The Xero for Hire Podcast

In this episode of the Xeroforhire Podcast, I revisit an earlier article series on the TradCon movement and reflect on what still holds up in it. Rather than treating it as a fixed political critique, I look at it again through a broader lens: how people construct ideological frameworks around visions of how society ought to function, and how those frameworks show up differently in belief versus behavior.From there, the episode shifts into a deeper through-line: the role of idealism inside ideology itself. I explore the idea that some ideological systems are built primarily around aspirational models of society—systems that are powerful in imagination, but often unstable when disconnected from grounding structures. In this sense, ideological change is less about switching “sides” and more about moving between different expressions of the same ideal-driven mode of thinking.I also examine how certain people appear to be anchored not purely by ideology itself, but by external stabilizers—relationships, communities, or influential figures. When those anchors shift or disappear, the underlying idealism doesn’t vanish; it often reorganizes around a new framework that better fits the person’s evolving sense of what society should be.This episode is not a conclusion, but an ongoing attempt to map a pattern: how idealism operates inside ideology, and why some belief systems seem to shift more fluidly than others even when individuals feel internally consistent.Finally, I provide an update on the rewrite of Shadow of the Night. The revision restructures the back half of the story, removes the original third-act resolution involving Project Eden, and expands the narrative focus toward character development, family dynamics, and the lived cost of becoming a vigilante. The goal is to ground the story more deeply in consequence—what it means to balance ordinary life with extraordinary responsibility.Timestamps* 0:00 - 0:53 — Introduction and revisiting the TradCon article series* 0:53 - 2:54 — Defining TradCon culture and its online expression* 2:54 - 5:16 — Reflections on belief versus behavior in ideological spaces* 5:16 - 7:57 — Introducing idealism as a structural feature of certain ideologies* 7:57 - 10:55 — The concept of external “anchors” in maintaining belief systems* 10:55 - 14:21 — Public figures and visible shifts in ideological expression* 14:21 - 15:27 — Open question: how belief systems reorganize under change* 15:27 - 16:08 — Transition to Shadow of the Night rewrite update* 16:08 - 17:29 — Structural revision and removal of the original third-act framework* 17:29 - 18:00 — Expanding themes of responsibility, family, and vigilantism* 18:00 - 18:18 — Beta reader invitation and closing remarks This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit xeroforhire.substack.com/subscribe

In what might be the final Xeroforhire podcast episode of 2025, I started with something beautiful: a young woman on YouTube announcing that her channel is becoming explicitly Christian. She radiated joy as she declared that Jesus isn’t just a good teacher—He’s God Himself—and even if her body isn’t fully healed in this life, that’s okay. She’s getting a new one. That simple, confident hope stopped me in my tracks. You could see the new-creation glow in her eyes, the kind of uncontainable life that only comes when someone truly meets Christ. And it reminded me how rarely we talk about the actual promises of eschatology—the new heavens, new earth, and glorified bodies—without immediately descending into timeline charts and rapture debates. We all agree those future realities are coming (even if we disagree on the sequencing), yet we spend 95 % of our energy arguing about the 5 % we disagree on. Her video was a refreshing reminder that we can (and should) celebrate the universal, glorious hope we already possess in Christ without needing to win the prophecy argument first.The second half of the episode took a hard turn into something I’ve been wrestling with all year: social media has become pathological, and I’m done playing the game.I tried the “fresh account algorithm boost” experiment on X—set everything up exactly as the marketing gurus (and even some AIs) recommend—and watched in real time as literally zero people saw anything I posted. It’s no longer “pay to play.” It’s “perform like a dancing monkey or be invisible.” The only posts that break through are engagement-farm riddles, rage bait, or conspiracy nonsense. To get a single view as an artist or writer now requires you to become the very thing most of us went online to escape: aggressively terminally online.I used a farmer’s-market analogy on the show: imagine setting up your table full of pumpkins, waiting all morning, and realizing no one is even walking down your aisle because the market organizers hid your table unless you first go glad-hand every other vendor. That’s today’s internet. And I’m not willing to train myself—or worse, my kids—to chase dopamine metrics by acting like sociopaths just to be seen.So I’m opting out of the performance. I’ll still write books. I’ll still release art and music. I’ll still podcast. But I’m planting trees whose shade I may never sit under, and I’m increasingly convinced the fruit will ripen offline, in the real world, the way it always did before we broke everything with infinite scrolling.2025 has been a year of a lot of complaining on my part (I checked the transcripts; the data doesn’t lie). 2026 will be different. The podcast is coming back in January with a tighter, more polished format—fewer rants, more signal, more focus on the hope we actually have in Christ instead of the circus we’ve built online.Thanks for riding with me this year. Stay holy.### Timestamp Summary for Reference00:00 – Intro + this may be the last episode of 2025 00:30 – The YouTube video that sparked the episode: young woman joyfully declaring her faith and future resurrection body 01:05 – The beauty of visible new life in Christ 01:38 – Why healthy eschatology talk (new heavens, new earth, new bodies) is so rare 02:50 – We should talk more about the hope we all agree on instead of fighting over timelines 03:15 – Shared the video with my small Facebook circle + beginning to delete old social accounts 03:40 – Social media feels increasingly pathological 04:10 – Story of creating a fresh X account for algorithm gaming → zero views 06:30 – Farmer’s-market analogy for how broken discoverability is now 08:00 – It’s no longer “pay to play,” it’s “perform or perish” 09:20 – Engagement farming, stolen images, rage bait, conspiracy DMs—the psychotic behavior required to win 11:00 – I’m done feeding or becoming that pathology 12:10 – 2025 has been a lot of complaining; I own that 12:40 – Planting trees whose shade I may never enjoy; writing for a longer horizon 13:35 – Shifting focus to real-world impact instead of terminally online nonsense 14:30 – I don’t want my kids growing up algorithm-chasing 15:25 – Podcast returns January 2026: new format, more polished, less complainy 15:47 – Closing: Stay holy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit xeroforhire.substack.com/subscribe