According to freelance reporter Sharon Waxman in the NYT (not a direct link), Hollywood is once again hot, horny and white! Woke is dead! After years of chasing diversity, Hollywood is kicking it old school! If Joe Eszterhas of Flashdance and Showgirls is working again we’ve ended the nightmare era in which (Waxman says) “I’ve heard quiet frustration from a reasonably accomplished white male screenwriter who felt cast out by the top talent agencies. In the process of “recentering” Hollywood, some people suddenly felt shunted to the side.”
Well, who can argue with people feeling shunted to the side! Because as Ta-Nehisi Coates says, white men’s feelings must be taken seriously. Never mind that alongside Sinners, we have plenty of films this year alone that include lots of white people — Superman. The Phoenician Scheme. The Fantastic Four, though I haven’t seen it yet. From what I’ve read of 21st century Hollywood, POC and women have not squeezed all the white men out of their writing gigs either — though I have read (don’t have the link handy) that some agents have claimed otherwise (e.g., “I’ve been trying to get you that gig but since #metoo they don’t want to hire men.”). As for actors not being hot …. um no. Movies still have plenty of sexy people in them.
So maybe Waxman’s simply pitching an angle to land an NYT op-ed? Writing how white men are oppressed or feminism is/should be dead, seems to be an easy sell, as witness this NYT piece, and this one. And putting it terms of feelings and vibes is an easy way to avoid dealing with actual facts, like saying “some see racism” in the Felon’s anti-diversity policies. Or fascist toady Charlie Kirk declaring he feels unsafe if he sees an airplane pilot is black — see, he’s not necessarily racist, it’s just a feeling. In the same way, modest gains by women and POC make some white people feel “their” country or “their” industry is being taken away, regardless of the facts.
Now, a few more (somewhat random) links.
“They’re all cults centered around the most toxic idiots on the internet. They’re all troll armies. They all have an undisguised loathing for women and POC. And most importantly they’re all movements and moments that give people permission to be their absolute worst selves.” — from an LGM post about how certain podcasts and websites “liberate” people but not in a good way.
“Obama is the cool, chill party where everyone has a good time and wants to do it again. MAGA is like a party I was at where a bunch of skinheads showed up. For a bit it was kinda exciting with loud dancing and ska music. But by the end of the night, the cops had come and taken away a dog that got drunk, a couple of people had gotten hit and went to the ER, there were a bunch of holes in the wall, and most people had begun to clear out a couple of hours in.
I get that there’s a fraction of people that enjoy this crap, but it takes a certain suspension of disbelief to tell yourself the wild abandon of the first hour or two is going to still seem like a good time by the end of the night.” — from a comment on a Lawyers, Guns and Money post
Chaya Raychik’s Libs of TikTok account has no qualms tweeting out racist bullshit about black mental inferiority.
Charlie Kirk suggests YouTube is just as good as college.
“One of the most telling aspects of this MAGA obsession is the focus on the punishment of the “elites” who are behind it. At a basic level, the victims never really take center stage. And that is the heart of it. In the MAGA world, pedophilia isn’t a crime or abuse that needs to be stopped. It is more a legitimating tool which provides a license for cleansing acts of retributive violence and revenge.” This is a point that Fred Clark at slacktivist has made repeatedly, and just recently he made it again.
“You’re Cuban. Your greatest priority is to destroy our national sovereignty and identity.” — Matt Walsh ranting about a Latina Republican official who pissed him off. And was born in the USA.
William Buckley is often held up as a responsible conservative. Politically he’s not that far from MAGA.
“They actually don’t have the wisdom from having burned your fingers a number of times.” — from an article looking at one young computer whiz who became a DOGE slash-and-burner.
