Wherein Teen Vogue runs circles around the NYT in journalistic integrity.
Teen Vogue and Cosmo aren’t pulling any punches on reporting on Barron’s Dad. Remember when Cosmo also tried to ask tough interview questions to Ivanka and she hung up on them?
Who says young women’s magazines are still useless and trite?
Fuck the NYT, I might subscribe to Teen Vogue instead.
You know, while people were too busy complaining about the Star Wars prequels and their CGI, Jar Jar, and wooden dialogue, George Lucas was at least trying to warn us about the kind of shit we’re dealing with in the aftermath of the presidential election.
A dangerous authoritarian (Palpatine) uses political trickery and rhetoric to maneuver himself into power, pretending to be on the side of the economically-oppressed. He also manipulates a stooge (Jar Jar) to give him even greater power.
Obi-Wan warns Anakin that politicians are not to be trusted, including Palpatine, but Anakin insists that Palpatine is “a good man,” and his blind faith in him leads to his undoing. He also muses that a dictatorship is fine, “if it works.”
Queen Jamillia of Naboo (a democratic leader) tells Padme, her predecessor, that “the day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it.”
Senators like Bail Organa and Padme Amidala try their best to argue against Palpatine’s increases in power due to his exploitation of the Clone Wars, but it is ineffective. Eventually, following an unsuccessful attack by the Jedi, Palpatine spreads fake news that the Jedi are traitors intent on overthrowing the Republic, and declares himself Emperor. Padme notes that “liberty dies… with thunderous applause.”
Sure, some of it was clunky and heavy-handed, but the #DumpStarWars crowd (along with many others) obviously missed the point. George Lucas is famously liberal, and his early work reflected his anxieties about the state. THX-1138 is a good example, painting a picture of a dystopian society with an ignorant, drugged-out populace controlled by an oppressive government, and one man’s quest for identity and freedom.
The Empire in the Star Wars films is as fascist as it gets, and is notably all-white and human in the films (Some of the Expanded Universe material suggested this was part of a deliberate policy of exclusion of alien races.)
So Trump supporters who see an anti-Trump agenda in Rogue One, here’s a newsflash: Star Wars was never for you. Or to put it another way, it could have been had you educated yourselves, but you didn’t, and you obviously didn’t pay attention to the themes of the saga.
I’m not sure what these pundits think a fascist assault on liberty looks like, but this is it: the occasional slow trickle, occasional bombardment blast, of outrageous proposals and policies meant to utterly shock a populace into submission. This is the calculation made by Trump’s team, but especially Steve Bannon: If they heave enough batshit concepts at us, eventually we’ll become numb to the horror. Any watered-down version of said policies will begin to look rational by comparison, and we will consent. Part of that paralysis looks like pundits saying, ‘Don’t focus on this one! This one is the distraction.’
No, it isn’t. Each monstrous statement is part of the same puzzle
I feel like nobody ever gives Green Day credit for how brave they are. These guys have guts. They were the only artists at the AMAs who had the courage to all out drag Donald Trump, the President-elect, on national television. Everyone else either danced around the topic or made awkward jokes about it but it was only Green Day who came out, guns blazing and hands in the air, and screamed “NO TRUMP, NO KKK, NO FACIST USA!!”
I voted for Trump, so I’m automatically a fascist and a KKK member. Guess what, performers, we pay you to perform, not to voice your political views.
yeah, you are automatically a fascist for voting Trump! glad you got the memo on that one
also Green Day released American Idiot in 2004 which was directly tied to the election of George W. Bush, they’ve literally been voicing their political opinions from day one, it’s part of their entire identity as a band, them performing and them voicing their political views are one in the same, you filthy damp sponge
I’m honestly getting really tired of this idea that performance should be free from politics. Or that actors/musicians/artists shouldn’t be allowed a political opinion on anything.
“Keep politics out of theatre!”
“Keep politics out of music!”
“Keep politics out of comedy!”
“Keep politics out of film!”
Like, I don’t know what kind of boring theatre, film, music and comedy thehannibalbarca has been consuming before, but art, and performance art is inherently political. And the people who provide this incredible art are also human beings. Politics affects them as much as anyone else, so why the hell shouldn’t they be allowed to express their ideas? Jeez…
Studies have shown that people are more likely to trust entertainers than people in positions of authority on a subject (like scientists and politicians). It’s because we connect with them on a different level. Entertainers have more power to get people’s attention and educate them on important subjects than anyone else. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.“
Trump’s an entertainer, he’s a reality TV star and even before that he sought attention from entertainment news agencies and took acting jobs. Ronald Reagan was an actor for 32 years before getting into politics. Clint Eastwood spoke at the 2012 Republican Convention. “Entertainers need to stay out of politics” is something I only ever hear when the entertainer isn’t representing republicans.
A classic case of “I don’t care about your rights but once they wronged me, it’s over”
Was I supposed to feel sorry for her?
I just saw her tonight being interviewed on tv saying her and many other people she knows have buyers remorse and were infuriated when Trump nominated Mnuchin. She added “instead of draining the swamp, he’s filled it with alligators” and I’m just like
