‘Just the Gist’ with Rosie Waterland and Jacob Stanley can be… problematic?

I have been re-listening to the back catalogue of the ‘Just the Gist’ podcast with Rosie Waterland and Jacob Stanley. I know it has now finished, after Rosie and Jacob presumably had a massive fight in South Africa… but I decided to go back and listen to the old eps. I used to love Rosie, but the more I revisit the show, the more I realise that she often has really inconsistent takes on topics. She proclaims to be a lefty, feminist, anti-capitalist etc… but sometimes she actually seems to be quite conservative… (Maybe her ex-boyfriend hardcore right-winger Caleb was rubbing off on her..??) In the episode about Patty Hearst, Rosie was so vocal about opposing these stupid rich kids who had started up a socialist group - and she was so gratified by their capture and demise… but she didn’t really seem to grasp the other side of the argument, which was that these spoilt rich kids were “trying” to embrace a more equal/socialist/Robin Hood mindset. Rosie ended up being on the side of the wealthy elite and the police, who took down this little anarchist group. I get why, but I felt her analysis was really one-dimensional, and was more influenced by Rosie’s long-standing childhood hatred of “the popular kids” and “the rich kids”, than any true anti-capitalist values. Similarly in the episode about Forrest Fenn’s treasure, Rosie seemed to think Fenn was such a sweet, kindly old man for offering hope to the world by burying treasure… rather than appreciating that this old multimillionaire was playing with desperate and vulnerable people by dangling appropriated cultural artefacts and ill-gotten wealth just beyond their reach. I couldn’t believe Rosie didn’t call out Fenn’s disgusting display of wealth and power…

Rosie also always complains about her terribly difficult childhood and PTSD, neither of which I dispute at all - but she also frequently tells us about how she went to a fancy private boarding school, how her mother would tell her exciting bedtime stories, how she would have a long list of desired Christmas presents she would present to her mother each year, how her mother would do an Easter egg hunt with elaborate instructions to find the chocolates… I sometimes wonder if Rosie realised what a privileged upbringing she often inadvertently describes? I know she had tough times too, and went through foster care - but I can’t help but feel that Rosie also seems to describe having had a rich and privileged childhood in many ways, too.

I do like and respect Rosie, but sometimes am left with the sense that she thinks she is a lot more clever and progressive than she really is. Jacob, on the other hand, is clearly the more eloquent and articulate one. He also seems to be very circumspect, considered and humble. Rosie often makes fun of him (which I understand is what friends do), but often I think Rosie doesn’t understand the nuance of something Jacob has said, and she will laughingly say things like “our education system let us down”, lumping Jacob into her own misunderstanding of a topic or word. Jacob seems to just roll with the punches and never calls Rosie out when she misunderstands what he says (or makes a malapropism, or mis-quotes a fact, or miscalculates a number etc.)

This is a bit of a rant. I guess sometimes Rosie annoys me a bit and I think she doesn’t appreciate how clever and astute Jacob is…. What do you think?

I guess it’s all moot now that they’ve split…