Oliver Bateman Does the Work

I was on NPR Marketplace Morning Report talking about the creation of the storylines that run through the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron." marketplace.org/2023/01/12/how…

Turned up in the hometown Post-Gazette today, much to the delight of my mom, looking at a new book on the 2024 campaign and how Josh Shapiro dodged a bullet by sitting it out post-gazette.com/opinion/op-ed/…

Had a lot of "remembering some guys" moments while reading @MoustacheClubUS's post mortem on the post left.

A little-noted casualty of Trump's return to office was the "post-left," a small online faction which was already in its death throes. @MoustacheClubUS writes the post-left's postmortem, and explains why it matters: compactmag.com/article/the-de…

when I was looking for somebody to edit this, I knew it had to be fellow traveler @g_shullenberger. This was such a blip on the radar it's hard to believe it happened at all

Really well done piece, Oliver, and as both an object, subject, and orbiter of all of these people, its been interesting watching and interacting with it all, and finding out who the 'real ones' are.

"The post-left had valid structural critiques, but was unable to transform these into stable institutions or alliances, as the two-party system gave it no path to power." One of many excellent points here. Very interesting article, Mr. Bateman.

it was months in the making, but I'm back in @compactmag_ with a story I had to tell: the brief rise and even more rapid fall of the Post-Left compactmag.com/article/the-de…

“Political rhetoric is easily co-opted.” @MoustacheClubUS in @compactmag_ compactmag.com/article/the-de…

“The post-left’s contrarian energy became an identity of its own.” Read Oliver Bateman's @MoustacheClubUS piece in COMPACT: compactmag.com/article/the-de…

I might be on vacation, but the work continues. Here's my @RealClearPA report on the recent Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, which has even this most cynical of writers feeling somewhat hopeful about the future of the region realclearpennsylvania.com/articles/2025/…

Mine: His motto was “Do Not Judge,” to which I nodded, and put it out of my head. Not surprisingly, two years later he rebelled against his strict upbringing, lifted weights, drank crates of beer and screwed any girl who’d have him. @MoustacheClubUS. splicetoday.com/writing/clip-o…

over at my site, @JESnowden guest stars with a great piece on the complicated legacy of Rupert Murdoch, a guy who understood how to sell the news at all costs oliverbatemandoesthework.substack.com/p/the-work-of-…

Same LinkedIn fren via DM: “Why would anyone ask anyone else a question anymore, with AI here? Every answer it gives is better/nicer unless it’s something not in the training model or hyper detailed. To be candid, why should anyone have a job other than as AI-directed labor?”

The answer to every fitness story like this is “no” or “it’s complicated.”

It's crazy. There is a society-wide conspiracy by viewers not to enjoy this entertainment and by corporations not to profit off of it. Virtually everyone is complicit.