A Philosopher Reacts to Atlanta Season 3 

This entire season of Atlanta was one big ghost story, and I loved every minute of it.

I think the hangover guy didn't notice he stole it at first, he's distracted by the barista and puts it in his pocket as if it was his phone -- it says he isn't entirely aware of the things his ancestors stole, but is happy to reap its benefits and get away with it. The show is amazing in the way that is both on your face and super subtle. my favourite TV show and s3 cemented it.

Trini 2 De Bone was one of the most honest episodes ever. Manhattan is full of little kids being raised by West Indian nannies.

I would pay for you to do whole episodes. Love seeing some black philosophers along with Sartre too!

This has been my favorite show since episode one. This season was next level amazing.

One part that this video missed would be critique around the 18:40 scene where Earn and paperboy talk about how a black person who manages to uplift their people from poverty to become self reliant always gets killed by the government. An example would be the multiple black communities in america around the 1900's-1940's in which self sustaining black communities which grew their own wealth would succumb to white mobs burning their communities down and forcing them to leave whatever they had built. FD signifier has a great video on it titled Why "I don't dream of labour" doesn't work and it bring to the forefront the idea of why black pessimistic thought has been in the minds of black americans as they came to realise no matter how much they played into the system and they would be always some facet of white supremacy waiting to topple that success

I find it interesting that this video doesn't DIRECTLY attempt to address the Eurocentric views that are prevelant in philosophy. When watching this season I was exploring it through a racial lense, a financial lense, and my own personal experience. It's always fascinating to get someone elses take on art.

This episode got me thinking about how the scramble for Africa is occurring again with America and China battling it out in Africa over influence by introducing their culture, currency, and military bases. Back then it was about taking Africa by force now it's about a debt trap

Want your mind blown even further. Every time Earnest (the white guy in the hunters jacket) shows up in this season, he’s voiced by Donald Glover (who plays Earn).

This was really well done! As a white person this actually helped make things clearer. I think it's scary to think that the debt will never be paid, or it has to be equal, which is impossible without white slaves. But that's not what's being championed. Concrete atrocities happened in that past that are still affecting black people today, and so in order to level the field for future generations we need to do concrete things. Need to invest in black communities, schools, neighborhoods, businesses. Not just a token amount to make us feel better, but even more than equal for a while, until it really is equal.

Season 3 was so freaking good, and I definitely feel like this show was snubbed on Emmys 😭

Next: The Cast of Atlanta react to a Philosopher reacts to Atlanta Season 3

The point of the cookie was not that it was stolen (he did it unintentionally) but the contentness of profiting from it because he didn't inted to steal it. It was basically bestowed upon him through no ill will of his own (like his white privilege)

He missed the raccoon on the jersey 😅 very interesting to see Michael's perspective on this. Id love to see yall do more collabs and expand to include the perspectives of philosophers from different backgrounds. Folks like FD Signifier!

I love the comprehensive approach to discussing such a show full of sociopolitical commentary ♥️

This show and this season is a masterpiece.

This show is genius. From Earn's dreams being shown in season 1 to here with the hands reaching for him and the surrealism, symbolism and it being all explained fully in the latest episode of season 4.

watching a white guy talk about the philosophy of Atlanta is SO UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNY for some reason..still love yall doe

The episode with the English lady “colonising” the Nigerian business, is also a great representation of how European colonisers infiltrated African states and cultures back then. The way she “uses” her buddy Darius to introduce her to the restaurant, and to “measure” the opportunity, before finally taking over. This is similar to how the English posed as missionaries, became familiar with a tribe of people, get that tribe to help them explore the land and understand the other indigenous tribes before finally (forcibly) colonising that land.

Also, Ern needs to be reminded of the Audrey Lorde quote, sumthinglike, the master’s tools will never tear down the master’s house.

Really enjoyed this one thanks guys, also side note love Atlanta too!!

I could watch your commentary on Atlanta all day mate

Here after season 4 finale and damn did this show hit different and I am gonna miss it ;(, and glad I saw the original wise crack video when i was 16 on Atlanta surealism wisecrack a real one.

Great analytics my man 👍🏾

9:51 was one of my favorite scenes of TV history.

in my opinion, this was easily the best season and one of my favorite seasons from any tv show ever. so intriguing and i was excited every week for the next episode

I've been waiting for this one

This was amazing and reinvigorated my love for philosophy. Thanks again wisecrack

Great video. When it comes to the limits of change our system can/will tolerate and Afropessimism, I think it's interesting to note that Atlanta has also toyed with the definition of what it means to be 'White'. When the Hangover Guy's wife leaves him she states that she's Persian, and can't be associated with him, to which Hangover Guy says something like "You were white yesterday!" showing that Whiteness is a social status (what the vampire guy said in the first episode) When Wilderson states that Black people are disconnected from other nonwhite peoples I think it's because Whiteness was manufactured to just mean not Black and as long as those identities exist they will separate and isolate Black people from all others. When Fanon discussed creating a new version of humanism he's arguing imo for us to redefine the categories by which we define ourselves so that we can actually be in community with each other. But as Sarte and Wilderson note, as long as the systems and institutions we have in place instantiate Whiteness there's not much we can do.

More of these please and thank you!!!

Great analysis!

Did anyone else notice how half of this season was just... "Black Mirror"? ... Tell me it wasn't just me that got the reference and joke in the vehicle for message delivery.

man there is more to this show than I thought

I like your take on this but do you plan on uploading a part 2 ?

I loved this series. I haven’t been so happy watching something since I watched spirited away years ago. This show is magic. I loved Donald. Genius!

Something that also made me say "uh oh" watching the episode in the food truck part is that the cooker wasn't Nigerian or even black, it was (I think) asian

They (he Central Park 5) weren’t Black men, they were Black boys, teens at most.

amazing vid!

This is a great video what an awesome way to modernize classic ideas I started watching I thought old is might be just about pop-culture then I started getting into it this is really smart

Please do the rest of the season

More episodes on Atlanta S3, please 😀😀😀

That was brilliant

Guilt isn't heritable. The benefits of privlege are passed down, but the solution isn't to make random individuals pay for the crimes of their forefathers. The individuals responsible may be gone, but society is neither blameless nor dead. Reconstruction should have addressed this after the civil war, but it didn't. The solution is equity for all which would of course have to be funded via a fair tax system. Class justice is racial justice and vice versa.

such an interesting season

I hope they keep em comin and FX don't try to f it up

11:30 This is the guy in the end credits of the last episode. Earn opens the bag that's not his, with a bag of meds, shirt and family picture.

I loved this season.

Great video.

Absolutely brilliant and genius show...!!!

Gr8 analyses

So, my white ancestors came from Ireland during the famine. Does that mean I don't need to pay slavery reparations, or that England should pay me reparations?

I think the maturity of Earn, Van, Darius and Paper Boi means they are having to confront more complex problems. I think as they become better at what and who they are in the world, as they do we're seeing the world in a different way through that complexity.

Donald Glover should have uploaded this before airing season 3... Regrardless, love his work, as always!

I will probably give offense where none is intended but here goes. The reparations episode was intentionally aggressive and alienating. Her character was designed to be abrupt and alienating and entitled. Sheniqua was the avatar for his ancestors actions and a Kwame Ture wet dream. Marshall is the avatar of whiteness ability to detach from "other people's" problems. He passively benefits from being so "normal" through his dress and demeanor that he literay gets to rob the store becaise the cashier felt it necessaryto harass and escalate with the black customer. He also did not interject on his behalf. There is a concept thats typical "American" families are insular divested of the troubles of there extended or nuclear family. This is not a thing with many "minority" families and often extends to people in our surroundings. When he was advised what to do by the black person it was not even worth finishing because not accepting social debt has been conditioned in to the many white people. On The Boys MM's ex-wife's new husband idolizes Homlanders "FYou" attitude to the point of astonishment during his I'm Better speech. Marshall's is co-worker quickly says the same. Ghost Earn is not at ease accepting that social responsibility even after their talk at the hotel. Marshall's downward arc was created to show people how unfair the systems in place feels. His refusal to listen as his other co-worker in the bathroom cost him money, but his change in perspective prevented the added injury of guilt and aggrievement that the red-haired lady co-worker suffered.

Atlanta is an amazing show, probably in my top 3 all time. Everything about how it balances social commentary, humor, and story telling is unlike anything I've seen. I liked seasons 1 and 2 more because I enjoyed the narrative of Earn, Van, Darius, and Paper Boi all trying to make it, but season 3 definitely had a lot of great moments. I thought your interpretation of the episode 4 was interesting; I personally saw that episode as a parody of what a lot of white people think reparations would look like: white individuals directly repaying black individuals for crimes their ancestors committed. The episode takes the idea to an extreme on purpose imo to kind of act as a visual representation of that unrealistic fear/resistance some white people have toward reparations. In reality, reparations would come from the government (obviously funded by taxes, but where the financial responsibility isn't solely on individuals) but people still resist the idea anyway. I think it's ridiculous to assume that people are responsible for the sins of their ancestors. Sons don't go to jail if their father committed murder; the idea that actions taken by people who aren't you and that you had no say in those actions yet are still responsible for them is ridiculous. That being said, you can't ignore the impact that those actions have had. The episode shows the dangers of white guilt with how the Earnest guy kills himself over it in the pool. Being consumed with guilt over actions you didn't commit is incredibly unhealthy, and a lot of white kids will grow up with this sense of guilt upon learning about the nation's history. That being said, you have to understand where people are coming from and you can't be ignorant to the impact slavery and racism have had on this country and on Black people. You can't deny someone's plight simply because you don't personally see it because you think it doesn't affect you, because it DOES affect you. It's like how the shoe presents the "curse of whiteness" that haunts every fabric of this nation, and people need to realize that it is bad for everybody

Thinking wouldn’t it be amazing if Spike Lee directed an episode 🤔

More Fanon on this channel plzzzzz

I imagine I'll get flack for this take (and I may well be wrong!), but the episode on reparations was more complicated than the host of this video made it seem. It was an exercise in let's do to white people what they did to others, which was interesting and thought provoking to watch. However, it seemed to complicate the wisdom of this idea, as Ernest killed himself after that speech and the ending at the restaurant and seemed to present class issues. Perpetuating pain by inflicting it on the descendants of those who inflicted it does not represent solidarity or progress. Also, the host said the daughter was free of the curse, which didn't seem like a logical reading. The main character's wife was Peruvian and likely white but she changed her heritage when it was convenient and now his daughter will also be part of that lineage.

Slow claps for this amazing video

I love your videos and this channel BUT I feel like this video hella missed the mark in analyzation and doesn’t delve deep enough from the view point of like, the actual Black/African-American diaspora. Which is fundamental to understanding a lot of the semiotics in this show since most of them are from a non-Eurocentric pov. There’s a lot scenes and events that ref a lot Black history, culture, philosophers, African history and culture, when you don’t know those things or use European culture and view of history to understand them, you don’t get the deeper meaning but a VERY different meaning all together. Like, you hardly quote ANY black philosophers and poets (modern nor current) when there are so many who’ve spoken extensively on a lot of these subjects (I was expecting, as oppose to most vids where you resource a lot of euro-centric/white philosophers and few non-white ones, you’d have primarily black philosophers, psychologists, and poets for this) making your substantiations seem quite out of touch. Very surprising but hopefully this tidbit doesn’t discourage you but helps with any future similar videos, again, love the channel! Keep up the work! 👍🏿

Wisecrack doing Atlanta! Probably the fastest like I’ve ever gave

"His history" It has nothing to with him. He neither chose it nor has a connection to his ancestors.

Why the fuck does wisecracks "A Philosopher Reacts to Atlanta Season 3" stir more feelings, emotions, and thoughts in me than anything ive seen in the past 5 years?????

Great video. About the last point you made, it's not that real change isn't possible, or can never be achieved, it's that it can't be achieved *under* capitalism. The social relations associated with capitalism are too intertwined with colonialism and white supremacy to ever be separated. We cannot end one without also ending the other.

Do one on the bear. Please.

pleaseeee make a vid about season finale

"Have the courage to read it, primarily because it will make you feel ashamed, and shame, as Marx said, is a revolutionary feeling." --Jean-Paul Sartre on reading Fanon Which is exactly why all those right-wingers in the US refuse to have their kids taught the _actual_ history of America - because it might make their kid "feel shame"... and shame would force those kids to question the worldview of those same parents and transform society. Can't have that, can we?!? They might actually start thinking for themselves! BTW Bryan Tyree Henry is _incredible_ as Paper Boi! Can't wait for Season 4, coming soon 😁

Links to Authors and Books would be deeply appreciated.

They aren’t cookies. They are Madeleines. That’s some Proustian stuff right there.

Honestly I think they should have made the whole Season an Anthology Season. The Anthology episodes were hands down the best ones of the season and you can tell they put the most thought into them.

Do season 4

You can be held responsible when you don’t acknowledge it and make it right

Btw the fashion company is Italian not French

More please

Can we talk about Van's cannibal Amelie Finale though pls

Are some Americans ashamed of their shame? Is metashame something to be ashamed of?

Huh, this isn't getting much traffic, is it?

It didn't dawn on me, until just now, that her naming the bowl "The Darius" was less of a compliment and more of the same colonizing of something that had an "ethnic" feel to it.

@18:05 they wasn’t accused of murder

Neat

Wisecrack, I would like to know your point of view seeing in another scope than USA. How is racism in other parts of the world or culture.

I'm so happy you actually researched black philosophers for this video. S1 and S2 were very good in my eyes and a lot better than S3. S3 was literally a montage of white people destroying black people and their culture. It rarely dived deep into the minds of the its very interesting characters. Paperboi and Vyn were the only two that got somewhat adequate screen time. Maybe it hits different because it is in Europe, and the US sees Europe as more progressive, when *surprise surprise* it's not.

Yo Michael, do a react on 'What is a Woman' by Daily Wire.

9:28 I found this scene a bit ironic because as a black man, I've found myself in this situation multiple times due to my skin color, getting screwed just becauseof your heritage. But it still didn't dawn on him that is exactly how that lady been feeling most her life.

I agree that racism will never be solved by capitalism. To try and do so is folly and entire new systems separate from capitalism need to be created to stop minority exploitation. I do not believe that the woman that made a Nigerian restaurant did anything wrong. People don't own culture and culture by it's very nature should be shared an iterated on. If you're mad that someone made money off your culture that doesn't share your heritage, then what you're made it is capitalism. We all have to lived in the messed up system and do our best to make it here. The restaurant owner is not hurting anyone by selling her food, so I say it's fair game. Is it in poor taste, maybe. Should actual Nigerians be making that food? Well banks don't give them those loans, so, again, there needs to be separate systems apart from capitalism that should help.

Payback Also had a fannon in it

The Big Payback was an interesting episode. I think there is a need for reparations in US society to offset the continuing harms of slavery, but I think the means of doing so shown in that episode (i.e., individual litigation against specific people) is not the way to do it. While those white people may certainly benefit from slavery's history, the fact remains that those people didnt enslave anyone. To extend liability beyond one individual down the centuries to another whose only connection is mere accident of birth creates the dangerous precedent of inherited liability. Further, the burden of reparations gets laser-focused on those sued individuals. I cant help but think that a better way to go about it would be to spread the burden out among society; reallocate funding in the federal budget to fund stronger reparations programs. If we're talking about a society that has already made slavery reparations a cause of action for litigation (i.e., Atlanta's USA), then that same society would presumably have the political capital necessary to create govt programs which fill the need for reparations, funded by tax dollars, as opposed to the entire burden of reparations being placed on individuals who, even though they benefit from slavery, did not commit it. Additionally, the same logic which is used in the show to justify the litigation against individuals is equally applicable to state and federal govts. After Abe Lincoln's assassination, his replacement, President Johnson, a Southernor, sabotaged Reconstruction and allowed the former Confederate state govts to implement the Black Codes, which were state sponsored oppression against the former slaves. The modern federal and state govts, with their deeper pockets and ability for more sweeping change, are much better positioned to commit to Reparations than random divorced white dudes, and just as liable under Atlanta's presented theory.

Loved this video! I did my own video essay on "New Jazz"-- I would love for you to check it out!

😂 I actually skipped that episode with the shoplifting because I just assumed the file was corrupt. Like why was it playing an episode of freakonomics over the video. I just assumed the “free streaming site” was glitching and pulling audio from my podcast app. 😂

Why is the time recorded increasing so slowly when Paper Boy is filming his pitch? 20:53

Atlanta gave me a perspective that in USA is hard to be patriot when all the culture comes from somewhere else, it happens here in Brasil too, as we grow as a country financially it seems to take 100 steps back when it comes to the society and it's values, the more capitalism instals here the more chaos seems to bring...

As for the 4th episode, it was surprising for me that you skipped the main character's explanation to his daughter about their Serbian ancestors, who obviously had never been slave owners. If I moved to the USA from Ukraine - how would I behave and how would I feel in such a situation? Should I feel guilty for my skin or the history of other European nations? Nevertheless, I think that this guilt is a part of American culture. And if I wanted to integrate into the culture, I would need to adopt this feeling like an "original sin".

Sart. come on buddy

Cool, now do Thomas Sowell.

He should disconnect, he didn’t do it

those people are just trying too hard not to say that capitalism is the problem. it's incredible how this idea is a lot of times in the subtext of many big movies or big shows, but we cant really say it. and it's never enough

What distinguishes a philosopher and a non-philosopher?

lol i so badly wanted to hear what paper boi was gonna say about porn! but yeah it’s racist too (racism is literally everywhere in society), and when we have tried to discuss change it seems hopeful then it all washes out so that nothing changes

are you guys gunna do a philosopher reacts to The Boys season 3? i'm dying to see your analysis

I love this episode. I really appreciate that you take the time to explain and breakdown the episodes and its philosophies. I do find it a bit Ironic that it is being told by a white dude. But no criticism just love. Thanks again for this beautiful episode.