THE B.A.D. SHOW
Hey everyone,
Welcome to the new / up-cycled iteration of this platform.
Why The BAD SHOW?
In short, because those are my initials. My full name is Brandon Andrew Douglass. There’s nothing else other than my “self” that I could reliably offer you on this program. I put “self” in quotation because I feel it’s worth remembering that there is no word, name, or any language capable of capturing the infinite dimensions of that term. More on that further down. In any case, it is in my nature to explore and try new things. I do not want to get caught up in a set formula or theme, and I know an eponymous title will help me feel more liberated to be authentic with the platform.
Better yet, The BAD Show pretty well sums up everything you need to know about this program. Firstly, that it is bad.
It is bad in that I make no claims that this show will ever be good, beneficial, or in any way worth your time. This is partly me just trying to undersell and downplay everything to relieve the creative pressure, but it’s partly not. In fact, I would argue that you almost certainly have more important, valuable, and enjoyable ways to use your attention. Internet consumption is one of the biggest numbing agents and obstacles I see in people’s lives, including my own. With a title like The BAD Show, I encourage you to find something better, go within, or at least remain aware that you’re more likely here to be naughty than to be virtuous.
I also love the idea of embracing what’s bad. People most often use this term to judge, reject, shun something, but it can be instead used as a compass for our greatest opportunities. For example, I need to embrace feeling like a “bad” podcast host before I could ever reach competency as one.
Diving deeper, I have found that when we label and judge things as bad, we actually divide and limit our consciousness. When we judge something as bad, we disown it and position ourselves as better than the bad thing. If we don’t, then we ascribe the negative view we are taking to our “selves" (there’s that concept again), which in turn splits our identity into opposing parts. The resulting incoherence, incongruence, and discord is not healthy.
The disharmony I’m speaking of does not only happen internally. We externalize these conflicts as well, and see them manifest at every scale; between nations, opposing political parties, and in our most intimate relationships. You might recognize already why the very nature of this type of thinking can be problematic. These divisions are ultimately blind to the bigger picture, AKA the truth.
We only identify things as “bad” from a small sense of “self”. When we expand our consciousness to a larger sense of “self”, AKA our oneness with all life, we create solutions for “bad” situations rather than pass judgement. For example, it takes no consideration or debate to remove your hand from a burning stove because you strongly recognize your hand as part of yourself. You certainly wouldn’t laugh at the hand or point out how dumb it is for being on the stove (at least not while it is on there).
Similarly, when we can see the “bad” people and things happening in the universe as part of ourselves, we increase our ability to respond to these situations with care (I.e. we take responsibility). When we take responsibility, we can improve or at least accept what we once thought of as “bad”.
With this program, I want to challenge everyone to reexamine their relationship with “BAD.” It is only by giving our conscious attention to our wounds, weaknesses, and shadow aspects that they can become part of a healthy whole. That said, the last few paragraphs could be described as one big bad judgment of judgment itself. And to that I say, life is a paradox what the fuck do you want from me?
Yes judging things might sound “bad” from what I’ve just wrote, and if you judge too often, then it might even help you to read something like this and move towards being slower to make judgments. However, there are also people reading who actually lack discernment. If you’re one of them, you might mistake my rhetoric as an justification to make even worse decisions.
The point is and has always been that “bad” is just short hand for “unconscious”. If you are identifying something as bad, then perhaps you ought to check your assumptions. Alternatively, you may know exactly what you are doing with the term, why you are using it, and how it is landing for your audience. For that I salute you. When we remain conscious of our actions, then we need not worry about the results.
Now to the second part of the title: Show.
I have recorded thousands of hours of content in my life, and I have noticed something. The moment the camera comes out, things change. This isn’t to say that things are any less beautiful, authentic, or valuable. It is only to recognize that there is a difference between living life on camera and living it off camera. Physics has proven that even sub atomic particles behave differently when someone is watching, so what hope could we possibly have to capture and upload “reality” to YouTube?
A show is a kind of performance. I could go to great lengths to try and make this show as authentic, real, and raw as possible, but it will always be an exhibition of some kind. I want the guests, myself, and you the viewer to remain aware that we are on camera, mic’d up, and / or deliberately creating something to be seen. Again, all life is connected and boundless, so in a sense there is nothing inherently fake or inauthentic about what we put online. Still, let’s not mistake what we can see in 2 dimensions for the limitlessness of our being. I.e. let’s call a spade a spade.
Alright I’m done with the explanation no one asked for, no one needs, and no one cares about haha! Thanks for indulging me!
So why even be here…
As I said above, you probably don’t need to engage with this platform to live your best life, and you may even be doing yourself harm here. That said, there is one thing you might get from your viewing.
The one thing you can gain is awareness. Ultimately, this is all that is ever offered, even if only by accident, to you as a viewer. For example, you might learn something from an insight shared here. Equally, you might laugh, cry, or otherwise feel some emotion that adds perspective to your life. You may even see just how easy and fun it is to create something so terribly bad, and be inspired to create something of your own. There is nothing else in this life than the depth and breadth of your awareness, and so if you do choose to engage with the content, know that awareness is all that is here for you. I have no philosophy, there is no formula, and any boundary I make one day will be trodden over the next you. I can only hope to shatter your ideas and conceptions in some way, so you are forced to recognize what you do not know, and allow new answers to find you.
Ultimately, I’m here for the same reason you are. There are some other more specific reasons listed below:
Connect with life and the people in it
Experience new things
Share insight
To express my creativity
For fun
I invite you all to enjoy the show with me!
