Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

Two timelines. Dozens of videos. One uncomfortable pattern: our feeds are training us to fight. We set out to play a simple game—“Whose feed is it?”—and ended up mapping how algorithms steer attention toward outrage, race-bait clips, and culture-war content designed to keep you scrolling and seething.

We start with a candid look at intra-Catholic debates and why public commentary on big moves—like media personalities joining major platforms—should be fair game. Then a body-cam video from a church stops the jokes cold: a man tries to breach a tabernacle while a lone officer hesitates. We talk through drugs vs. possession, the importance of proper procedures, and how policy-driven optics can put both citizens and officers at risk. It’s not anti-police to say training and backup save lives; it’s pro-reality.

From there, we follow the week’s algorithmic arc: EBT panic, fraud clips, and the budget math no one wants to discuss. We break down how inflation acts as a stealth tax, why debt service is swallowing policy space, and how little truly changes across administrations once you look past the branding. Meanwhile, social video continues to spotlight bad behavior because it pays—and the more people rage-share, the more these moments define whole groups. That’s not good reporting; it’s content engineering.

To lighten the mood (a bit), we explore the strange and hilarious corners of Zoomer meme culture—white Monster energy, Agartha lore—and how even these jokes become identity markers the platforms can sort and sell. The throughline: feeds shape frames, frames shape feelings, and feelings drive choices in the real world. The fix isn’t to hide; it’s to raise your standards above the algorithm’s incentives. Curate what you consume, interrogate what’s missing, and talk openly about institutions and influencers without losing your grip on charity or truth.

If you care about media literacy, Catholic commentary with a backbone, and untangling policy from performance, this one’s for you. Listen, share with a friend, and tell us: what’s the strangest pattern your feed has been pushing lately? Subscribe, leave a review, and send us your best (or worst) algorithm finds—we’ll feature our favorites next time.

Support the show

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

Ever look at your feed and feel like someone’s trying to make you hate your neighbor? We put that to the test with a live “algorithm roulette,” guessing whose timeline each clip came from and asking why so much of it pushes race-bait thefts, EBT panic, and culture-war outrage. Along the way, we break down a tense church body-cam video to talk policing, de-escalation, and when force becomes necessary. Then we face the harder civic questions: what really happens if benefits stop, how widespread fraud warps the system, and why the ugliest clips rise to the top of our screens.

We also wade into a charged Catholic media debate: does joining a major platform quietly narrow what you’re allowed to say and who you can host? We examine the incentives around Zionism, the pressure of donor comfort, and why some lines get treated as sacred cows. A viral claim comparing the Holocaust to “the crucifixion on IMAX” forces a frank response about blasphemy and the limits of analogy. From there, we trace a deeper thread—how ecumenism, symbols, and typology shape the way ordinary Catholics think. The half-shekel in the Temple, the court of the Gentiles, and Christ cleansing that space aren’t dusty trivia; they’re the grammar of worship that still guards us from smuggling idolatry into holy places.

If you’re worn out by hot takes that dodge real costs, this one asks for courage and clarity. We’re not here to flatter algorithms or play nice with sacred cows. We’re here to tell the truth, protect the vulnerable without ignoring fraud, and keep worship centered on God. Listen, share with a friend who’s wrestling with the same questions, and leave a review with your honest take—did the clips in your feed look anything like ours?

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

A Catholic podcast just got bought—and the tremor is bigger than one show. We open the hood on what happens when a platform promises reach and relief: fewer invoices, more producers, cleaner schedules. But where do the lines get drawn? We walk through how “creative control” often becomes control by omission—careful guest lists, avoided flashpoints, and a steady grooming of the audience to stop asking first-order questions about war, influence, and the faith’s public voice.

From there we zoom out. The theological backdrop matters: how Catholics understand Israel and Judaism after the council, how charity rejects collective guilt yet still permits clear speech about power, and why a Church that prioritizes spiritual works must be brave in naming realities that polite media won’t touch. We examine the reflex to label uncomfortable analysis as bigotry, the role of diaspora identity in American politics, and the way postwar narratives have shaped what Catholics think they’re allowed to say. None of this calls for cruelty. It calls for courage with charity—and the humility to let Scripture and Tradition set the boundaries, not sponsors.

We also map the media incentives that steer conversations long before a script is written: who is invited onto stages and into studios, which conferences open doors, and why some voices never get the mic. That quiet sorting process creates a curated Catholicism—safe for brands, soothing to coalitions, but thin on the truths that actually convert hearts. If evangelization online is going to mean anything, it has to look like full-contact honesty: welcoming hard guests, testing arguments in public, and letting the hierarchy of truths lead. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who cares about Catholic media, and leave a review telling us one topic you think should never be off-limits.

Support the show

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

A headline Catholic podcast just signed with a major conservative network, and the reaction says more about the state of Catholic media than any press release could. We talk frankly about what “creative control” means when brand risk sets the perimeter, why omission is often more powerful than commission, and how guest lists quietly predict editorial boundaries. The question isn’t whether a show will preach propaganda; it’s whether it will stop hosting voices that make power uncomfortable.

From there we zoom out. The Israel–Gaza war, Zionism, and Christian witness sit at the heart of a conversation most outlets avoid. We revisit Nostra aetate, postwar pressures, and the uneasy shift from clear doctrinal claims to pastoral ambiguity. Along the way we trace patristic threads, eschatological motifs, and the recurring image of the elder and younger brothers—because salvation history can’t be reduced to slogans. Charity demands truth without malice; prudence isn’t the same as paralysis.

We also interrogate the algorithm: how feeds reward outrage, how bad actors can handle the volatile, and why two dangers run in parallel—escalation into harm or sedation into apathy. Independence matters here. Sponsors who don’t police content help. Corporate umbrellas can dull honest edges. We close with a sober look at the present divide: reverent liturgy and doctrinal candor on one side, synodal vagueness and PR on the other. If platforms shape catechesis, then the Church’s public voice will be as free—or as timid—as its gatekeepers allow.

If this conversation helps you think more clearly about faith, media, and conscience, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating to bring more thoughtful Catholics into the dialogue.

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

The feed wants your anger, your attention, and your time. We want your freedom. This conversation pulls on three threads that are fraying daily life: algorithmic outrage that keeps us at war with each other, border and immigration policies that dissolve shared identity, and a Church culture that often speaks like a press office instead of a lighthouse. We map how these forces reinforce one another, why everything feels accelerated, and what a sane response looks like for regular people who want to raise a family, keep the faith, and serve the common good.

We start with social media design—why rage travels faster than reason, how bots and incentives escalate conflict, and what that does to our minds. Then we move to culture and sovereignty, asking what it takes for a nation to remain a home rather than a marketplace of strangers. Hospitality matters, but it only works when norms, language, and numbers protect the host culture. Without those guardrails, citizens become spectators to their own dissolution, and power centralizes by default.

From there, we pivot to the heart of renewal: worship and formation. When liturgy is treated as optional and doctrine as flexible, the faithful lose orientation. But when families and parishes return to practices that honor God first—prayer, sacraments, study, and service—clarity returns. That clarity doesn’t erase political debate; it orders it. Borders and tradition can be defended without hatred. The stranger can be loved without surrendering the home. Truth can be spoken without trading charity for clout.

If you’re tired of performative outrage and want a path you can live with for decades, this is your map: choose intentional media habits, rebuild community where you stand, and put first things first. Subscribe for more grounded conversations, share this episode with a friend who needs the reset, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Support the show

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

A fake video goes viral, a holiday explodes across timelines, and suddenly everyone’s arguing about culture, borders, and the Church. We dig into how AI hoaxes and algorithmic rage bait are reshaping the conversation around faith and public life, and why the loudest narratives keep winning—even when they’re empty. From the latest deepfakes attributed to church leaders to the Vatican’s two-year TLM extensions, we unpack mixed signals, real consequences, and the deeper question: what holds a community together when trust is thin?

We share how these online storms feed real exhaustion, then look squarely at leadership and language. When violence targets Christians, “it’s just social conflict” won’t do; words matter when souls and lives are at stake. We explore the line between preaching principles and prescribing policy, why unity requires honest clarity, and how ecumenism can serve truth without dissolving identity. Along the way, we examine the pipeline that turns AI slop into viral fuel, the role of click farms with no stake in the Church, and the spiritual hazard of living inside an outrage machine.

Finally, we turn inward: a new generation of orthodox seminarians, old power networks, and how healthy parishes can coexist with conflicted leadership. The path forward isn’t flashy: curate your inputs, guard your attention, build local trust, support clear teaching, and pray for courage. If you’re tired of noise but hungry for substance, this conversation keeps the focus on first things—truth, charity, and the hard work of real unity.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a rating with one takeaway you want more of next time. Your feedback shapes what we tackle next.

Support the show

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

What happens when AI fakery, cultural flashpoints, and a wobbling Church all collide in the same news cycle? We dive straight into a fabricated video pinned to a prominent church figure and unpack how “AI slop” channels weaponize controversy for clicks. That opens a larger door: if anyone can forge a message, how do believers sort true teaching from noise—and how should leaders respond without sounding like press releases?

From there, we zoom out to a week where Diwali lit up Western capitals and social feeds, sparking questions about religious visibility, identity, and whether institutions are stabilizing pluralism or speeding its fracture. We trace that tension into the Church’s own house: the fate of Traditional Latin Mass communities, requests for dispensations, and what limited extensions reveal about the Vatican’s approach under Leo XIV. Along the way, we weigh calls for clarity from bishops, the language we use to describe anti-Christian violence, and why softening everything into “social conflict” can erase the lived reality of the faithful.

The episode also tackles the engine behind the outrage: algorithms that reward rage, tribal performance, and bad-faith bait. We look at how viral cycles distort our judgment, why bot farms can swing a conversation, and how credibility gets spent on spectacle. A segment on charismatic miracle claims challenges the line between faith and showmanship, asking whether viral testimony without verification serves the Gospel or the market.

We close where most of this actually lands: at home. Marriage strain, porn, and the hard work of fidelity aren’t solved by hot takes or hashtags; they’re built by small habits, real accountability, and grace. If unity means anything, it has to be rooted in truth-telling, pastoral courage, and local bonds strong enough to outlast the feed. Listen, share your take, and help us map the way forward together.

If this resonated, follow the show, share with a friend, and leave a rating so more listeners can find it. Your voice shapes the next conversation.

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

A shaky ad read and some friendly ribbing give way to a rare, candid conversion story: a Reformed pastor worn thin by 2020, family burdens, and Sunday dread begins asking God for an exit ramp he can’t yet name. An old friend—now Catholic—offers a simple challenge: read the Catechism to learn the Church from the Church. So he does, pencil in hand. Circles for “yes,” rectangles for “I need more,” triangles for “no way.” Then daily Mass. Then Latin Mass. What surprises him first is the familiarity—the lectionary, the reverence, the shape of worship echoing his Lutheran childhood. What changes him next is Scripture: Hebrews 12 reframes worship as a present communion with the saints; Isaiah 22 and Matthew 16 connect the key and the office in a typology he already loves to preach.

Meanwhile, life doesn’t pause. His wife grieves, becomes a guardian overnight, and shoulders state paperwork while he strains to shepherd a congregation on an empty tank. One prayer breaks through the fog: Mary, be a mother to my wife while she’s losing hers. Grace answers. The exit ramp appears on a Florida trip when his wife says, Maybe this is it. He resigns gently, stays through year‑end, and answers one summer’s worth of honest questions—including a sermon on Mary’s perpetual virginity built from the Reformers themselves. In January, they slip out of town to worship quietly. Friends notice and ask. There’s no recruiting, just real answers. The Holy Spirit moves: four couples and their children, plus two reverts, begin OCIA and enter the Church. Seventeen souls. More ripples follow—his oldest starts OCIA in another city.

We also talk about the temptations after conversion: platform, hot takes, “professional Catholic” life. He chooses stillness over speed, daily Mass over instant punditry, Our Lady and the saints over arguments for their own sake. He’s drafting a practical guide to help Catholics “speak Protestant,” especially on typology and authority, but only with spiritual direction and doctrinal checks. If you’ve ever wondered how Scripture, suffering, and friendship might converge to redirect a life—and a community—this story will meet you there.

If this moved you, share it with someone discerning, subscribe for more thoughtful conversations, and leave a review with the one moment that surprised you most.

Support the show

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

A memo lands. A homily stings. And suddenly, families who built their weeks around the Latin Mass are making maps—Who’s driving where? Which chapel? How long can this hold? We walk through a week that felt like a year: the ICE facility Eucharist stunt and its media choreography, a Knoxville directive to end TLM by Christ the King, and the quiet math of how many actually made it to the substitute options. The numbers are sobering, but the stakes are larger: culture flows from worship, and what you change on Sunday reshapes what kids believe on Monday.

We name the pastoral paradox. Leaders warn against erasing ancestral identity while enforcing a liturgical homogenization that flattens the most faithful communities in their dioceses. We read Cardinal Sarah closely and consider his simple question—why forbid those who practice with intensity?—alongside a rising insistence that “reverent Novus Ordo” will suffice while hinting it, too, can be removed if people resist. That’s not trust-building; that’s compliance theater. Meanwhile, parents are doing the calculus: where to go, what to keep, how to protect a culture of chant, silence, confession, and friendships that keep teens grounded.

This conversation isn’t a purity test. It’s a field guide. We share practical steps to stabilize the domestic church: daily prayer that sticks, catechesis at the table, sacred music at home, asking pastors for real reverence, and building friendships with families who want the same ends. We also touch the hot wire of immigration rhetoric and cultural continuity without sloganeering—because coherence matters in both Church and society. If worship shapes belief, and belief shapes life, then this moment demands clarity without cruelty and courage without bitterness.

If this resonates—if you’re choosing between a longer drive and losing a community—listen and share. Subscribe, tap the bell if you can stand it, and tell us where your family found a path forward. Your story might be the map someone else needs.

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!

A microphone squeal, a sarcastic wine ad, and then the floor drops out. We go from laughs to the fault lines running through Catholic life right now: a made-for-camera stunt at an ICE facility framed as “Eucharist denied,” diocesan letters pushing Latin Mass communities to fold into “reverent” alternatives, and families who built their lives around stable liturgy wondering where to go this Sunday. We don’t dress it up—trust breaks when sacraments and headlines get blended for optics.

We walk through Knoxville’s announcement, the signals from Rome’s DDW, and what the first week’s numbers look like when a thriving TLM map gets redrawn. Behind every statistic is a home sale, a homeschool co-op, and a seven-year-old who just lost the friends he prays with. We press the claim that liturgy forms people: habits at the altar shape what your conscience tolerates on Monday. That doesn’t deny validity; it insists that culture matters and that “reverent Novus Ordo” promises feel thin when the same authorities hint they’ll remove kneelers if challenged.

Cardinal Robert Sarah’s voice serves as a compass: encourage those who actually practice the faith. We contrast that fatherly posture with an impulse to homogenize—whether in worship or in how leaders talk about identity and assimilation. The throughline is consistent: distinct forms, memories, and practices keep people rooted. Erase them and you get a bland surface where convictions evaporate. We wrestle with obedience, courage, and prudence without pretending there’s a single neat answer. Endure what purifies; resist where your duty to your family demands it. And stop popesplaining people’s pain—compassion is not disloyalty.

Along the way we share bright threads: a young seeker finding the Latin Mass, a Protestant pastor-turned-Catholic who brought seventeen souls with him, and a reminder that different voices in the Church play different roles. If worship shapes belief, then the task is simple and hard: guard the forms that train hearts to love God, name the costs honestly, and build communities that don’t fold when the memo arrives. If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more displaced Catholics can find a lifeline.

Support the show

Take advantage of Recusant Cellar's "Christ the King" sale by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 20% off at checkout!

********************************************************

Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1

https://www.avoidingbabylon.com

Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com

Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com

Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe

RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon