this? A special commemorative electoral college victory poster?

What am I supposed to do with this? Do you want to make the trade or what? Okay, alright, just keep your head down and follow me. Fifteen minutes is all you got. Frankie, what is going on? Lauren, hey, are you okay? I've been in here for two weeks. I was waiting for you to bring me the stuff to bribe Officer Williams with,

and then those guards took me, and they handcuffed me, and they threw me in here. What is going on? I had to turn you in. Okay, your plan was insane. They could have thrown you in for enhanced interrogation and they probably would have blamed me for helping you, which is bad. So this is how you help me. Wow, Frankie.

Thanks. Thanks. Maybe you can get them to send me to the wall, too. That's just it, Lauren. They were going to send you to the wall. But I made a deal for you. All you have to do is swear off the resistance and you take a MAGA oath and they're going to forget about it. You can even stay.

Frankie, how about you get us both out of here? How about we escape together? We can publish our own resistance paper and we can explain to people how bad things really are. How this corrupt autocratic family is trampling on the rule of law and human rights. We can get the American people to see the political injustice of it all.

Lauren, no. No, because people have forgotten they don't know what's real anymore. You have it all wrong. All of this, it actually has nothing to do with politics. All the first family really cares about is selling their stuff. That's why they brought everyone here. They just want influencers to help them sell their stuff. And I figured out how to make it work.

For everyone. You know, I'm actually doing editorial now because they moved you in here, but I'm calling all the shots. Even the czar likes what I'm doing. Look, the more stuff we help sell, the more stuff we get. And then the more stuff we get, the more stuff we have to spread around. So what do you say? How about it? Okay, everyone, get around.

When you hear your name, grab your MAGA rewards, and then we'll walk over to the factory for a great day of work. Wolf Blitzer. Oh, check this out. A new suit and three deluxe Juiceros. Ashley Parker. Right. Another inauguration poster. Thank you.

Glenn Rush. Same. Jesus. Brent Jacobs. MAGA glasses. Come on, it's not funny anymore. Frankie Thomas. Oh, whoa. The new MAGA boy. That's awesome.

Yeah, I guess the president liked my MAGAnet gaming idea. Hey, get me one of those too. Maybe we can multiplayer. Okay, everyone, let's go make America greater. The greatest. Ready, go. Two, three, four. March.

Two, three, four. Frankie, six, seven, eight. Frankie, hey. Hey. You're marching so fast, it's almost like you don't want to march with me today. Oh, that's weird. So, why so glum, chum? I don't know. I'm just thinking about Lauren. You know, I hope that things aren't too rough for her at the wall.

Oh, rough? Yeah. Well, she probably didn't even survive this long. I just can't believe she chose the wall over this. I told you she was serious. Look at this, Wolf. We aren't getting yelled at anymore. We're being treated well.

It's like they see us as equals. And we have you to thank for that, Frankie. You have reaffirmed my long-held belief that the only way to influence the system is from the inside. Thanks, Wolf. So, do you think you can get me one of those mega-boys? You know what? Take mine. There's plenty more where that came from. Thank you. TheTruithPodcast.com. Theory of Everything and The Truth are proud members of Radiotopia from PRX, made possible with support from the Knight Foundation. Our associate producer is Carrie

Kasten. I'm Jonathan Mitchell, and you have been hearing Benjamin Walker Theory of Everything. Radiotopia from PRX.