The Drain 006 - "Poverty porn" peddlers and the billionaires who love them, with Marke B.

Today we're joined by Marke B, cofounder and arts editor at 48 Hills, co-owner of The Stud, DJ, and author of Queer: the Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens, and Into the Streets: a Young Person’s Visual Guide to the History of Protest in the US Marke is a San Franciscan with a deep history in the culture, starting at Citysearch and Gay.com, and then getting a front-row seat to the corporate takeover of SF tech and the boom/bust/web 2.0 mess (before he fled back into print for his sanity). He pops in to discuss the phenomenon of "poverty porn" peddlers who gain clout by sharing videos on social media of unhoused people in crisis, folks experiencing mental health breaks, and addicts in the throes of their disease. We examine how these "peddlers" are connected to billionaires trying to take over the San Francisco political scene, as well as why rich guy Garry Tan has blocked everyone on our panel. Some links to the stories we're discussing: Techie mistakes fireworks for gun shots, cries to Garry Tan Poverty porn peddler Ricci Wynne is in pretty big trouble  JJ Smith and the astroturf network The tech plutocrats dreaming of a rightwing San Francisco Right-wing SF tech rears its head at Heritage Foundation's Reboot San Francisco’s Right-Wing Tech Bros Go National Don't forget to like, rate and subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms. Questions? Comments? Chisme? Email us at [email protected]. And subscribe to our Patreon for future premium Friday episodes of The Plug. Oh, and we're on Bluesky: @thedrain.bsky.social, @palma.ltd, @yeshelloitskempa.bsky.social