187 - Sky King: The Story of Richard Russell (feat. Caleb from Western Kabuki)

Regarding the question at ~1:36, "what does any of this have to do with whiteness?" You have to keep in mind that these assholes don't see race as just a combination of, like, phenotypic and cultural traits, but as a sort of physical manifestation of some nebulous concept of destiny. Whiteness, to these chuckleheads, means being one of the protagonists of reality. They've built up this idea that only white people get to have adventures, make discoveries, do impressive things, and go down in history as heroes. When reality inevitably fails to at all match up to this ideal they declare that reality is in the wrong, that the destiny they somehow 'deserve' is being stolen from them by all those nefarious non-whites who villainously insist on being, y'know, people.

Thanks for doing this episode. I feel like it's among your most important. Next to the Animal Crossing one, maybe. lol, but darkly

I have had chronic passive suicidal ideation ever since I was a teenager. I don’t think I have the eloquence to make sense of what I feel right now. I hear what you all are saying at the end of the episode—about how suicide is a tragic snuffing out of a life’s potential—and it just makes me weep. I have always felt that I wasn’t born with enough steam to make it through. I do think it is possible for living to be so painful that it makes a kind of sense to just want it to stop.

Got off my warehouse job shift as the Orca song started to play. It's a pretty overcast day. I saw a plane flyover head as I began walking down the lot. I teared up a little bit after that.

I truly appreciate the vulnerability you are all willing to show in the podcast, and I'll be thinking about the quote that Caleb brought up about suffering for a while.

I've been passively suicidal since 2020ish. It's background noise for me now, which is fairly sustainable. Suicide has featured prominently in my life for several years, with those close to me attempting or being hospitalized. I don't know what it's like to actually face the end and I'm not going to actively seek it. But I understand the desire for peace. I don't know how I feel about arguments that it's irrational, I don't know. Also, I love Cioran. As far as possible without actually knowing you, I'm also very fond of you guys.

I was days away from turning 30. I lived in University Place, a borough of Tacoma, and both heard and felt the Sky King go over us before he crashed. I've always felt something kindred with him, and hearing how local and how similar we were, especially how we grew up, is eerie.

I clean planes for a living and the idea of just stealing one is kinda a constant background thought.

I live in Seattle (and was in 2018), I had no idea this had happened! I didn't follow the news but I'm surprised nobody I knew was talking about it online. Tragic stuff.

Cried several times during this one. Just one of the most genuinely human and powerful pieces you guys have done. As absolutely depraved as it is to see something as tragic as this co-opted by these Nazi freaks, there's such a poignancy to the conclusions you all come to. Thank you. Important as hell episode.

The fash adoption of Richard as a totem reminds me of something I read about Germany and the architectural remaking of Berlin under the Nazis - they demanded buildings "that would make beautiful ruins." A fundamental aspect of fascism is the death drive.

Well done Bryan, that final picture you painted... the spectacle, the idol... I definitely saw something real I hadn't recognized before.

I remember when this happened, but I had no idea that he'd been "claimed" by the fucking fascists. Lads, you really wrecked me with this one. Josh, I'm so fucking sorry. And Brian, that closing was like a finger on my soul. Im sure this was hard to make, but thank you for this episode

So I’ve been enthralled with this story for a long time. When I first read through the notes I felt pretty upset that fashy dweebs have been co-opting his story. I’m a pretty far left person who’s dealt with ideation since I was about 12 (I’m 37) and in therapy all the time. It’s hard to communicate to people we care about why we might feel this way; it’s often embarrassing cuz I’m a tall white (but very queer) dude: I have so much privilege. Around 1hr40 ish y’all talked about not being able to understand ideation, and that was really impactful to me. It’s not something that is logical; something you can just simplify into a couple words. It just this perpetually nagging basic instinct that I shouldn’t be alive. Before anyone freaks out I have found medications that are working way better than before. My goal is to one day not have the subversive nagging thoughts. It was so meaningful for Caleb and everyone and I have to say. When y’all talked about how Beebo living despite how he might feel would bring so much joy and happiness to the people who cared about him… that really touched me. I am sure the people in my life would feel the same way. And I think y’all really helped me reframe my outlook on my life. From “everyone would be so upset when I do it” to “maybe people want me in their lives (cuz I think they do)”. Decades of therapy never got me to that point but y’all helped me see that through this episode and I’m so grateful. WK and TWOAW are amazing, appreciate all of y’all

listening to the pilot emergency call & remembering that damn, professional pilots really are the dumbest, most arrogant folks I ever have met.

welp,

For those coming over to listen to the second half after listening to the first half on western kabuki, the second part begins at ~57 minutes.

I live in Tacoma. I had honestly forgot about this until I saw a YouTube Short tribute pop up out of nowhere a couple weeks ago. I remember now the confusion my family felt when we heard what was going on, and the moment we realized the crash was likely a suicide. Not to get too into it, but I had gone through a really bad depressive episode the previous year, and I remember only now that this affected me. Learning how this event has been twisted makes me genuinely sick to my stomach.

Sorry TW for this whole comment I’m now fully two years older than I had ever planned on being, and the worst part of going through regular life as a passively suicidal person is that the lowest points will always bring those feelings back again. It used to be a huge contributing factor to my impulsive behaviours — as in like: well, I’ve always got a way out if things get too bad, so why not? Even good times come with some undercurrent of if this is as good as it gets, get out now. With so many more people depending on me than I had a decade ago, the thought carries a lot more weight but I also have no idea what I’m doing and no plans for the future because I wasn’t really set on being around at this point. And it’s hard to look at the state of things and NOT think about whether nonexistence is better. Idk. Big hugs to everybody else who’s still dragging themselves through everything to stick around.

Thanks for an episode that helps those of us who needed it to not feel so alone today.

I rember that shithead. He harassed Susan Bro, Heathers Mom. I was one of the medics on water street on a12, they doxxed most of us from the news photos. I had to move to a different city.

Man. Nothing witty to say, just goddamn.

This is now permanently a podcast about Seattle.

For the last...oh, two? Three? years, I've been living without suicidal ideation. Before that was a decade and a half of thinking and living as though the only way forward was eventual self destruction. It's exhausting, especially if you've committed yourself to keeping up a good front, and not letting anyone know. That makes it come as a real shock to the people around you when it finally gets too heavy and you break. I've always been a bubbly, cheery person, and I also saw myself a lot in this story. No one saw it coming, I wasn't a moody or dark kid, and it forced a lot of conversations to happen. This was a tragedy. "Cathedral of suicide" is going to stay with me, for the times it's tempting to romanticize the suffering. I wish peace for all of youse, and that the pain will pass soon.

I'm at the interstitial and i feel like this is the happiest im going to be for the entire episode

Awaken with JP used to make fun of esoteric/yoga/lifestyle/mindfulness content, which I found entertaining. It was satirical without being hostile. I stopped watching after a while because things were getting a bit repetitive. When I checked back with him - I think it was during the pandemic - I was really disappointed to see how right-wing & conspiratorial he had become.

Did Josh accidentally write Zapazoids: The Novelization when he was a kid

As someone who has struggled with suicidal thoughts and inclinations for most of my life, I found this a very heartening listen. It is something that I, like Brian, have to focus the rational parts of my brain to think about to consider the various ways that things would be effected if I went through with it, how what good I can do in the world would simply end. The thing that most helped me get over it was being on the coroners jury for a young man who had jumped in front of a train because he was failing college and didn't know how to tell his family about it. Seeing the outpour of grief and sorrow from his family in the courtroom, the assurance to me that there wasn't a single one of them wouldn't give anything to talk to him again, that helped to cement to me the main reason that has stopped me from killing myself many times. It doesn't stop the pain and the misery, it just pushes it along. With this particular case though, it seems that the public spectacle of it all has overtaken the ultimate point of Russell's death. He was just a person who died, not what the worst parts of the internet have ascribed on to him. And his loved ones will continue to be hurt for him.

I hadn't heard of this incident before now but this was a beautiful episode, thank you all

This one should be released at some point to the free feed, I reckon.

Who knew the right had their own killdozer