Matt Pierce
Essays, investigations, and commentary on the mind in modern society
I write from the crossroads of chaos and clarity—where psychology meets politics, and culture gets dissected under a microscope with a cracked lens. My work is investigative, personal, and always unapologetically critical of the systems shaping our lives.
You'll find me in national publications, on Medium, and in Trauma, Society & Culture—a fast-growing Substack newsletter unpacking the hidden architecture of trauma, belief, and identity in a collapsing world.
Right now, I’m also pursuing a higher-academic pathway in Translational Psychological Interventions, because understanding the mind is pointless if you can’t change the culture it’s trapped in.
I chase reality like it owes me money—pen in one hand, cigarette dreams in the other, speaking protest ballads to a world that's forgotten the words.
Where I Write
Medium
My Medium blog reads like a shotgun blast of Southern-fried rebellion aimed squarely at the rotting face of American political theater. It’s raw, ruthless, and brimming with the kind of outlaw insight you only get from a man who's lived through the bullshit and come out swinging. I tear into elite hypocrisy, identity cultism, and bipartisan grift with zero patience and a sharp tongue, always siding with the working-class everyman who's been lied to, taxed blind, and left for dead. The tone is my typical in-your-face approach but the message is clear: wake up, speak plain, and fight like hell against the machine that's trying to neuter your freedom and steal your voice.
Substack
"Trauma, Society & Change" is a hard-hitting newsletter that explores the deep intersections of trauma, politics, public health, and social transformation. Written from my perspective as a journalist and researcher , this Substack dives into how personal pain collides with systemic failure from mental health policy and addiction to cultural stigma, poverty, and the broken institutions meant to help. If you're looking for raw, intelligent analysis that brings humanity back into conversations about healthcare, policy reform, and societal collapse, this is where critical thinking meets lived experience. Subscribe for powerful essays on healing, justice, and what it really takes to create meaningful change in a fractured world.
YouTube
My YouTube channel is like a mental junkyard with a philosopher’s brain behind the wheel. It is part lecture hall, part roadside confessional, and part Southern gothic cinema. It’s not polished, and that’s the point. I jump from raw political monologues to gritty vlogs to deeply personal essays on trauma, all cut with a documentarian’s eye and a street preacher’s fire. There’s no algorithm-chasing here. It is just a one-man broadcast from the edge of American consciousness, stitching together whatever’s real, haunting, or just too absurd to ignore. It’s chaotic, it’s smart, and it’s the kind of channel people find by accident… and then binge because they realize they’ve been starving for something true.
When I’m not writing, I’m out in the wild—traveling across the country, speaking at events, meeting organizers, workers, students, and everyday Americans who still give a damn about where this country’s headed. I don’t just sit behind a screen dissecting culture from a distance—I show up. In person. On camera. On the ground. My work on TikTok and YouTube turns complex psychological and political concepts into sharp, fast, and often unfiltered commentary designed to wake people up without talking down to them. These platforms aren’t just megaphones—they’re laboratories for real-time dialogue, where I test ideas, challenge narratives, and connect with an audience that’s sick of sanitized takes and partisan puppetry. From classroom lectures to dive bar conversations, I’m chasing the pulse of a culture in crisis—and giving it a mic.
I advise digital platforms and early-stage companies on how to build creator ecosystems that are both ethically grounded and commercially scalable. Through tailored consulting, I help product and strategy teams align platform design, monetization models, and user experience with the psychological realities of creator behavior. The result is increased retention, deeper creator trust, and long-term brand equity. My approach blends academic insight with real-world creator dynamics to help companies not just attract creators—but empower them to create more authentically and sustainably.