Uncontained Multitudes

This week, the burnouts discuss "the vibe shift". Or rather, we ask, "Is it hip to be left wing anymore?" We delve into our theories as to why it was not only possible for Trump to be reelected, but for college students to wear MAGA hats at frat parties without being ostracized. We expand upon our established ideas of the unpopularity and "death" of "woke", and discuss why none of your liberal friends ever seem happy. And finally, we share our theories on where the pendulum will swing next.

This week, the burnouts finally tackle a topic we've teased for years - Mormons. We discuss how their history intertwines closely with the history of the United States, how the Mormon Church has built Utah to be such a bizarre outlier of laws and culture in the United States, and how Mormons are conspicuously influencing us all to be a little bit more Mormon every single day.

This week, the burnouts explore a beautiful, well-written, and relatable coming-of-age story that's near and dear to the host's hearts. Fleabag. We extrapolate its themes of dissociation, feminism, and making horrible decisions in a desperate grasp for self-discovery and understanding. And, having lived and participated in the time of Fleabags culturally imminent popularity ourselves, we discuss in hindsight what it meant to be "in your Fleabag era".

This week, the burnouts have a fun episode where we explore r/AITA. We each selected several stories and then flipped a coin to determine who would be defending which position, forcing ourselves to defend the strangest, most dysfunctional people to ever share their life story on the internet.

This week, the burnouts (with special returning guest Sophie!) tackle Heated Rivalry, and the massive cultural phenomenon it left in its wake. We discuss the depth and purpose of the plot of a smutty gay romance, the depth and purpose of the Gratuitous sex scenes, and what exactly the original purpose and audience of the story itself was intended to be. Finally, we ask the question of whether or not feeding the fujoshis who fetishize these kinds of stories is moving us in the right direction. (WARNING!!! SPOILERS FOR HEATED RIVALRY!!!)

This week, the burnouts, inspired by recent world events, explore the modern historical conquests of the United States to help us give our best guesses as to how we got where we are today. We discuss military fervor, the United States as the world's police force, and the allmight Petroldollar.

This week, the burnouts discuss the latest film starring America's sweetheart, Timothee Chalamet. The one, the only, Marty Supreme. We share our opinions and personal interpretations of the movie's events, explore how and why such a frantically anxious movie got made, and what it has to say about our frantically anxious modern times. Furthermore, we explore its themes of hustle culture, desperation, the falsehood of the American dream, and Jewish pride shortly after World War II.

The burnouts once again welcome in the new year! This week's sprawling episode features discussions of our favorite media of the year, our large event predictions, our Ins and Outs, and our detailed thoughts regarding how everything we mention, both the good and the bad, connects to a looming economic recession. We here at Uncontained Multitudes are praying that 2026 treats us all well.

This week, the burnouts celebrate one full glorious year of Meg's abstention from the dating pool and commitment to celibacy!!! Besides continuing some of the thoughts we discussed in our first "relationship centric society" episode (a full year ago!), Meg answered questions regarding what she learned and experienced during this time, and detailed her vision board for her life going forward. Here's to another year of celibacy everyone!

This week, the burnouts discuss The Most Video Essayed Movie Ever. Fight Club. We explore the film's homosexual undertones and overtones, its overarching themes, our takes on these themes, and how we relate to the story and characters. Meg watched it for the first time very recently (for a reason). But Jeremy, like every man, has had a special relationship with the movie since he was young. 

This week, the burnouts dig deep into Western society's beauty standards. Beginning with the history of modeling and size restrictions, and connecting this to how bourgeois ideas of labor and status symbols have left us with plastic surgeries, like buccal fat removal, that leave the elites looking strange to us commoners. 

This week, the burnouts delve into the lurid world of commercial surrogacy. Exploring how, through the simple option to pay someone to carry your pregnancy to term for you, we have created a "going market rate" for women's bodies. We discuss several cases where surrogacy has gone wrong throughout the world. And detail how with commercial surrogacy, what you eat, where you work, who you're with, and everything you do is subject to the realities of contract law.

This episode, we are joined once again by friend of the pod Connor, this time to discuss minimum wage! We spend some time citing numbers, effects, and histories of minimum wages across the world, but only to provide context to the central conversation of dialectics versus ideology. The vital question this episode: if we want to achieve the "correct" answer to questions of social welfare, such as minimum wage, what philosophies should we use to even create the questions we're answering? How much importance should we place on numbers such as GDP, unemployment, and other matters of profit and productivity? Sometimes, economists should just shut up.

This week, in the wake of several incidents that have occurred in the United States, the burnouts discuss the history and ethics of political violence throughout the world, from civil rights leaders to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. We attempt to understand what ethical justifications an individual (or individuals) might use to bring themselves to commit their lives to political violence.

This week, the burnouts explore the different ways pseudoscience has infiltrated our society. From personality tests used in Fortune 500 hiring practices developed from literal astrology, to pedagogical philosophies that also developed from... astrology. We delve into the conspiracy that no one is truly in charge of their own fate, and there are plenty of people who want to sell you courses to help you "predict" your fate written in the stars.

This week, the burnouts have on friend of the pod Olivier to discuss the nascent economic turmoil leaving us all paying too much in rent, without the option to buy a house, and many others homeless while real estate sits empty. We extrapolate on how we got here, and attempt to discuss, with the help of advanced economic simulators (like the video game City Skylines 2), what could be done to make this better.

This week, the burnouts ask "if no one has read a book since highschool, what are the freaks who do read reading?" We take a deep dive into booktok and its associate smut, male manipulators and their associated self-help/misogynistic violence literature, and everything in between. 

This week, in our most pretentious episode yet, the burnouts engage in a philosophical debate about whether or not it's ethical to bring a baby into this world. We explore topics such as the many narcissistic reasons people give for desiring a child, anti-natalism, utilitarianism, and what the Categorical Imperative has to say about infringing on someone's right to be born... without being asked first.

This week, the burnouts explore the contentious debate surrounding controversial media personalities and the art they create. Is it okay to separate the art from the artist and enjoy them casually? Is it ethical to listen to Kanye West in 2025, knowing that every time you stream his songs, you earn him money? We explore topics such as author and consumer intent, popularity and contribution to the cultural zeitgiest, and who we hate (and don't hate) and why.

This week, the burnouts once again discuss the state of our economy! Maybe you've seen people's various "recession indicator" posts on TikTok or Instagram Reels, but people seem to think that everything is an omen of our impending doom. We take a look at a few classic examples, such as "The Lipstick Index" and "The Hot Waitress Index". As well as a few nascent trends, like the "Old Money Aesthetic" and "Groceries as a Fashion Accessory", and examine where they all started and how they all fit together to herald the coming economic collapse.

This week, the burnouts seek to understand the Choice Feminist mindset. How is it possible for a woman to spend a fortune conforming to beauty standards and still be a feminist? What does being a girlboss have to do with any of this, and are there still girlbosses out there? Is Choice Feminism a dying fad, or here to stay?

This week, not only do the burnouts investigate America's sordid history and poignant relationship with drunk driving, we also did our own research out in the field -- Going out to the bar armed with a breathalyzer to discover what exactly the "legal limit" actually feels like, and what it takes to get us there. With this information, we discuss why, even though we've been told not to do so since we were children, everyone seems to drive drunk after a night out. And what, if anything, can be done to curb this issue.

This week, the burnouts have an Episode About Nothing, kinda like Seinfeld. We have fun jumping from topics such as "surviving in the woods", the Met Gala, and everything in between. We finish off the episode with some exciting would-you-rather questions that push our concept of strength and morality to our limits.

This week, Jeremy uses his newly acquired degree to mansplain the economy!!! Specifically, the burnouts dive into how our economy handles people who provide no labor, and how we plan for a period of our life where we ourselves provide no labor. We discuss retirement accounts, the stock market, and why if you weren't born rich, you're likely never going to retire.

This week, the burnouts pop our Valiums and talk about the history of mommy's little helpers. The pills that allowed housewives of the mid to late 20th century to be content with their horrible, depressing lives, and the culture of capitulation that enabled and surrounded them. 

This week, the burnouts have a chatty episode about our favorite reality TV. Delving into how absolutely insane you have to be to find yourself on a TV show wherein you're encouraged to cheat (Jersey Shore), forced to cheat (The Ultimatum), or simply made into a person with a personality disorder, whether or not you had one to begin with (every single reality TV show). 

This week, the burnouts explore the dark corners of our minds, asking the question "why might someone want to get worse on purpose?" We closely examine Meg's favorite movie, Girl, Interrupted, to help us articulate the sinister things our minds get addicted to. From lurid online communities, to literature, to the friends you've made in school, everyone's known a girl, interrupted. 

This week, the burnouts discuss the not-so-secret conservative themes of the classic American historical picaresque film Forrest Gump. Using this film as a point of reference, we illustrate how most other Hollywood films are also a bit more right-wing than you would have thought. Have you ever thought about how those seemingly anti-war films still experience broad Grand Ole Party appeal? It goes a little deeper than just "guns and explosions are cool". Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

This week, the burnouts question the nature of the rise of traditional living as an aesthetic that is shown mostly on social media for the unwashed masses to yearn for. We examine the conservative undertones of everything from makeup, baking cookies, having a wife and kids, and gender roles. Afterward, we take a close look at raw milk's role in everything, its popularity obviously a sign of the times. Is raw milk the symbol of the new conservative party?

Uncontained Multitudes turns one year old today! What started out as a joke between the two most annoying people you know has turned into a long-standing hobby we couldn't be prouder of. To celebrate this achievement, the burnouts day drink and discuss the Grammys award ceremony. We examine the rightful winners, the wrongful losers, everyone's fugly outfits, and other controversies within the biggest night in music.

This week, the burnouts ask why, in our relationship-centric society, we feel as if we're "unemployed" if we aren't given or receiving attention from a significant other. Covering angles such as misogyny, capitalism, and simple plain loneliness to explain why being in between relationships is treated like being in between jobs.

The burnouts explore the contentious topic of veganism in our most philosophical episode yet. Beginning with a simple question: if it's so good, should we all be vegan? And spiraling out into topics of alienation from the production of our food, economics, and the suffering of humans and animals alike.

The burnouts usher in the new year with their extensive judgemental mean girl lists of predictions of what will be "In" and "Out" in the great big year of 2025. We also take some time to ponder our New Year's resolutions and reminisce on our favorite cultural moments of 2024. Let's hope 2025 is a good one folks.

Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Sakura Haruno from Naruto. This week, the burnouts explore the lurid world of AI girlfriends. We speculate on the psychology of those who engage with AI chatbots with the purposive intention of forming an emotional connection, like say, a therapist or a romantic partner - as well as what such a one-sided connection might do to you. Jeremy tries out his own AI girlfriend and discovers he still doesn't feel love.

This week, the burnouts investigate the immanence of compulsory heterosexuality in our culture. From performing straightness even when you're not straight, to wishing you were a lesbian because men are so terrible, and finally, consulting the Lesbian Masterdoc about whether or not we like girls.

The burnouts bring you their takes on the election, the present state of America, and our outlooks for the future. We attempt to determine what actually wins an election, who the Democrats need to nominate, and who they need to add to their propaganda machine if they ever want to win again. Finally, we ask why on earth Elon Musk wants to control all three branches of the US government and one of the largest social media platforms at the same time.

This week, the burnouts tackle the sprawling, horrifying, Kafkaesque concept of the Digital Footprint. We discuss how everything you do online is haunted by the possibility of consequences in the offline world, and vice versa. We also contemplate the reality of data tracking and psychological targeting, is it really so bad that Facebook knows you like cheeseburgers?

This episode, featuring friend of the pod Sophie, delves into the dark underbelly of meninism, the manosphere, and incels. We discuss how men first take the redpill, deconstruct the societal notions encompassing it, and finally end on Jeremy's story of his incel past - and eventual redemption.

The Burnouts get philosophical when they're let loose... Episode 16 is a freeform yap sesh in which they chat about recent life experiences and answer questions that would please woke-redditors, all of which mostly lead back to theories on free will. The audio quality on this episode sucks guys we're sorry. Jeremy forgot to plug in the mic, we think we fixed this about 30 minutes in when Jeremy noticed the mic was connected to nothing.

This week, the burnouts discuss hookup culture as a social institution and epidemic. The psychological facets of how 1% of sex havers ruin intimacy for the rest of us. And how this could all be better for the rest of us if we all had more sex, but that will never happen.... So Sex Should Be Illegal.

In this weeks episode, the burnouts delve into the ethics of porn and its associated brainrot. How it twists the relationships you form with women, society, violence, and yourself. We talk about what porn even is, and are forced to have an opinion on whether it's ethical or not. 

This week's episode explores the consistently poor quality of modern cartoons, compared to the generationally defining cartoons of the burnouts youth, and how such a change in quality came to be. We also attempt to define the consequences of the motifs of modern cartoon entertainment, exploring the childhood narcissistic brainrot that these cartoons seem to enable. P.S. We experienced some audio issues with audacity this episode, there seems to be a few places where the audio cuts out. We apologize for the inconvenience, we are recording on technology from the Obama Administration.

This week's episode, featuring a very special guest all the way from Mexico - close friend of the pod Connor, goes in-depth on the question "why didn't Bernie win the presidency?" To better understand and answer this question, we'll be examining the history and contemporary politics of other countries, namely Mexico, that have succeeded in electing progressive-leaning politicians. 

This week, the burnouts question why every hot girl on Instagram seemingly can't keep their bowels in order, not feel dizzy when they stand up, or find anything to eat that won't ruin their entire life forever. We take a deep dive into the causes of IBS, examining the lifestyles that seem most common among those who suffer from it in order to determine what might be at fault. (Spoiler: It's never your fault.)

In this weeks episode, the burnouts tackle the tangentially relatable yet curiously followed idea of a "celebrity persona". Centered mostly around Lana Del Rey and other musicians that curated a "sad girl aesthetic". We discuss the effects these personas have on the parasocial relationships the audience forms with the celebrity, and the abusive facets of fame that might inform the decision and curation of a persona in the first place. 

This week the burnouts discuss Challangers, the newest movie about the sexiest sport ever invented. We review, critique, and analyze the feminist undertones of what a 13 year long situationship does to a mf. 

This week, the burnouts discuss the exponentially growing cultural rally around weed. We examine its apparent passive use among just about every single person you know, its looming appearance in the dating world, and its use as a political MacGuffin.

This week we explore the horrifically Cormac Mccarthy-esque history and exciting contemporary socioeconomic presence of trains! Featuring special guest, in-house train luvr, and friend of the pod Keegan!

This week, the gifted kid burnouts delve into what it's like working in the pseudo-sexual restaurant and serving industry. Exploring topics such as neurotic customers, neurotic coworkers, neurotic bosses, emotional labor, and how you're the only normal person working there and nothing is ever your fault.

The gifted kid burnouts explore the recent discourse surrounding food delivery apps such as doordash. Delving into the ethical, cultural, and economic facets surrounding their chronic use.