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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28724 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023

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Recently I brought up Rich Men North of Richmond - only because no one else did - and pretty well everyone shit on it for one reason or another.

Everyone shits on it because it is shitty. It is not working clas song, it is loser song.

Working class songs sound like this.

Not "Ouch, our lives suck so much", but "Our lives suck, we must organize and fight"

You do not have to be "leftist" or "communist" to see it, hard core Tsarist like Mystery Grove with zero sympathy for the left tells it even harder.

Gingergate

My issue isn’t with the singer, but rather the song and the response to it. Personal music tastes aside, I cannot think of a worse message for conservatives to rally around than “My life sucks. The world has passed me by.” It’s understandable why this song resonates with so many people. These are not problems that he’s just making up. Everything really is getting worse. However, the song is just a lament. We don’t need any more laments.

The Yellowstoning of Oliver Anthony

I just don’t see the point of relishing in how bad things are today. In fact, dwelling on this situation, without anything more, lulls people into inaction. You see a similar phenomenon with burgeoning conspiracy culture on the Right. Even when the conspiracies are true, it doesn’t spur people to greater action. Instead, it turns into a joke. “Epstein didn’t kill himself” is a meme, not something that any elected official, even in the deepest Red state, is substantively engaging with.

...

But it's the biggest song on the planet.

For now, next month something else would be the biggest hit and this whole thing will be forgotten.

Remember another working class hero, Joe the Plumber? He had his five minutes of fame and then nothing. He just died and few people noticed.

edit: link fixed

I didn't know Joe the Plumber died but I absolutely remember him being a cultural touchstone for years. That culture is also dead. Fortunately someone wrote a good song about it for once

PS @Zorba is it just me? Trying to navigate in the response box is just miserable. Everytime I try to select something the box greys out instead

Okay, boo hoo, i was wrong, everything was shit. My bad. on me. It's still bigger than the indians landing on the moon. Even the fact you're bitching about it now is part of it being the biggest story in the world. It should have been brought up here by someone else than me going 'uh guys maybe take a look' and you being so dismissive of it is part of the story

  • -16

If you want to count everything as part of the story, you're free to. Doesn't make it an important story. Certainly not "bigger than the Indians landing on the moon".

The cultural impact in the West of indians landing on the moon is as near to zero as makes no difference. Especially compared to this song

Okay, boo hoo, i was wrong, everything was shit. My bad. on me. It's still bigger than the indians landing on the moon.

No, it is not.

It could be, if the red beard guy used his popularity and stepped up to be a leader of new movement. If he told his fans to do something.

For example, demand full Congressional investigation of Epstein case HUAC style.

Full means full investigation of whole Epstein's life, not only his untimely demise, and following all rabbit holes whenever they lead.

This would be concrete, comprehensible political demand that would be widely popular among bot red and blue voters, demand whose failure to deliver would both red and blue elected representatives have to explain.

No. He tells his fans to go home and hug their loved ones.

Nothing wrong with it, but nothing world changing either.

edit: link fixed

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