Some Parents Don't Want Autism Prevented, Fast Food Just Killed Celebrity Worship, Snoop Dogg Goes...Traditional Country?!, NY Times Writer: "Everyone Should Be Religious (The Five for 04/18/25)
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Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter, but don’t always make the front page.
One quick note…it’s Good Friday. If you have any interest or desire to attend a church service, and you’re not sure about that…just pick one. Megachurch. Orthodox. Catholic. Baptist. Whatever. Often, people are uncomfortable because they think it will be high pressure to visit church.
The Easter season always brings visitors and first timers to churches. Just know…you can slide in and out during Good Friday or Easter Sunday without much trouble.
If you’ve got questions, or just curiosity (and we’ll get into that in story #4), it’s a great weekend to go explore what all the fuss is about.
With that being said, let’s get into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Well, a major theme of this issue is going to be how celebrity culture is dying…and up first is Jimmy Kimmel, who no longer considers himself a comedian, but a “place to scream” apparently
Before we get into the quote…the first thing that stands out here is that people without real jobs (people on TV, in movies) don’t know what’s like to be on your feet for 10 hours a day in a blue collar profession, or grinding through corporate life.
Nobody rushes home at 5:30, feeds the kids dinner, and gets them in bed and thinks “with my half hour of free time today, I’d like to turn on someone who is ‘a place to scream’ before falling asleep.”
For decades, late night TV worked because comedy was a salve on the thousand little cuts that modern adulthood brings on.
Since I have no desire to pay for Rolling Stone, here’s a selection of the interview on outkick.com
Rolling Stone: I wonder if that experience gave you insight into the Republican Party during the Trump years in terms of, they are not going to display a moment of courage even when it seems like it is in America’s best interest.
Kimmel: "Well, they’re so scared of him, I think even more so now than they were the first time around, because he’s so vindictive and there’s no length to which he will not go to punish you. I just don’t understand how Americans can support what he’s doing and the stupid stuff that he gets hung up on, like transgender sports and the stuff that affects almost no one.
I know politicians do this; they pick little things they know are going to push your buttons, and those are the things that they go with, but this is an extreme that we’ve never seen before. There’s no decency. It’s just a bunch of animals, and it’s disgusting.
I mean, on the Fourth of July, I still put up a flag, and I’m never going to stop doing that, because I’m never going to let them have that symbol. It’s not their flag; it is not a MAGA brand."
Couple of points here:
A). Statistically, 79% of Americans don’t want biological males in girls sports. Trump played this issue to the 80% on this issue, and won. Kamala supported taxpayer funded sex changes for prisoners, and alienated the public.
B). Calling a group of people “a bunch of animals” will only produce sympathy for Republicans. J.D. Vance should be sending a thank you note to Kimmel for the unwitting support of Vance’s 2028 Presidential campaign.
C). Kimmel flies an American flag? Cool. That’s not an act of rebellion. It’s just…a guy doing a thing. There are four kinds of flags in my neighborhood—American, St. Louis, St. Louis Cardinals…and one Ukrainian flag. At no point have I ever passed a house with a flag and thought “stunning and brave. A true act of rebellion.”
Perhaps the most telling element of this story is that Jimmy Kimmel has to be cringe for you and I to think of him at all.
[two]
Well, you’ve already seen a lot of takes making fun of this week’s Blue Origin flight, in which six very rich women went to “space” (barely) for the amount of time it takes to brush and floss.
For the record, I do think tourist space flight is a really cool thing, and a future where a vacation in zero gravity is possible….sounds very cool. Nor am I upset that very rich people did very rich people stuff. The correct messaging here should have been “we went to space. It was fun!”
Instead, celebs including CBS Mornings host Gayle King, pop star Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez, a TV reporter whose affair Jeff Bezos resulting in a divorce for each, and a major upgrade in net worth for Sanchez, took a joyride in zero gravity and participated in really cringe branding, like ringing a bell and referring to the whole fiasco as “the mission.” It’s the equivalent of dubbing yourself “the new Magellan” after taking a Carnival Cruise.
But the most interesting part this whole weird event is not civilian space travel. That’s already been done. It’s the fact that celebrity worship is being replaced by dunking on celebrities.
Nobody did it better than the Wendy’s social media team…twice.
There’s an argument to be made that Perry is a has-been, as it’s been 12 years since she churned out an album with significant radio hits, and mainly leans on the fact that she had the biggest album in the world 15 years ago (Teenage Dream).
But that’s probably short sited. My best read is that two things have changed in American Culture:
A). Celebs are more active on social media than ever. And Perry is off-putting and weird. Celebrities were always off-putting and weird, but they had PR experts and handlers to keep the lid on the crazy.
And (more importantly)
B). Rampant inflation. When we’re paying $6 for a dozen eggs, nobody’s in the mood to see self-inflated rich people cosplay as astronauts.
To lean on a gif from my all-time favorite movie to bring home the moral of the story…
And I thought we were done…but the Babylon Bee did this:
[three]
Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts
Once again, Bari Weiss proved this week why she may just be the best journalist in America. A religious Jew, Bari challenged her guest Ross Douthat’s views from his new book Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious (despite Bari’s own view that everyone should be religious).
Douthat, a strong Catholic and NY Times writer (wait, that’s allowed?!) dropped this insightful gem during the conversation:
“One of the notable facts of our moment is that as America has become more secularized or post-Christian, Democrats and Republicans have come to regard each other the way Catholics and Protestants did at the worst moments of the wars of religion. It’s not just that you don’t want your child to marry someone from the other political tribe—you can’t imagine how a decent person could even believe what they believe.
The promises of the New Atheists—that if we just got rid of religion, politics would become more rational, science would be universally trusted, and polarization would disappear—clearly haven’t come to pass. Instead, we’re living in a more fragmented, tribal, and paranoid society.
That’s why we’re seeing this reconsideration of religion—not necessarily a full return to belief, but a curiosity about what it offered. Community. Rhythm. Moral grounding. A story big enough to live inside. And without that scaffolding, people are trying to recreate spiritual life through astrology, psychedelics, AI… and in some cases, very dangerous ideologies.”
I’m not sure that declaring myself to be a Christian clarifies much in 2025 America…so I’ll narrow that down to the fact that I believe Jesus literally rose from the dead, and I base my life and decision on the Bible.
In the early 2000’s, those ideas were quite unpopular as New Atheism exploded with Dawkins, Hitchens, etc. promising a better world if we’d all just drop the “sky daddy” stuff.
Instead, as America got less religious, we got more divisive, lonely, addicted and suicidal. So seeing the pendulum swing other way as the average Joe and Jane ask questions as to why society continues to fragment…is a natural progression.
[four]
This week, RFK Jr. caused a firestorm on social media with comments about Autism, as the H&H Secretary has pledge to find the reasons the disease is increasing.
This is an individual tragedy as well. Autism destroys families. Uh, more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which are children. These are children who should not be, who should not be suffering like this. These are kids who, many of them were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they're two years old.
And these are kids who will never pay taxes. They'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball. They'll never write a poem. They'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children.
This angered some autism parents, posting videos of their high functioning autistic children.
This my son. He has autism. He is teaching himself piano and learns songs by ear. He taught himself to read at 2 years old. He’s in the 94th percentile for math. There’s challenges, but he’s the best thing my life. There’s nothing wrong with him. F*ck you RFK.
Well, the fact that your son has autism DOES mean there’s something wrong with him. Just as the fact that I have a life-threatening allergy to peanuts DOES mean there’s something wrong with me. I am sick. With something that could end my life, if I’m not careful.
If disease can be prevented (whether autism, or peanut allergy), shouldn’t we want that?
Others…shared the grim reality of severe autism.
I remember in college, a professor argued that deaf lesbian couples would often look for a deaf sperm donor to have a baby with, so they could engineer a deaf child…to prove there’s “nothing wrong with being deaf.”
Correct. But there is something wrong with claiming a disease as a personality trait, and then insisting we don’t prevent or cure it for others.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup…
[movies] Joel McHale has confirmed that the Community movie will film later this year. The beloved sitcom about a misfit group of friends ran for six seasons on NBC. || The latest partnership between Writer/Director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, CREED) and Michael B. Joran, SINNERS, a western/blues/vampire mashup is expected to be huge at the box office this weekend, and some are even calling it a Christian allegory. Interesting. || Music documentaries are apparently a thing in 2025, with projects covering Eddie Vedder, Depeche Mode, Billy Joel and Counting Crows all coming soon-ish. Cool.
[shows] I haven’t had a chance to watch Yellowstone prequel 1923 yet, but 10 million other people did. The expanded Yellowstone universe just keeps growing. || HBO’s Harry Potter TV series has announced the first six actors cast in the rebooted IP.
[music] Emo icons My Chemical Romance will re-release their debut album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, with a completely new mix, and three bonus tracks. Hear it in June. A new mix of “I’m Not Okay (I Promise) is out now. (YouTube) || The Killers brought out Bruce Springsteen for three songs at Madison Square Garden, for unique renditions of “Badlands” (Springsteen), “Dustland” (Killers) and “Born to Run” (Springsteen). (YouTube). || Irish indie act Fontaines D.C. re-released their 2024 album Romance. If you like the ethereal soundscapes of 90’s alternative…give them a spin. || The Nas founded label Mass Appeal will release seven albums from Mobb Deep, De La Soul and Wu Tang members to prove “hip hop’s icons are truly timeless. On the one hand, I’m excited, on the other, this is the equivalent of seeing REO Speedwagon at the county fair…
Tina Fey is back in the saddle as as a show lead for the first time since 30 Rock.
The eight episode miniseries follows three couples and lifelong friends across four vacations (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall). On Netflix 05/01.
The director of Meet the Parents is taking a fresh stab at an 80’s classic, with Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange, The Enigma Code) and Olivia Coleman (a bunch of pretentious indie crap I haven’t seen) as a couple having pretty serious marital issues, and destroying their own house. As far as “comedy with a deeper meaning” goes…looks not bad.
BROKE is obviously low a low budget straight-to-streaming release, but there hasn’t been a decent rodeo movie since Luke Perry used his star power to make 8 Seconds a hit in 1994. Might be worth checking out. 05/02.
[new music]
Traditional country singer Ernest tapped…Snoop Dogg? And…Snoop Dogg can sing in this blues/country/roots stomp?
Is this real life?
[read & learn]
Apple Podcasts || Pocket Casts
Since the Battle of Ramadi is heating up the big screen a la the new film Warfare (one of The Five’s Best Movies of 2025…so far), it’s worth your time to hear three Navy Seals who fought in that battle…dive deep for two hours.
And finally, since The Boss popped up with The Killers this week, and there’s a movie coming out about Jersey’s most famous resident next year…it’s a great time to read (or, re-read) Bruce’s autobiography, Chapter and Verse.
Music biographies can be dull for all but the most devoted of fans, but Bruce keeps things moving with the same clarity and focus that he puts into songwriting.
Until the next one,
-sth