How Is This Better?

As younger generations continue to turn towards the internet for their content, what fate awaits for Hollywood?

Last Sunday, celebrities and renowned members of the Academy gathered together to celebrate the Oscars. The awards show is considered one of the touchstones of modern-day media culture, but how much impact does it really have? And what messages are the films we’re praising really sending?

In this episode of How Is This Better?, Akilah Hughes is joined by journalist and podcaster Ryan Broderick, who has dug deep into the myriad of ways in which the internet has been shaping the awards landscape, rather than the other way around.

Together, they discuss:


How viral marketing, “brain rot” trends, and inexperienced influencers disguised as journalists are leaking out of online spaces and into Oscar campaigns. 


The increased struggle for actors and filmmakers trying to take traditional paths, and how the web is turning into a more viable career launchpad. 


How many of the favored nominees, even at their most political, reflected warped versions of cultural fears, while those left snubbed were too close to our current moment to be properly celebrated.


Hollywood’s notable shift away from outspoken, political statements during red carpets and acceptance speeches, and whether they were driven by bowing to fascism, career instability, or apathy? 

The media landscape is shifting before our very eyes, into a version of itself that’s more chronically online, more desperate, and more disconnected from the people who are supposed to be watching it.

And if Hollywood continues this transformation…is it time to roll the credits?

You can get more from Ryan at his podcast @panicworldpod here on YouTube, or anywhere you listen to pods. You can also find him at @ryanhatesthis on Instagram.
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AI-generated war footage is spreading across the internet faster than the truth.

As conflict escalates in Iran, social media platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok are being flooded with AI-generated missile strikes, fake battlefield footage, and fabricated videos of captured soldiers. Some posts rack up millions of views before anyone can confirm whether they’re real.

In this episode of How Is This Better?, Akilah Hughes speaks with WIRED reporter David Gilbert, who has been tracking how generative AI is reshaping the disinformation landscape during breaking conflicts. Check out his recent piece, "Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X."

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Are we at war or not? According to Trump, he's scoring a 15 out of 10 "on the war front," and Department of War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, says the fighting in Iran has "just begun." Yet House Speaker Mike Johnson insists "we're not at war." 

Instead of debating the political spin, Akilah wanted to sit down with the people who've been asked to fight American battles. On this episode of How Is This Better?, Akilah sits down with five veterans across four generations – from baby boomers who fought in Vietnam to an Iraq War veteran and a Gen Z and Millennial veteran who filed for conscientious objector discharges based on their objections to the war in Gaza.

Some enlisted out of patriotism. Some out of faith. Some just wanted the uniform, or way to pay for student loans. But all of them describe a moment when America’s wars stopped making sense to them. Across fifty years of military experience, they all come back to the same question:

Are young Americans about to be asked to die for something no one can clearly explain?

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Show Notes: 

Check out Veterans for Peace, Common Defense, and Friends of Fisher House, Phoenix.

Thanks to Joy Metzler, Juan Betancourt, Ben Feibleman, David Lucier, and Ed Anderson for sharing their stories. 
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People keep comparing ICE to the Gestapo. But is that the right historical analogy?

We we talk with public historian Ashley Baron aka @ashleytheebarroness who went viral making the argument that the comparison overlooks a home-grown analogy. We also speak with Claire Aubin who is a Nazi-era historian and host of the podcast, This Guy Sucked, to break down what the Gestapo actually was — and why the ideology behind it matters more than any one-to-one comparison people point to. 
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Homeownership used to be a starter pack for adulthood. Now it feels like a luxury good. This week, Akilah asks a question most of us have yelled at Zillow at least once: when did buying a house become a fantasy?

Business Insider's James Rodriguez joins to help explain how we got here and why the future might be… single-family homes you can never actually own.

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