Porn, Gambling, and the American Psyche with Dennis Broe

Novelist and film critic Dennis Broe takes a critical look at the pornography and gambling industries – the new bread and circuses, only without the bread.

With the American empire in decline and with working and living conditions worsening for most American workers as prices rise, wages stagnate and AI comes for their jobs, these twin “vices” are on offer as diversions. Both have penetrated deeply into US society and have reached astronomical levels of profit. Porn is now four times more profitable than the Hollywood film industry, though the two have a symbiotic relationship. Likewise, sports betting is now ubiquitous as many states have thrown off legal restraints and online betting houses like Kalshi and Polymarket are flourishing. Even the Financial Times now quotes Polymarket, rather than pollsters, as a predictive service. While these modes of exploitation mainly target the working class, they also have upper-class expressions, from the Epstein scandals to insider manipulation of the stock market by figures in and around the Trump regime.

Dennis will address the alure of porn and gambling, the addictive quality of both, the ways they intersect with the American family structure, and how workers in these industries are resisting their bosses and in some cases have formed or joined trade unions.

Dennis Broe is a journalist, critic and novelist who has taught at the Sorbonne and spoken at numerous MEP events. The latest of his six Harry Palmer novels is Pornocopia, featuring the porn and gambling industries in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and the confluence of financial capital, the mob, and the state.