Park Bench Ontology
Gavin Stephens
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About This Podcast
is a low-stakes existential crisis disguised as a comedy podcast for people quietly losing faith in the script of modern life. Each week, comedian and writer Gavin Stephens dissects the absurd machinery of capitalism and culture — from sitcoms to wealth inequality, Baudrillard to people who talk in the movies — exposing the broken myths, invisible rules, and slow-motion collapse we all pretend isn’t happening.
Presented by The Chonilla Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Recent Episodes
The Bench Is Still Here — A Note Before the Break
Season 2 is done. This is a short note before the pause — where the show has been, where it's going, and why the bench isn't going anywhere.Season 3 is coming. I'm not ready to talk about it yet.New…
S2E8 Grocery Store Security Guards and the Collapse of Abundance
The security guard at the grocery store is a sign before they are a deterrent. This episode takes Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower as its anchor and reads scarcity not as a natural condition but…
Childs Was Right
In 1982, John Carpenter released The Thing — a film about paranoia in isolation.But beneath the alien horror is a quieter question:Why does crisis always seem to produce the same kind of leader?From…
Elbows Up, Davos, and The Shock Doctrine
This week, we examine the “Elbows Up” movement and Mark Carney’s Davos speech through the framework of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine. When crisis rhetoric meets elite policy, what changes — and…
S2E5 Why Does Society Feel Like an Art Gallery?
What actually gives people power today?🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast:…
S2E4 The Real Housewives of the Overlook Hotel
What happens when reality TV becomes a haunted house?This episode looks at The Shining and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City as the same structure repeating itself: endless luxury, frozen time,…
S2E3 State & Revolution at the Dinner Table | Park Bench Ontology S2E3
Arguments about communism, socialism, and capitalism rarely fail because people disagree.They fail because nobody is using the same definitions.This episode looks at how political language turns into…
S2E2 EPISODE 2 - Enframing & Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Episode 2 of Park Bench Ontology looks at enframing — the idea that modern systems don’t just control what we do, but how the world shows up to us in the first place.Using Do Androids Dream of…
S2E1 Burnout Is a Feature, Not a Bug
Burnout isn’t an accident.In this episode, I sit on a park bench and talk about why stillness feels suspicious, why boredom is treated like a problem, and how a society built on constant stimulation…
S1E8 Simulation / Spectacle: The Real Satanic Panic
They told us fantasy games were dangerous, but reality was the real cult. In Episode 8, Gavin looks at how the Satanic Panic became a rehearsal for today’s culture wars — a simulation of evil that…
S1E7 Necropolitics: Living Isn’t the Point Anymore
This week, Gavin looks at necropolitics — the philosophy of who gets to live, who’s left to die, and how power hides behind empathy.From Charlie Kirk’s empathy shaming to the way immigrants, women,…
S1E6 Freedom From Freedom: To Be Free of Freedom
Everyone loves to talk about “freedom” — but what kind?The freedom we’re sold isn’t liberation; it’s consumption. It’s “freedom” as brand — the right to choose between identical prisons.In this…
S1E5 Psychopolitics: How Control Got Cute
In this episode of Park Bench Ontology, Gavin dives into the strange world of psychopolitics — where control doesn’t come from force anymore, it comes from vibes. From influencer culture to “mental…
S1E4 Hauntology - The Future Isn't Coming
The future isn’t coming — it’s being rewritten. In Episode 4 of Park Bench Ontology: Hauntology, I explore how capitalism erases anything that doesn’t produce value, from WWE’s most absurd gimmicks…
S1E3 Capitalist Realism & My Old Navy Malcolm X Shirt
In this week’s episode of Park Bench Ontology, we dive headfirst into capitalist realism—the idea that capitalism is the only system that feels “real” and inevitable—and what it means when our…
S1E2 Racecraft: The Making of Whiteness
Some guy once told me he was proud to be white. But “whiteness” was never a culture — it was manufactured as a team sport by the people in power. In this episode of Park Bench Ontology, I break down…
S1E1 The Sopranos & The Denial of Death
Tony Soprano’s panic attacks aren’t just mob stress — they’re existential dread. In this episode of Park Bench Ontology, we dive into Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death and how it explains Tony’s…
S1 Welcome to the Collapse
Uncolonized is Evolving…New Season. New Ontology.From Uncolonized → Park Bench OntologyFor years, Uncolonized has been our space to challenge culture, identity, and power. That work isn’t ending —…
Episode 25: Narratives, Existential Dread & The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Uncolonized host Gavin unpacks the weaponization of narratives, existential dread in capitalist culture, and the revolutionary symbolism of The Spook Who Sat by the Door. Listen now + bonus episode…
S16E25: Sinners & Andor – A Deep Dive into Discourse
This week on the Uncolonized Podcast, Gavin and Daniel tackle the cinematic and cultural complexities of the film Sinners and the hit series Andor. Join us as we explore the narratives, themes, and…
Frequently Asked Questions
Park Bench Ontology has published 416 episodes since January 2013, covering topics in Comedy, Philosophy.
Park Bench Ontology is currently sporadic with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 1h 12m.
Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Park Bench Ontology, including email and social media links.
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