Decoder Ring - Gandhi Never Said “Be the Change”
Few inspirational phrases are quoted more often than Mahatma Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It shows up on t-shirts,...
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Society & Culture
Culture Gabfest
New York Times critic Dwight Garner says “The Slate Culture Gabfest is one of the highlights of my week.” The award-winning Culturefest features Slate culture critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana S...
Episodes
20 of 3,088 episodes
ICYMI - How The Pussyhat Unraveled
Ten years ago, the world was gearing up to welcome the first female president. Instead, Donald Trump’s surprise victory went on to alter Ame...
Death, Sex & Money - Remembering John Prine on His 80th, With His Wife Fiona
To mark John Prine’s 80’s birthday, Anna catches up with his wife Fiona. Then we revisit Anna’s 2018 conversation with John, where he discus...
ICYMI - Jane Doe Deserves Better From The Internet
As soon as Jane Doe filed her civil suit against Cornell University, the internet was up in arms. Everyone from Florence Pugh to Love Island...
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Near-Miss Hits: ‘80s Edition
The 1980s yielded a bumper crop of near-miss hits—songs that stalled out at No. 2, No. 11, or No. 41 during their original Billboard runs bu...
ICYMI - The Conspiracy Theory Your Parents Are Falling For
What if I told you there was a machine that, using powerful energy and frequencies, could cure everything from common colds to cancers to mi...
Decoder Ring - Preview: Decoder Rings Back | The Second Spice
One of the many perks of subscribing to Decoder Ring Plus is access to every episode of Decoder Rings Back, our member-exclusive series wher...
Death, Sex & Money - Ada Limón Lives in 'Vertical Time' in Her Childhood Home
After three years as Poet Laureate, Ada Limón craved a smaller, more private life. Then she saw a sign: her childhood home was for sale. In...
ICYMI - WTF Is Happening On Threads?
There are some controversies that can only happen on Threads. Discussions about mermaid trauma, for instance, or Pepsi having to apologize f...
ICYMI - The Revenge Of The Comment Section
Comment sections are dying. At least, when it comes to digital media. Platforms like Twitter have become the new place for discourse, and ap...
Death, Sex & Money - Stavros Halkias Worries Fame Might Kill Him
This year, Stavros Halkias released a stand-up special, appeared in the Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony , and continued his run on the hit Netf...
ICYMI - No Phones? No Problem
Dumbphones are a popular recommendation for people looking to reduce their screen time, but it’s not as simple as it looks. When writer Step...
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Choosin’ Dolly Edition
In the 1970s, Dolly Parton parlayed her Nashville success into megawatt pop-culture icon status—yet many of her familiar hits of the era bar...
Decoder Ring - Bridget in the Buff
In the early 1970s, a jigsaw puzzle of a cheerful, young, naked, fat woman known only as “Bridget in the Buff” arrived in stores all over Am...
ICYMI - The “Sickfluencer” Witch Hunt
Like clockwork, another article has created a moral panic about so-called “sickfluencers,” or people—usually women—who share online about th...
Death, Sex & Money - My Homeschool Curriculum Was My Mother’s Unhappiness
Stefan’s mother said he was too smart for public school and took him out of 4th grade. But instead of studying, Stefan’s homeschool curricul...
ICYMI - Calm Down, There’s No “AI Apocalypse”
A former Anthropic employee claimed AI would lead to the end of humanity, and soon. In the weeks since, the “whistleblower” has done a full...
ICYMI - Forbidden Alphas & Cursed Billionaires: The Rise Of Microdramas
Pregnant werewolves and surprise quadruplets are just two of the tropes you might find while watching what might be the next evolution of TV...
Death, Sex & Money - How I “Failed” at OnlyFans
Anna Blake started an OnlyFans account, not as a pleasure project, but to achieve some financial stability. When she found out she hated the...
ICYMI - Who TF Are These Women?
“ Curtain for Zoosha! K-smog and Batboy caught flipping a grunt. ” If that’s also what every headline sounds like to you, then you’re in the...