Are We Really Still Surprised?
Questions for the Culture no. 2
Welcome back to Questions for the Culture! The world keeps turning so there’s a lot to delve into today.
Why do people keep getting blind sided by the racism of influencers like Brooke Schofield and Alix Earle (https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/brooke-schofield-influencer-apology-black-creators-response-rcna165544)?
I honestly believe the answer is just more racism and not the “It wasn’t a crime of racism it was self defense [referring to George Zimmerman]” Brooke kind. To put it simply, our expectations for behavior matter less and less the more you appeal to a white standard of beauty. This means that someone who does the “Cancelled” podcast with Tana Mongeau, can gain a widespread fanbase without people asking themselves if following them is a good idea. Or why they would be proud to label themselves as “cancelled” to begin with. You see their faces and assume the can’t do any wrong because you like the way they look. It’s the same reason black creators are one and done when it comes to controversy and it’s very rare they can bounce back (someone like Fannita comes to mind). Access to “beauty” is access to everything, even a pass to be as bigoted as possible. This also means that these tweets resurfacing will do little to harm their brand in the long run and I suspect they will be back in the fall with a vengeance.
Are social media sites suffering through a wave of anti-intellectualism or is the notion elitist?
Ultimately with the cinema sins of it all we definitely WERE but this all feels like a late reaction to me. Like the peak of this was 2018 and we are just now addressing the horrible path we we're about to descend. That being said, there are people that have just gotten really dumb but I wouldn't necessarily call them anti-intellectual. Anti-intellectual to me indicates purposeful intent to ignore nuance and avoid thinking about anything on a deeper level. A lot of people are trying to think about things but are encountering barriers along the way. Either their education has been limited so as to hamper their progress, or they're too busy working to delve into anything but bills, or they simply have the wrong information. That doesn't seem purposeful to me.
Why is a subway sandwich like $15 now?
The dark cabal of private equity has struck again. If you see prices creep up without any positive changes or even as the quality deteriorates, that’s likely the cause. They are price gouging and we are all worse off for it.
Why are people being so damn weird about Chappell Roan and her boundaries?
Not to sound cliché, but stan culture has swallowed Fandom whole. People think because they like your music or your style or your writing or whatever, (and give you likes and money), that they can now crawl in your skin and live there. That the easy access they have to you means you are now a product that they can consume. Like something bought on Amazon. This is the logical conclusion of all this commodification. Pure entitlement.
Did you hear about the metaphorical coup taking place in France (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/27/macron-has-blocked-left-wing-choice-for-french-pm-what-happens-next)?
Not until today and I wouldn't blame you if you haven't heard about it either. Corporate interests thrive when our news is siloed, the result being we miss out on important world events.
I don’t know if you can tell but I really love writing this feature. I don’t care if it’s low-brow, I love listicles and I’m glad you do too!
Stay golden and have a good week!
-whit