ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

‘Democracy Wins’: GETTR Comms Director Celebrated Biden Victory on Jan 6

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/01/1-5-21-gettr.jpg" /></div>
<h4>Ebony Bowden, the Global Communications Director for GETTR, celebrated Biden’s victory on January 6  of 2021, and has a recent history of writing anti-Trump tweets and articles.</h4>
Bowden joined GETTR as their Global Communications Director in September of last year. Her recent tweets and articles show that she harbored anti-Trump opinions into 2021.
Shortly after the 2020 presidential election, Bowden, who was working as the Washington correspondent for the New York Post, claimed that then-President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud were <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/trump-to-speak-from-white-house-as-vote-count-leans-toward-biden/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">totally “baseless,” and “unfounded,”</a> despite mountains of evidence at the time that has <a href="https://nationalfile.com/audit-update-senate-president-refers-audit-findings-to-arizona-attorney-general/">since been confirmed in states like Arizona.</a> Election integrity advocates have continued to raise serious questions regarding the integrity of the 2020 election.
However, Bowden repeated the then-popular talking point that, due to COVID-19, it was normal for votes to be counted for days or weeks after the election occurred:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" readability="8">
“The president railed against what he called ‘illegal votes,’ not acknowledging that the US election is still in progress as legal mail-in votes are being counted and that the 2020 presidential race was simply not able to be declared on election night due to the coronavirus…”
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" readability="8">
“The votes currently being tabulated are legal mail-in ballots, but the president claimed without evidence that the system was ‘corrupt’ and again suggested Democrats were producing fake ballots to oust him.”
</blockquote>
Only a day later, Bowden resorted to emotionally charged language, and snarkily commented on Twitter that the “federal judge hearing [the] Trump campaign’s Philadelphia lawsuit was in no mood for it.”
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
Unsurprisingly, when pro-Trump protestors entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Bowden was quick to condemn them.
Along with retweeting several leftist news reporters, Bowden celebrated the eventual certification of the Electoral College votes for Biden later that day, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211007170542/https://twitter.com/ebonybowden/status/1346976293645123585" target="_blank">claiming that “democracy wins today.”</a>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
Two days later, on January 8, 2021, Bowden <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211005165818/https://twitter.com/ebonybowden/status/1347681115784556545" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">then proceeded </a>to retweet<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfiS8MsfSF4&ab_channel=JaydenX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> a video</a> recorded by <a href="https://nationalfile.com/epps-sullivan-testify-oath-keepers-case/">antifa activist John Sullivan, known as Jayden X,</a> which included footage of the shooting of protestor Ashli Babbitt.
Bowden claimed that despite the lack of violence from protestors, the video showed that “many more people – including members of Congress – could have been killed” on January 6 had police not acted.
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="6.0220588235294">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="6.0220588235294">
I also didn't grasp the enormity of what happened on Wednesday until now. This video is hard to watch and shows how easily many more people — including members of Congress — could have been killed. <a href="https://t.co/MHfwLVPRZp">https://t.co/MHfwLVPRZp</a>
— Ebony Bowden (@ebonybowden) <a href="https://twitter.com/ebonybowden/status/1347681115784556545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
In February last year, Bowden ran a story with the New York Post, attacking Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt, not for being a RINO, but for seemingly accidentally registering as a member of the <a href="https://www.independentamericanparty.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Independent American Party,</a> a small populist grassroots party which Bowden described as being “far-right, anti-abortion, [and] anti-marriage equality.”
<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210204173511/https://twitter.com/ebonybowden/status/1357382170197770244" target="_blank">Bowden criticized the party</a> for allegedly “peddl[ing] conspiracy theories about George Soros [and] promot[ing] Donald Trump’s policies as ‘common sense’.”
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="6.9174757281553">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="7.378640776699">
The Independent American Party peddles conspiracy theories about George Soros, promotes Donald Trump's policies as "common sense" and has only 50,000 members.
— Ebony Bowden (@ebonybowden) <a href="https://twitter.com/ebonybowden/status/1357382170197770244?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
Much older tweets and articles from <a href="https://www.dailyveracity.com/2022/01/05/gettr-global-communications-director-ebony-bowden-anti-trump-pro-obama-past-revealed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">around the time of the 2016 presidential race were also uncovered</a> by The Daily Veracity.
After hearing the results of the 2016 election, Bowden said that she cried at her desk. “Was really looking forward to telling my daughters about this daughters about this day,”<a href="https://archive.fo/stNcl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> she tweeted.</a>
“Instead, we voted for racism, hatred and sexism.”
She had also previously described how excited she was to buy merchandise from Hillary Clinton’s store, along with praising Barack Obama repeatedly.
<a href="https://nationalfile.com/gettr-repeatedly-bans-america-first-streamer-no-reason-refuses-explain/">READ MORE: GETTR Repeatedly Bans America First Streamer for No Reason, Refuses to Explain</a>
In June 2018, Bowden declared that Trump’s behaviour at the G7 was “genuinely frightening,” and said that the United States was “careening toward disaster,” while <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2018/08/31/trump-rally-evansville-indiana/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a month later declaring in an article for the New Daily</a> that the then-President’s “American dream is an illusion.”
In November of that year, Bowden described meeting Clinton in New York as a “life highlight,” saying that she had the opportunity to “thank her for everything.”
In a statement posted on Wednesday, Bowden disavowed her previous posts from “five years ago before [she] moved to America” and changed her political views.
“People can and should be open to changing their opinion but many don’t have the courage to do so.”
However, the GETTR Comms Director refused to disavow her more recent tweets and articles since her supposed political shift.
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="7.6273291925466">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="8.5807453416149">
Trolls on Twitter today digging up posts I made five years ago before I moved to America, learned a lot about this great country, and changed my political views. People can and should be open to changing their opinion but many don't have the courage to do so. I did. The end.
— Ebony Bowden (@ebonybowden) <a href="https://twitter.com/ebonybowden/status/1478729332814229508?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
Bowden is also not a fan of the rival Alt Tech platform, Gab.
In October last year, Bowden posted an article from the left-wing news site Daily Dot, which declared that CEO and Gab founder Andrew Torba was an anti-semite, to which Bowden agreed, claiming that Gab’s “antisemitic [sic] rot literally starts at the top.”
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
As the past posts from Bowden have been unearthed, the GETTR social media channels boasted about their current position in the app store, including on their Gab account, leading to criticism from conservative commentators.
<a href="https://t.me/loomeredofficial/16386" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Former congressional candidate Laura Loomer described the post</a> as being “below the belt,” noting that “Gab isn’t in the App Store because they are actually 100% pro free speech,” adding that the post was in “bad taste.”
America First commentator Jon Miller agreed, adding that the post was “not exactly the flex GETTR thinks it is.”
It is unclear exactly how much control Bowden has over the GETTR social media in her role as Communications Director.
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="5.2886363636364">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="4.8818181818182">
Gab is banned from app stores for refusing to censor its users. Gettr is there because they do. So this is not exactly the flex Gettr thinks it is. <a href="https://t.co/WIaf20o48q">pic.twitter.com/WIaf20o48q</a>
— JON MILLER (@MillerStream) <a href="https://twitter.com/MillerStream/status/1478542603394363392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
Ethan Klein is now criticizing Joe Rogan for his comments on the dangers of taking the covid vaccine.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/democracy-wins-gettr-comms-director-celebrated-biden-victory-on-jan-6">https://www.infowars.com/posts/democracy-wins-gettr-comms-director-celebrated-biden-victory-on-jan-6</a>

news ‘Democracy Wins’: GETTR Comms Director Celebrated Biden Victory on Jan 6

Ebony Bowden, the Global Communications Director for GETTR, celebrated Biden’s victory on January 6 of 2021, and has a recent history of w...

The thirst for Jack Harlow, Gen Z’s breakout white rapper, explained

On Lil Nas X’s trumpet-blasting anthem “Industry Baby,” Jack Harlow begins his verse with a nod to his haters: “My track record so clean, they couldn’t wait to just bash me / I must be gettin’ too flashy, y’all shouldn’t let the world gas me.”
The music world has, over the past two years, certainly gassed up the 23-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native, who is known for his inoffensive style and easygoing swagger. “I’m here, the world’s feeling what I’m doing,” elaborated the rapper in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2d-fbZVezU">interview</a> with the lyric platform Genius. “Y’all shouldn’t have let ’em. Y’all shouldn’t have let me in.”
Every so often, the music industry spits out a young, fresh-faced white rapper who manages to land a top spot on the Billboard 100 — by virtue of their lyricism, musicality, charisma, or perhaps more commonly today, internet fame. They could be a flash-in-the-pan Soundcloud or TikTok artist, who either evolves into an industry mainstay or falls off the charts. Harlow, whether you like his music or not, seems to be the latest iteration of that figure, judging by his growing shelf of accolades.
Since 2020, his breakout year, Harlow landed a No. 2 spot on the <a href="https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/">Billboard Hot 100</a> with “Whats Poppin,” a catchy viral single that popped off on TikTok, which anointed him as a new rapper to watch. Harlow’s debut album was not released until December, but he was already generating buzz as part of <a href="https://www.xxlmag.com/xxl-2020-freshman-class-revealed/">XXL Magazine’s “2020 Freshman Class</a>,” a rap newcomer’s medal of recognition. Perhaps most crucially, the success of “Whats Poppin” secured him his first Grammy nomination, leading Pitchfork to call him <a href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/best-and-worst-of-rap-this-week-jack-harlow-whats-poppin-westside-gunn-pop-smoke/">“the white rapper of the moment”</a> in a brief, albeit backhanded review of the hit. Harlow’s sound is heavily influenced by, even imitative, of veteran rappers like Drake; his music can be breezy, imbued with <a href="https://variety.com/2021/music/news/jack-harlow-whats-poppin-industry-baby-hitmaker-of-the-year-1235122639/">“feel-good energy,”</a> wisecracking wordplay, and intermittent doses of introspection.
His feature on “Industry Baby” earned Harlow his second Grammy nod. Harlow said the collaboration with Lil Nas X, the gay Gen Z rap superstar, went against advice from some people close to him. (“I had people in my corner that didn’t recommend I do that song, that don’t want to watch that video,” he told <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/jack-harlow-interview-2021">GQ</a>.) But the song became his first No. 1 hit. Magazine profiles and media accolades might carry diminishing weight in the age of social media, but they still are institutional benchmarks of an industry’s rising star. Last year, Harlow was named <a href="https://variety.com/2021/music/news/jack-harlow-whats-poppin-industry-baby-hitmaker-of-the-year-1235122639/">Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year</a> and one of Forbes’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2021/12/01/this-what-the-future-sounds-like-the-30-under-30-honorees-in-music/">30 under 30 music honorees</a>, after gracing the covers of <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/jack-harlow-interview-2021">GQ</a>, <a href="https://www.spin.com/featured/jack-harlow-january-2021-cover-story/">Spin</a>, and <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/jack-harlow-profile-2021/">Complex</a>.
It’s not just Harlow’s music that’s capturing public attention. Much of his relevance, like that of most celebrities’, is predicated on appearance. His well-calibrated combination of humility and swagger has helped draw intrigue in a predominately Black genre. It’s an eye-roll-worthy observation: Here’s another white boy in the rap game, who is charming and disarming enough to benefit from the cult of modern celebrity. But in 2021, during a time when the public is hyper-attuned to acts of cultural appropriation and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/6/3/21279336/blackout-tuesday-black-lives-matter-instagram-performative-allyship">performative allyship</a>, Harlow’s mainstream popularity suggests that he may be doing something right, even while his appeal remains up for debate.
<hr class="p-entry-hr" />
Two decades ago, the white man was rap’s persona non grata. White MCs <a href="https://www.theringer.com/music/2020/10/6/21502594/history-of-white-rappers-eminem-vanilla-ice-mac-miller">have been around</a> since the genre’s genesis, but few are remembered fondly and even fewer are considered masters of the craft.
But the 2000s saw the rise of Eminem, the inimitable white emcee who sought to <a href="https://level.medium.com/how-eminem-conquered-black-music-and-white-privilege-with-the-marshall-mathers-lp-6b450f54920c">earn the begrudging respect</a> of Black listeners and artists. Meanwhile, as white listeners grew more receptive to rap, the 2010s spawned a saturated ecosystem of white rappers — the likes of Macklemore, G-Eazy, Machine Gun Kelly, Mac Miller, and Post Malone — with a variety of sounds and styles. The term “white rapper” has begun to feel like a reductive and lazy form of classification to hip-hop heads, but it remains, at least to the wider public, the clearest visual distinction. An artist may try to deny the role of racial identity in their music and fame, but it matters — to listeners and critics, and certainly within the context of American music’s <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2016/10/race-rock-and-the-rolling-stones-how-the-rock-and-roll-became-white.html">blatantly appropriative history</a>.
Nicki Minaj wasn’t wrong to <a href="https://www.papermag.com/nicki-minaj-white-rapper-2518186005.html">remark</a> that it was “a great time to be a white rapper in America.” Her observation, made in 2017, still holds true years later. One could even argue that too many non-Black artists have capitalized on rap’s diversifying turf, given its tradition as a Black art form.
This already crowded field, then, might seem unfavorable for any white rapper to debut in. They have to withstand comparison and criticism while navigating the racial privilege and personal politics of the genre. But sooner or later, a new white guy stumbles his way into the rap spotlight.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1641426135_1466_37006" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23144551,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6xWbnpMcSPkcS1zMgxzrZcXPtxM=/0x0:8192x5464/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Xje-3Bn0CWH76-V1DW4tHIFIqKA=/0x0:8192x5464/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k27zz9u5s7XO370MwpZlS988gRQ=/0x0:8192x5464/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ueAz1Um3ROULw9vBLYKfMmRHofw=/0x0:8192x5464/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bDZhnqNFC7jR_nCjGIaqWmNjQ-Q=/0x0:8192x5464/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xIGiBOtexr2eUBYMDxhBuoZV4gk=/0x0:8192x5464/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/H99dsccrw8lUof-Z4NDX3-5TErQ=/0x0:8192x5464/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/A8WFBzbeAekj4a2lDv2o0ST7HRs=/0x0:8192x5464/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1nNUWnb6xxFKpA1c0-0DanBkMhY=/0x0:8192x5464/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow perform onstage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards." data-upload-width="8192" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pRAuRDxkJjrOgnFLxrghTko6EnU=/0x0:8192x5464/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hL5Cna0uCa7Fbwuj8pMi8Q_k2fs=/0x0:8192x5464/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/opIFkwUIvFF8g88uomObn62eyyM=/0x0:8192x5464/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/u7eKdtpx17TeXh4Fbbg45fPivlQ=/0x0:8192x5464/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vM3WSz--zlb5C5yqemfeFASSMHM=/0x0:8192x5464/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vTmn3LC_3vR4kC_w3N9-oQAj6oc=/0x0:8192x5464/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/447CxzzeuKQS0YNw1NyIYLdJS-c=/0x0:8192x5464/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WpM4B2OSsA8-bl8VqKY5mvZrLy0=/0x0:8192x5464/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I1sMCJdDKhpwIlIoPiSY2V6GVq8=/0x0:8192x5464/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qJIV-PqEpG4c5HN0koUnrBPBPGA=/0x0:8192x5464/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:8192x5464):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144551/GettyImages_1340091898.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Jack Harlow’s collaboration with Lil Nas X, the Gen Z rap superstar, supposedly went against advice of some close to Harlow, but the song became his first No. 1 hit.</figcaption>
<cite>Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS</cite></figure>
Some hip-hop fans and music critics have yet to be convinced that Jack Harlow is the real deal, not just an overhyped middle-of-the-road rapper. Harlow himself seems taken aback by the abrupt nature of his fame. The thought occasionally permeates in his lyrics, and in interviews he admits that it hangs in the back of his mind: that the fame might detract from his craft, or that he <a href="https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/jack-harlow-talks-to-pete-davidson-about-phone-sex-tour-riders-and-the-perks-of-stardom">sometimes feels like an impostor</a>. His burgeoning popularity has also subjected him to the antics of stan culture, and <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/twitter-white-boy-of-the-month-meme">“white boy of the month” syndrome</a>: A celebrity lands on the public’s radar by way of their good looks, and their talent — or what was responsible for their fame in the first place — becomes a secondary metric as to how they are perceived.
“Once you become actually famous, it’s only half about the music,” <a href="https://variety.com/2021/music/news/jack-harlow-whats-poppin-industry-baby-hitmaker-of-the-year-1235122639/">Harlow told Variety</a>. “They’re just showing up to see you in the flesh, put you on their Snap, throw some panties at you, whether they know a single lyric or not.”
That isn’t to say Harlow exists solely as a thirst object in the public imagination (more on that debate later). His newfound sex appeal (“I didn’t peak in high school, I’m still out here getting cuter”) has brought him more listeners. It has also invited trouble. Harlow is dogged by frequent dating rumors and became the subject of a false pregnancy claim <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/surviving-sophia-nur-influencer-mystery-1276706/">made by a mysterious Canadian scammer</a> last year. And it’s not just white women that he’s attracting to his shows; his fans include Black women and other women of color. Harlow has, to his credit, prominently featured Black and brown women in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pjluP5vNug">music</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IDTzSWh3d0">videos</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQbiq6HLUkP/">promotional posters</a>, and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CITjT_zjoRL/">his album cover,</a> although they’re usually positioned as arm candy or sex symbols (such is often the nature of rap).
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang">
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
how do we stop my black sistas from finding jack h*rlow fine…
— chalissa kordei (@certifiedgayz) <a href="https://twitter.com/certifiedgayz/status/1438983111610667012?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
As a result, Harlow has become a lightly contentious subject on Black Twitter, with people either applauding or bemoaning his popularity and overall appeal. One <a href="https://twitter.com/manizegos/status/1417900166355558400">viral tweet</a> encapsulated the discourse: “Jack Harlow was an experiment planted by the government to test the Black community.” While it’s all fun and games to lament over his supposed “<a href="https://twitter.com/fruitsnoopz/status/1462927635785433088">hold on Black women</a>,” these tweets reflect a complicated sentiment. His emergence as a mainstream white rapper during a culturally fraught time shows the strength of Harlow’s charisma, even though some listeners aren’t entirely sold on his music. He has managed to jockey his way into high-profile collaborations with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIwAI05Y1fU">Lil Wayne</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVeZcM6tBQU">Eminem</a>, sell out tours nationwide, and secure deals with established brands like New Balance and KFC.
It’s worth mentioning that Harlow doesn’t seem to have a problem in also working with — and, at times, defending — rappers with an unsavory history. He opted to feature Chris Brown, who has a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2021/06/23/chris-brown-violence-against-women-and-whether-abusers-can-change/5321506001/">troubling record</a> of domestic abuse claims against him, on a track <a href="https://twitter.com/Tinashe/status/1417886805358088196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">instead of R&B singer Tinashe</a>, and kept Tory Lanez on his “Whats Poppin” remix after <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/tory-lanez-megan-thee-stallion-shooting-explainer.html">rapper Megan Thee Stallion alleged</a> that Lanez shot her last July. “I don’t have no room to judge anybody,” <a href="https://www.xxlmag.com/jack-harlow-tory-lanez-whats-poppin-remix-didnt-remove-no-room-to-jusge/">Harlow said</a> in December, when asked about taking Lanez off the track. “I wasn’t there when this and that happened. I don’t know anything.”
Harlow claims to prioritize music and an artist’s skill in his feature choices, rather than base the decision on public opinion, or <a href="https://www.xxlmag.com/jack-harlow-tory-lanez-whats-poppin-remix-didnt-remove-no-room-to-jusge/">“pack mentality”</a> as he put it in an interview with Power 106, a Los Angeles radio station. Yet Harlow’s come-up didn’t depend solely on his music. It has hinged on this relative respect to existing industry norms, in spite of his whiteness. Perhaps that has conditioned him to not rock the boat — to speak and act gratuitously toward industry veterans, even when problematic artists have signed onto a song.
According to Mickey Hess, a professor of English at Rider University who has written about whiteness and hip-hop, white rappers who care about paying homage to the genre have traditionally relied on these three approaches to carve out a path in rap: cultural immersion, imitation, or inversion. “Jack leans towards the immersion aspect,” Hess told me. “He’s vocal about how he grew up on hip-hop, and a big part of his story is that, despite being white, he identifies with hip-hop, began rapping at a young age, and is embedded in the culture.”
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside><q>“A big part of his story is that, despite being white, he identifies with hip-hop, began rapping at a young age, and is embedded in the culture”</q></aside>
</div>
This is a more modern approach than imitation, Hess said, for which Vanilla Ice was the poster boy. The record-smashing ’90s rapper was at the height of his fame when the Dallas Morning News reported on falsehoods in Ice’s press biography. Ice’s rap career <a href="https://www.theringer.com/music/2020/10/6/21494291/vanilla-ice-to-the-extreme-ice-ice-baby-history-30th-anniversary">quickly unraveled</a>, and he was discredited by an industry that was said to value authenticity. Meanwhile, Eminem’s success was found in <a href="https://level.medium.com/how-eminem-conquered-black-music-and-white-privilege-with-the-marshall-mathers-lp-6b450f54920c">inverting the narrative</a> around whiteness and hip-hop: He spoke of the persistent challenges he faced as a white rapper to achieve visibility and respect, having come up after the Vanilla Ice scandal. It was a sentiment that some Black listeners found relatable.
“There’s always been this fear that white people would take over hip-hop,” Hess said. “At the same time, Jack Harlow is being received well because he seems to know his place.” In 2020, Harlow participated in a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBJM5PIJUC8/">Black Lives Matter protest</a> in Louisville, and used part of his XXL Freshman freestyle to reference <a href="https://www.xxlmag.com/jack-harlow-2020-freshman-freestyle/">an incident of police brutality</a> in his hometown. More recently, after a video surfaced of an altercation between two Atlanta police officers and a Black woman who was denied entrance to Harlow’s show, the rapper posted an apology on social media about how the events unfolded.
Harlow is <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/jack-harlow-avoids-rapping-about-being-white-for-a-specific-reason.html/">cautious about centering whiteness</a> at the core of his music. Sure, there are mentions in a few lyrics here and there (“I brought a gang to the party with me / five white boys but they not NSYNC”), but he seems to gravitate toward more universal themes: love, growing up, dreams, money. Even in earlier interviews, the younger, scrappier Harlow mentions authenticity and the importance of rapping what one knows. What he knows is the South, his Louisville hometown, fame, and sex, to name a few things, and they all carry tinges of veritable whiteness.
“Jack’s songs don’t come across as a gimmick to me,” said J’na Jefferson, a freelance music and culture journalist. “When I think of gimmicks, I instantly think of Macklemore and his song ‘White Privilege.’ That, to me, doesn’t have to be the point of a song, and I already get it. Macklemore’s white. I just want the music to be good and for a white rapper to acknowledge their presence and privilege in a Black genre.”
Still, some music critics and devoted hip-hop fans can’t seem to figure Harlow out, or they dismiss him altogether. Among critics, the common opinion seems to be that his music is <a href="https://fantastichiphop.blog/2020/12/13/jack-harlow-thats-what-they-all-say-album-review/">solid</a> but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/20/jack-harlow-thats-what-they-all-say-review-debut">generic</a>; he has a keen ear for hits and room to grow into a distinguishable artist. Harlow has the range to deliver an introspective track before reverting back to his familiar <a href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/jack-harlow-tyler-herro-song/">frat-boyish flows</a>, but retains some of that childlike earnestness found in his earliest teenage work. Is that commendable or corny?
He “sounds like a rapper you’ve heard before,” <a href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/best-and-worst-of-rap-this-week-jack-harlow-whats-poppin-westside-gunn-pop-smoke/">wrote Pitchfork</a>, drawing comparisons to Aminé, early Chance the Rapper, and DaBaby. Yet nothing definitively suggests whether he’ll surpass the existing rap bar into a league of his own — whether Drake, one of Harlow’s main stylistic influences, is his “jumping-off point or his artistic ceiling,” <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/jack-harlows-thats-what-they-all-say-1102483/">wrote Rolling Stone</a>. One could interpret this critical reluctance as a product of white mediocrity, but history proves that white rappers have topped charts — and won prestigious awards — despite <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/71505-macklemore-and-ryan-lewis-did-not-submit-their-album-to-the-grammys/">not being very good</a>. Metrics aside, though, the Jack Harlow industrial complex appears to be here to stay.
<div>
<div>[embedded content]</div>
</div>
I first became aware of Harlow fervor in October, when clips of the rapper’s interview with British comedian Amelia Dimoldenberg made the rounds on TikTok. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQvBPfpPdoM">six-minute interview</a> was formatted as a casual date over fried chicken as Dimoldenberg, in her endearingly deadpan style, interrogated Harlow about his type of woman (dark hair), his ideal number of kids (eight daughters), and his most romantic gesture (purchased an economy plane ticket for a lover). It was a quirky, banter-filled episode — most of Dimoldenberg’s chicken shop dates are — but the audience’s reaction to Harlow was positively feral.
“I’m smiling the whole video like a dumbass,” read one YouTube comment on the video with 22,000 likes. “This dude got so much finesse.” The top responses either praised Harlow’s confidence and charisma or likened his attractiveness to that of a familiar figure: the easygoing boy next door, the goofy class clown, or the hometown crush held at arm’s length since high school. The interview-cum-date with Dimoldenberg didn’t initiate the Harlow thirst. It simply fueled a smoldering fire kindled earlier last year.
Maybe it was Harlow’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrNOYudaMAc">SNL cameo</a> in March that allowed him to leech off <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/06/pete-davidson-ariana-grande-big-dick-energy.html">Pete Davidson’s “big dick energy.”</a> Or maybe it was <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-squandered-promise-of-chet-hankss-white-boy-summer">the sheer force of white boy summer</a>, a curse placed upon us by Tom Hanks’s rapper fail-son Chet Hanks: “I’m not talking about, like, Trump, you know, Nascar-type white,” Hanks said. “I’m talking about me, Jon B., Jack Harlow-type white-boy summer.”
In June 2021, Harlow made headlines for his flirtatious swoop at the rapper Saweetie, catching her by surprise on the BET red carpet. Their prolonged handshake, with Saweetie lightly negging Harlow (“Why are you shaking?”), was caught on tape by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pNMptILJk">The Shade Room</a>, a gossip and celebrity news site with a primarily Black audience. It was a red carpet interaction destined for virality, featuring two attractive and talented people <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQqtVduhC2E/?hl=en">making eyes at each other</a>. American fans, it seems, are always hungry for <a href="https://twitter.com/ruesdaya/status/1473827467685203972">public displays of affection</a> between celebrities, whether these stunts are planned or not. (Recall the fervor Oscar Isaac unleashed by caressing Jessica Chastain’s arm while promoting their HBO series <a href="https://www.vulture.com/news/scenes-from-a-marriage/">Scenes From a Marriage</a>.)
His demeanor, while self-assured and smooth, remained respectful, without a hint of overt cockiness. And that’s where Harlow’s appeal, in both music and persona, begins. It’s in the energy that he emits — his vibe, so to speak. There’s a disarming confidence to him, coupled with a refreshing honesty reflected in his social media presence, public interviews, and best lyrics. Has there ever been a rapper so keen to admit that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4btSzJ4jUDo">fellatio can be painful</a>?
“He’s got this aura, this charm that doesn’t feel forced, and I think that is what’s making the girls swoon,” Jefferson added. But by virtue of his rising fame, Harlow is considered a “contested crush object,” to borrow a phrase from the writer Alexandra Molotkow, who publishes the newsletter <a href="https://crushmaterial.substack.com/">“Crush Material.”</a>
Harlow doesn’t have the princely glow of a TikTok e-boy, nor the chiseled look of a Hollywood leading man. Sure, he’s tall, with a halo of moisturized brown curls, but his facial features don’t seem all that striking. He looks like <a href="https://twitter.com/its_dassa/status/1477393816311238658">“a Shakespearian jester</a>,” according to one Twitter user, and his unassuming appearance leaves his sex appeal up for debate.
To that end, Harlow has been <a href="https://twitter.com/bluefaceniloc/status/1470144043694886912">grouped in</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/h4rrysbowtie/status/1467680529168408585">the likes of Pete Davidson</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/rainlaforest/status/1449951880545816585">Adam Driver</a>, as many people dissect — <a href="https://twitter.com/sneerid/status/1469813051880845312">and fret over</a> — their attractiveness: Are these white men hot, or are they just tall, skinny, and somewhat talented? What <a href="https://twitter.com/bluebutinpain1/status/1476787148107911169">spell</a> have they cast over a segment of the public? How do we stop them?
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
we need to formulate a plan to stop jack harlow from stealing all the bitches
— Corn ✮ (@sneerid) <a href="https://twitter.com/sneerid/status/1467660435084255232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
In Molotkow’s <a href="https://crushmaterial.substack.com/p/pete-davidson-public-muse">analysis</a> of Davidson’s appeal, she describes him as a “public boyfriend,” a “straight male muse” whose cultural value is derived from giving people something to talk about. Harlow, on the other hand, is a generative force. His newfound attractiveness and social relevance are largely contingent on his fame and musical success — although at a certain point, fans begin to conflate the two. Collective thirst can be a dangerous trap, blinding admirers to the fact that their <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=unproblematic%20fave">“unproblematic fave”</a> can do wrong.
Harlow’s charm is essential to his marketability as a white rapper, who is attempting to transgress racial boundaries with his music. He often mentions “unity” in his interviews; it’s a neat, public relations-friendly conclusion to the elephantine question of being a white man in rap. “No matter how embraced I am, there will never be a day that I’m Black,” Harlow <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/jack-harlow-industry-baby-number-ones-2021-interview-1235010837/">told Billboard</a>. “With that being said, there’s a certain responsibility that comes with being a white man in a Black genre, and there are certain things that have me regarded differently.” It’s a straightforward acknowledgment that seems to pacify fans, reflecting a potential shift in our expectations of white rappers.
Fans often say they are drawn to Harlow’s authenticity and his humble roots, but those aspects of his public persona are strategic. Harlow might be a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2021/12/11/how-a-nice-kentucky-boy-became-raps-brightest-risingstar/?sh=12640b357421">“nice Kentucky boy,”</a> but he is also a millionaire in control of his image, approaching fame with caution. In today’s fraught celebrity atmosphere, where artists have to reckon with <a href="https://www.vox.com/22384308/cancel-culture-free-speech-accountability-debate">cancel culture</a> and public accountability, Harlow is practiced in efforts to protect his reputation, including requiring women to <a href="https://www.iheart.com/content/2021-10-25-jack-harlow-reveals-women-must-sign-ndas-to-hang-with-him/">sign nondisclosure agreements</a> before meeting privately.
Two favorable rookie years in the spotlight, however, are no guarantee of lasting success, and stan culture is always fickle. For now, at least, Jack Harlow can rest easy, knowing that he remains a leading contender for Twitter’s <a href="https://twitter.com/wydccalamity/status/1472624400419766278">white boy of the year</a>.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22865896/jack-harlow-explainer-thirst">https://www.vox.com/culture/22865896/jack-harlow-explainer-thirst</a>

vox The thirst for Jack Harlow, Gen Z’s breakout white rapper, explained

On Lil Nas X’s trumpet-blasting anthem “Industry Baby,” Jack Harlow begins his verse with a nod to his haters: “My track record so clean, th...

The GOP’s masculinity panic

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rcKjDn8Kmke5YfRHSbr9lBmXOJo=/0x0:6816x3569/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23144854/GettyImages_1233050565.jpg" /></div>
If you follow conservative politics, you know that the state of masculinity in America has been a hot topic this past year.
Republicans like Josh Hawley, a senator from Missouri and a star of the New Right, have made masculinity a signature issue. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRzvinE4IaE">recent speech</a> at the National Conservatism Conference, for example, Hawley argued that the progressive left is trying to “deconstruct” the American man. That’s quite a statement, and whether you agree with it or not, it’s crucial to grapple with its appeal and how it’s shaping our politics.
I reached out to David French, a senior editor at The Dispatch — a center-right publication that’s been critical of the Trumpist turn in conservatism — and now a contributing writer for the Atlantic, for the latest episode of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vox-conversations/id1081584611">Vox Conversations</a>. French tracks conservative politics as closely as anyone, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/the-new-rights-strange-and-dangerous-cult-of-toughness/620861/">recently wrote</a> about what he calls “the cult of toughness” on the American right.
We discussed how Trump became the model of masculinity for Republicans, what exactly the right thinks the left is doing to the American man, and how the anger and response to that have helped pave the way for eruptions of political violence like the assault on the Capitol last January.
Below is an excerpt from our conversation, edited for length and clarity. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so subscribe to Vox Conversations on <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vox-conversations/id1215557536">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations">Stitcher</a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
<hr class="p-entry-hr" />
<h4>Sean Illing</h4>
I grew up in a culture of traditional masculinity, and for all the excesses and blind spots, I do think there’s something good and useful there, and we can get into some of that later. But there are excesses and blind spots and yes, toxicities, and it’s not anti-male to explore them honestly.
I say all that because I want to at least try to steelman the conservative point of view here, and you’re better positioned to do that since you’re a conservative.
So what exactly does the right think the left is doing to the American man?
<h4>David French</h4>
This is a good example of the kind of thing that a lot of folks are worried about on the cultural right, and I think justifiably so: The American Psychological Association, back in late 2018, early 2019, put out these <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/ce-corner">guidelines</a> for psychological practice with boys and men. Essentially, what it says is traditional masculinity is harmful, and this is one of the ways that a person defined it on their website: that traditional masculinity, marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression, is on the whole harmful.
The guidelines themselves say that traditional masculinity ideology — which is defined with socializing boys toward anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence — limits their psychological development. I have real problems with that formulation.
Now, there are some characteristics in there that they mention, like dominance, that are, I think, actually problematic in almost all forms. Or “anti-femininity” — I’m not even sure exactly what that means, it might be a “you know it when you see it.” But other things such as achievement, stoicism — I mean, believe you me, there are times in life when stoicism is an absolute virtue, especially in times of crisis. Going back to my military experience — I served with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment — and I saw men react in moments of incredible crisis with an unbelievable degree of calm. That was a virtue.
Aggression can be virtuous, or it can be deeply problematic. These things are characteristics, not vices, by and large. So what does a healthy masculinity do? It channels these characteristics toward virtue and away from vice. Not to get too stereotypical, but that’s essentially what you’re talking about when you’re talking about, say, how a Marine Corps boot camp turns a boy into a man.
<h4>Sean Illing</h4>
There’s a real danger in this kind of warrior mindset — which I think is necessary and <a href="https://www.vox.com/conversations/2018/4/10/17198818/america-patriotism-trump-iraq-matt-young-interview">has its place</a> — when it’s severed from any ethos of restraint and compassion, and when it’s just about destroying the enemy or owning the libs or defying norms, that’s very bad.
<h4>David French</h4>
Well, that’s the difference between character formation and indulgence. So if you’re talking about people who might have aggressive instincts or they might be highly achievement-oriented and you just indulge all of that, you give in to that id, then two things end up happening at once, which is interesting: This is the stereotypical bully — the bully at the one end is intimidating where he can intimidate, but cowardly where he’s in danger.
This is the essence of the Trump persona himself. I mean, Trump is a guy, for example, who when he can feel like he can intimidate and bully, he’s all in. When there’s real risk to himself, he’s all out.
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside><q>“They know their own vulnerability. I think they know that they’re vulnerable to a better vision.”</q></aside>
</div>
<h4>Sean Illing</h4>
I guess my big worry is that a lot of this masculinity panic feels rage-driven, and there’s no real positive content. It’s all negation, it’s all rejection, and I hear the rhetoric from people like Josh Hawley and <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1451241581785268238?s=20">J.D. Vance</a> about defending order and affirming this or that virtue, but on the ground, Fox News-level, it’s mostly about hating the enemy and wanting to extinguish it. And that leads to anti-politics, to violence as a substitute for politics.
You expressed something similar when you wrote that the “logic of this movement presses toward direct action.” What did you have in mind there?
<h4>David French</h4>
I had in mind January 6. I had in mind what might happen in the next election cycle. I had in mind the avalanche of threats directed toward public officials. I had in mind the fact that we’ve had people who’ve had to essentially go into hiding because of the stands they’ve taken, stands of real integrity, to defend the very existence of our democracy.
That’s not just Twitter trolling. It’s not just posturing online anymore. It’s the logic of a movement centered around aggression divorced from virtue that indulges in apocalyptic rhetoric. It’s heading exactly where such movements head, and everyone who in 2015 or 2016 was dismissing the alt-right and Trump’s Twitter trolls says, “Oh, that’s just Twitter. That’s just Twitter.” There was an inexorable moral logic that was going to lead to action in the streets.
I’ve been a pessimist about this for some time. I’ve been warning about violence for some time. In December, I was jumping up and down <a href="https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-dangerous-idolatry-of-christian">on The Dispatch</a> saying violence is a real threat. Even as a pessimist, I didn’t imagine the capital being overrun on January 6.
To argue that, “Well, that was a one-time thing. Everybody got carried away” — no. No, no, no. That was the result of rhetoric and conduct that put a specific group of people together on January 6 to provide cover for an attempted coup. Many of the architects of that exact plan are still some of the most revered figures in Republican life right now.
So when you tell people their country is at stake, when you tell people the other side hates them, wants to see you dead, hates you, puts you in camps, then some people are going to believe that, and act accordingly.
Look, it’s easy for somebody who’s on the left to decry all that [and say], “The other team is being bad.” I mean, you’re born to say the other team is being bad in a highly tribalized culture. But where the real moral courage comes is when you’re on the right and you say to the right, “This is wrong. This is wrong.”
That’s where people I know have had to go under FBI protection because they have said, “This is wrong.” People have endured death threats that you wouldn’t believe because they’ve said, “This is wrong.” Then to have people turn around and say, “Well, you’re just weak,” no.
What Liz Cheney is doing with the January 6 commission takes courage. What <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/05/no-senator-ever-voted-remove-president-his-party-office-until-mitt-romney/">Mitt Romney did</a> when he was the first person to vote to impeach a president of his own party takes courage. That takes courage. When you call that cowardice, you’re turning virtues upside down. You’re turning morality upside down.
<h4>Sean Illing</h4>
I’m glad you went there, because these may seem like separate issues for a lot of people, but I don’t think they are. The support for the kind of violent illiberalism we saw on January 6, the justification for it, stems from the contempt for the perceived weakness of the left, and the belief that there’s a poison in our culture that has to be exterminated at all costs.
I remind people that Trump himself stepped to the podium a few hours before the Capitol was sacked and said, “Our country is under siege. You’re the people that built this nation and we fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” That’s dangerous.
<h4>David French</h4>
Extremely dangerous. I think a lot of folks, because we live in highly bubbled cocoon lives, we often just don’t understand each other’s cultures, the separate cultures that are being created. I’ve lived in the deepest blue areas and I’ve lived in the deepest red areas.
In red world, being called a racist — that accusation has no purchase, really. Here’s what’s the terrifying thing on the right that can be a career- and reputation-ending allegation: “You’re weak. You’re a coward.”
So the transformation, this flipping upside down of morality, turning bullying into strength, turning restraint into vice, all of that, what has then happened is it enables the Trumpists and the Trumpist world. They’re wielding this sword that is very sharp culturally in red spaces, this accusation of weakness and cowardice, as a weapon to keep people in line, because they’ve defined support for this movement as evidence of your strength.
In that world, capitulation to the mob is seen as courage, is seen as strength, and that’s upside down and backward.
<h4>Sean Illing</h4>
You’ve been called weak and cowardly as much as anyone on the right for your criticism of Trumpism. I won’t ask how that makes you feel, since I’m sure it pisses you off, but what’s your response to it?
<h4>David French</h4>
At this point, you just have to laugh at it, to be honest, because if you had walked in my family’s shoes over the last six years, that’s not an allegation that you would make. I’ve written about this going all the way back to 2015, when the first attacks on our family started rolling in, and the things we’ve walked through in the last six years are just absurd, just an absurd level of not just moral or peer pressure, but outright acts of intimidation and threats and harassment.
It’s just unbelievable, and then to turn around and say, “The strong thing to do, David, the courageous thing to do would be to give in to these bullies.” That makes no sense at all.
<h4>Sean Illing</h4>
I really do believe the ultimate choice is between conversation and violence. But I don’t think it’s too late, I really don’t. Things have been much, much worse than they are now. But we have to pull back and we have to do it soon. How does that start?
<h4>David French</h4>
Well, let’s say bad news, good news. So I think the bad news is this idea that we might reach a point where millions of Americans who were all-in for Trump will essentially give some version of mea culpa — I don’t think that something like that is in the cards.
I think the way things change is people move on. It’s not necessarily that they’ll sit there and they’ll say, “I never should have been on this guy’s team.” They’ll just say something like, “Well, let’s not do that again,” or, “I like this other person better.” I think there’s a lot of room for that kind of transformation.
There’s something telling in one of the text messages that was released that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/12/14/22834009/fox-texts-trump-meadows-ingraham-hannity-capitol-riot">Fox News hosts sent to Mark Meadows</a> on January 6. Laura Ingraham said, “This is hurting all of us.” What you have is this group dynamic on Trumpism where part of the appeal, actually, is they’re all in this together, they’re really all in this movement.
One of the reasons why it’s so hostile toward dissent is, I think, they know their own vulnerability. I think they know that they’re vulnerable to a better vision.
So one of the reasons why people who are “never Trump” politicians, or politicians who once supported Trump now don’t support him anymore, are so viciously attacked is because these people are the threat. Because they offer an alternative conservative vision for this country that is not based on hatred and animosity and aggression and cruelty. They offer an alternative to the J.D. Vance version, which says, “I think our people hate the right people.”
An alternative version of conservatism says, “There are no right people to hate. You don’t hate people. You believe what you believe out of conviction that this is a worldview and a set of policies and ideas that contribute to the flourishing of all of the American people, not just your tribe, and your goal is not to pit American against American.”
There is a vision and a version of conservatism that stands in total contradiction to what the Trumpist right is. I think it still has appeal, and it’s one of the reasons why there is such aggression directed at those who dissent. Because they have memories, most of them except the very youngest, they have memories of a different version of conservatism, one that could motivate people through inspiration rather than aggression, and they know they’re vulnerable to it.
So my optimistic take is that if enough conservatives, enough conservative politicians, enough conservative public intellectuals, enough conservative pop culture figures offer this alternative, don’t expect some mass American repentance. But some mass Republican turning away from Trump is very, very possible, and it’s the very possibility of that which makes the aggression of the other side seem so urgent and necessary to them.
To hear the rest of the conversation, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1J8Xk0b5ihQIZ0Ls7qQZoN?si=rtOB5dBXSwSExda4K0-TVg">click here</a>, and be sure to subscribe to Vox Conversations on <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vox-conversations/id1215557536">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations">Stitcher</a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/vox-conversations-podcast/22834353/vox-conversations-david-french-republican-party-trump-masculinity">https://www.vox.com/vox-conversations-podcast/22834353/vox-conversations-david-french-republican-party-trump-masculinity</a>

vox The GOP’s masculinity panic

If you follow conservative politics, you know that the state of masculinity in America has been a hot topic this past year. Republicans li...

Ben Smith had one of the coolest jobs in journalism. Now he wants to do something else.

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uKXVsB_p8NVs0udtiLkVzHU7IzE=/0x0:5568x2915/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23145856/1145370216.jpg" /></div>
When Ben Smith left BuzzFeed to join the New York Times two years ago, the conventional wisdom in media circles was that the move signaled the top of the once-frothy new media startup market. Would-be disrupters like BuzzFeed, it turned out, didn’t have the resources and ambition to displace Establishment Media after all.
And the Times, in particular, which looked wobbly at the beginning of the decade, had righted itself. It had a thriving business model because it had <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/5/4/15550052/new-york-times-subscription-advertising-revenue-chart">swapped out advertising dollars for reader subscription dollars</a>. It was making excellent journalism, and it was hoovering up the best talent. “<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/28/21112608/ben-smith-new-york-times-buzzfeed-media-revenue-jonah-peretti">The New York Times used to be afraid of BuzzFeed. Now it’s hired its biggest star</a>,” said <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/peter-kafka">this guy</a>.
Now, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bloomberg-media-ceo-justin-smith-steps-down-to-found-news-startup-11641310893">Smith is leaving the NYT</a> for a … new media startup. It’s a yet-to-be-named outfit he’s building in conjunction with Justin Smith, who has been running Bloomberg Media for eight years. Time for a new, new narrative?
Maybe not. Since Smith’s departure from BuzzFeed, the Times has continued to spend aggressively to pluck ambitious journalists from digital and traditional outlets. We’re particularly aware of it at Vox, since the list of NYT hires includes Ezra Klein, who co-founded Vox in 2014 and moved to the Times at the end of 2020.
So I asked Smith himself what we were to make of his move into the Most Established Establishment Media and back out. I got the quotable version of a shrug emoji: “The accordions accordion,” Smith told me today. “The pendulum swings.”
My translation: Both Ben Smith and Justin Smith are incredibly ambitious — ambitious enough that holding down two of the top gigs in media wasn’t enough for them. By creating their own thing — funded with other people’s money — they’ll be owners, not just employees. That was a pitch that lots of startups made a few years ago, but is much less persuasive for most journalists now that we’ve seen a generation of media startups bump their heads on the ceiling.
Which means the Smiths are very confident they can fund this thing at scale, from the start. David Bradley, who used to own the Atlantic and employed Justin Smith as his top business executive there, has already told the Wall Street Journal that he wants to invest.
But Bradley sold his majority stake in the Atlantic to Laurene Powell Jobs in part because he didn’t have unlimited funds to support journalism. So the Smiths will likely need more than his cash. Powell Jobs herself is not an investor in the new venture, a person familiar with her business tells me.
Ben Smith wasn’t willing to tell me any more about his backers: “We’ll announce it when we’re ready to.” (If you want to get a sense of how difficult it is to get anything useful out of Smith when he’s in gnomic mode, check out his pleasant and maddening interview with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/ben-smith-cant-say-what-his-new-media-venture-is">the New Yorker</a>.)
Speaking of translations: What exactly do the Smiths want to build? It will be big, they say, and they’re focused on a theoretical audience of “200 million college-educated people around the world” — a curious descriptor Ben Smith used in the New York Times, and one that David Bradley also attributed to Justin Smith in the Journal.
And beyond that, it’s quite fuzzy. “I think there’s an enormous amount of space to innovate in the newsroom,” Ben Smith told me, adding that perceptions of bias, and media organizations that catered to social media, had weakened the trust news consumers had in other media outlets.
Huh? I understand that positioning coming from Justin Smith, who has spent the past eight years at a publisher that takes great pains to present itself as a bone-dry, just-the-facts news purveyor for a business audience. Much less so from Smith, who delights in tweaking journalistic convention. He is the guy who famously <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14531510/buzzfeed-news-trump-dossier-defamation-lawsuit-jonah-peretti-interview">published the so-called “Trump Dossier” in 2017</a>, which enraged mainstream publishers at the time and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/17/steele-dossier-guide-latest-allegations/">does to this day</a>.
I also don’t think that whatever the Smiths say about their new publication matters that much, even to the people who back them or go to work for them. They’ll sell the new org based on their resumes and output before it starts producing journalism. And once it actually starts making stuff, that’s the thing that will matter.
If you want to hear more of Justin Smith’s thoughts, you can listen to this Recode Media interview I conducted with him last fall — when, it turns out, he was talking with Ben Smith about launching this new venture.
And in the meantime let’s give Ben Smith the last word: a response to my suggestion that his tenure at the Times, which started on March 1, 2020, had been brief. “Does the period beginning March 2020 seem short to you?” Smith said.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22867616/ben-smith-justin-smith-new-york-times-bloomberg">https://www.vox.com/recode/22867616/ben-smith-justin-smith-new-york-times-bloomberg</a>

vox Ben Smith had one of the coolest jobs in journalism. Now he wants to do something else.

When Ben Smith left BuzzFeed to join the New York Times two years ago, the conventional wisdom in media circles was that the move signaled ...

VIDEO: New York Teacher Arrested For Allegedly Giving Minor COVID Jab Without Permission

<h4>Long Island educator Laura Russo has been arrested for allegedly administering a COVID-19 vaccine to a minor without training or parental consent.</h4>
New York media <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/ny-teacher-accused-of-giving-minor-covid-vaccine-without-parent-consent-is-reassigned/3476848/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">confirms that</a> Russo, 54, was arrested on New Year’s Eve after police were “tipped off” by the child’s mother.
Police say the <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/ny-woman-arrested-for-allegedly-giving-vaccine-to-minor-without-parents-consent/3475182/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">17-year-old boy</a> was at Russo’s home “when she jabbed him with ‘what is believed to be a Covid Vaccine.’”
She reportedly did this intentionally, telling the minor that it was an “at home vaccine.”
The media outlet has since released video purportedly showing the incident take place:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" readability="6.3321554770318">
“There you go, at home vaccine”. Police have arrested a Long Island mother for illegally giving a 17 year old boy a shot of Covid vaccine in her home. And there’s video….Only on <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNewYork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBCNewYork</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nbc4ny?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nbc4ny</a> <a href="https://t.co/KpG5vAQaDT">pic.twitter.com/KpG5vAQaDT</a>
— Pei-Sze Cheng (@PeiSzeCheng4NY) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeiSzeCheng4NY/status/1478125159580057601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
NBC New York reports that Russo is not a medical provider, and is no way qualified to administer the controversial COVID-19 vaccines.
Many of the COVID-19 vaccines require very specific procedures for storage and injection that require the years of training associated with those in the medical field.
It is believed that Russo is a science teacher. According to NBC 4, “She appears to be a science teacher with Herricks Public Schools in New Hyde Park. District officials say the allegations are not related to school and did not occur on school property.”
<div class="wsln12JL"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/specials-clearance/new-years-super-special?ims=cuzeh&utm_campaign=heronewyear&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=heronewyear" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/InfowarsNewyearsSpecial-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
Regardless, the same officials say that Russo has been “removed from the classroom.” They do not acknowledge that she is a teacher, but do acknowledge that she is an employee.
The media outlet reports that “Russo had a vial of an approved COVID-19 vaccine in her home, though police didn’t say where she got it.”
Russo apparently had access to the minor due to friendship between her son and the teen. While the teen was in her home, she clandestinely injected him with the vaccine, apparently in defiance of his mother’s wishes.
According to the CDC, New York and neighboring New Jersey boast some of the highest vaccination rates in the country.
However, the two states also boast the highest rate of the Omicron variant in the United States, again according to the CDC.
Regardless, New York has some of the most stringent COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine passport requirements in the country, and recently saw 1,400 unvaccinated nurses fired in one hospital system alone as a result.
Nurses from that hospital were then seen delivering a COVID-19 and holiday themed dance number in the White House, as Joe and Jill Biden watched from the side.
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
<a href="https://freeworldnews.tv/watch?id=61d4b695f5297750f279a975" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Medical Industry’s Coordinated Media Warfare Campaign EXPOSED By Dr. Malone</a>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-new-york-teacher-arrested-for-allegedly-giving-minor-covid-jab-without-permission">https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-new-york-teacher-arrested-for-allegedly-giving-minor-covid-jab-without-permission</a>

news VIDEO: New York Teacher Arrested For Allegedly Giving Minor COVID Jab Without Permission

Long Island educator Laura Russo has been arrested for allegedly administering a COVID-19 vaccine to a minor without training or parental co...

Video: DeSantis Says Biden is “Bogarting” Monoclonal Antibody Covid Treatment

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/01/bogart.png" /></div>
During an event in Jacksonville on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said Joe Biden is “bogarting” monoclonal antibody treatments used to fight Covid.
<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio">
[embedded content]
</figure>
Speaking to Floridians about how important early treatment is when it comes to battling Covid, DeSantis explained that the state’s supply of monoclonal antibodies is currently “totally inadequate.”
The governor said the Biden administration gave Florida 2,000 doses less than they were provided last week, and “about half as much as was sent to the state of New York, and New York has millions fewer people than the state of Florida.”
“Bogarting these treatments like that and not putting them out is wrong,” DeSantis declared. “I know they don’t really believe in it, that has not been in their philosophy, but their approach has not worked and we just have to be honest with that.”
Governor DeSantis pointed out that as presidential candidate, Biden promised to “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://nypost.com/2021/12/28/gop-slams-biden-for-saying-no-federal-solution-to-covid/" target="_blank">shut down the virus</a>” if elected, which turned out to be a total lie as Covid cases are exploding over a year later.
If the federal government does send more monoclonal antibody treatments to Florida, DeSantis says he’ll open a new site in Jacksonville as soon as it comes in.
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="5.4621848739496">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="5.0420168067227">
Governor DeSantis is in Jacksonville ready to open a monoclonal antibody treatment site IF the federal government would provide the supply Florida needs. 
Watch Now: <a href="https://t.co/ranevlx7QP">https://t.co/ranevlx7QP</a>
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1478400561422737413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
As <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-admin-limiting-supply-of-monoclonal-antibodies-in-7-southern-states-under-guise-of-preventing-a-shortage/" target="_blank">Infowars reported in September</a>, the Biden administration began rationing doses of the treatment after seven southern states started seeing a reduction in Covid cases.
Now, state leaders in Texas and Florida are calling out the seemingly political withholding of the Covid treatments.
Last week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote, “Biden vows full federal support to help states combat COVID. But he’s not. Biden is hoarding the anti-body therapeutic drugs & denying states independent access to that medical treatment. Now, he has stopped providing any of that medicine to Texas.”
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="7.8888888888889">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="9.641975308642">
Biden vows full federal support to help states combat COVID. But he’s not.
Biden is hoarding the anti-body therapeutic drugs & denying states independent access to that medical treatment.
Now, he has stopped providing any of that medicine to Texas. <a href="https://t.co/e0D36ulIpJ">https://t.co/e0D36ulIpJ</a>
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1475613900879974400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
The Democrat-run federal government is willing to let tens of thousands of Americans die in order to play their political games with Republican-run states.
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
During his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Dr. Robert Malone called out pharmaceutical companies and the US federal government for their concerted effort in blocking early COVID treatments from the general public.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-desantis-says-biden-is-bogarting-monoclonal-antibody-covid-treatment">https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-desantis-says-biden-is-bogarting-monoclonal-antibody-covid-treatment</a>

news Video: DeSantis Says Biden is “Bogarting” Monoclonal Antibody Covid Treatment

During an event in Jacksonville on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said Joe Biden is “bogarting” monoclonal antibody treatments used to f...