U of Michigan Prof Thinks You're a "Terrorist" if You Don't Shop at Target, Uganda's Anti-Gay Law, NYC Indie Rock's Pedophilia Marketing, Foo Fighters Return (The Five for 06/02/23)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Before we dive in, a quick update (and disclosure, as I do cover music in this publication).
As of this week, I’m serving as the manager for rapper Mesus, who has more than 213,000 subscribers on YouTube, and millions of streaming plays.
Currently, this is my favorite of his songs.
Look for new music this summer. One note about The Five. I’ll never “recommend” something in the newsletter I have a financial stake in, so updates on this project will remain in the “preamble” before we dive into the content.
Mesus socials: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
You can start with one of my favorite songs:
With that being said, let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Not shopping at Target is now…terrorism?! according to a University of Michigan professor [see the video clip].
Backlash and calls from conservatives to boycott Target over Pride-themed products, including reported threats to store employees, is "literally terrorism," an economist said on Thursday.
Target was prompted to remove its Pride-themed products after threats were reportedly made to store employees in the midst of anti-LGBTQ+ backlash. The retailer will be pulling the items "at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior" from customers, Kayla Castaneda, a Target spokesperson, said on Tuesday.
The decision to pull the products from some stores in the South comes just days before the beginning of Pride month in June. It also comes after recent calls from conservatives to boycott the beer brand Bud Light for its partnership with transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney. A Target spokesperson told Insider on Thursday that removing the Pride-products was a response to "threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing."
Justin Wolfers, a professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Michigan, said on The 11th Hour on MSNBC that he finds the response from Target "quite scary.
He continued: "If that is the case, when Target caves into this, then it says that the moment you threaten the employees of even a very large corporation, you get to control its policies. This is economic terrorism, literally terrorism, creating fear among the workers and forcing the corporations to sell the things you want, not sell the things you don't."
A. The original statement is…pretty crazy ("economic terrorism”) but not as crazy as Newsweek ignoring the fact that Target is being boycotted, not for carrying PRIDE merch (every major retailer does in June), but because the brand has “chest binding” and “tuck friendly” swimwear for minors, which you can see here, are known to cause chronic health issues.
Let’s just go with Wikipedia as a source on why this can cause health issues in minors:
can lead to permanent deformation of the breasts, scarring, and lung constriction, and long-term binding may adversely affect the outcome of a future mastectomy.
So, even if a person wants trans surgery as an adult, these swimsuits can have negative effects.
As for the “tucking” suit bottoms, risks include:
There is no published medical research into the risks of tucking we are aware of. Perform tucking at your own risk.
Possible side effects of tucking are:
skin irritation and fungal infections, particularly if tape is being used 1defects or hernias at the external inguinal ring 2, p.7
infections such as epididymoorchitis, prostatitis, or cystitis 3, p.934
chronic testicular pain 3, p.93
We are not aware of any research into how common these side effects are.
Testes require a lower temperature than body temperature to produce sperm. The effects of tucking on fertility have not been studied, but as tucking keeps the testes closer to the body than normal, this may result in reduced fertility.
I’m no expert here, but it appears that some of these issues could be irreversible. If you’re an adult and have been medically advised of the risks, one thing.
But it’s quite another to market this stuff to 12-year-olds, who may be unable to comprehend the consequences of lifelong health issues from a decision made in jr. high.
B. Threatening physical violence over something like this is unacceptable. Target should call the police, full stop. If there are threats of (actual) terrorism, let them be investigated. If customers are threatening or physically harming employees, let them be arrested and charged.
C. One of the issues with calling not shopping at a store “terrorism” is that when real violence (the kind that makes people bleed and die, not the “verbal” kind) pops up, we’re now desensitized to the word “terrorism.”
If “speech is violence” (and even “silence is violence”) we have no real language left for actual violence.
D. Finally, look how far the goal post has moved here. We’re not at the place where you’re a “terrorist” if you don’t spend your money at the big-box store the Cultural Elites tell you to.
The Michigan Professor’s comments are not about LGBT rights, or PRIDE month. They’re about a Cultural Elite believing the Academic class should be allowed to rule everything the sun touches.
Ignore this kind of garbage. Shop where you will.
UPDATE: There’s now a hip hop song about boycotting Target, and it’s #1 on the iTunes sales charts, despite being unsearchable (according to the artists’ on the track), besting Morgan Wallen and Taylor Swift.
[two]
Looking at the LGBT issue abroad, Republicans and Democrats alike are condemning a new Ugandan law.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took aim Monday at Uganda’s sweeping anti-gay law that could include the death penalty, describing it as “horrific & wrong” and calling on other nations to join in his condemnation of the new legislation.
“This Uganda law is horrific & wrong. Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is grotesque & an abomination. ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse. #LGBTQ,” Cruz wrote on Twitter.
The Ugandan law has drawn significant public outcry among public officials, including from President Biden, who called the law “a tragic violation of universal human rights.”
Also Monday, Biden threatened possible sanctions for those involved in carrying out human rights abuses and said he instructed his National Security Council “to evaluate the implications of this law on all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda.”
The new law would call for the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality” and for a life sentence for engaging in gay sex. The state defines “aggravated homosexuality” as homosexual acts carried out by those infected with HIV or homosexual acts that involve children, disabled people or those drugged against their will.
Observations:
A) As we enter PRIDE month, keep in mind that virtually no elected official at the federal level has called to overturn the Dobbs decision (Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage). Love it or hate it, this just isn’t an issue in federal politics.
B) The first part of this law is horrific (imprisoning adults for private behavior), but the latter part is not about BEING gay, but about crimes against others—intentionally spreading HIV, molesting children and using date rape drugs.
We also punish these same acts as crimes in the U.S., regardless of the sexual orientation of the perpetrator.
I’m quite surprised neither Cruz nor Biden noted the difference there, as all those things are serious felonies. How those felonies are to be handled can be debated, but they’re in no way comparable to imprisoning adults for private, consenting behavior, which is indefensible.
[three]
NYC based indie rock musician The Dare went viral this week due to an album cover that features…sex with children.
In addition to the social media post, the cover was plastered throughout New York City.
Also, this artist was previously a substitute teacher, according to a glowing article from GQ, written AFTER this EP was dropped.
*Also, what the hell month is “Mav.” Journalism truly has no quality control left.
How is this not being investigated by police? From the Department of Justice website:
In addition, visual representations, such as drawings, cartoons, or paintings that appear to depict minors engaged in sexual activity and are obscene are also illegal under federal law.
It’s possible those are very petite women of legal age, but this should be investigated (of age models would make this disturbing—but not illegal).
I have no words, except to wrap this story by reinforcing that I am horrified by three things:
A). That there’s a major push to sexualize children, across pop culture.
B). That the mainstream media wrote about this EP with such glowing terms.
C). That New York City refuses to look into this matter , given that the crime is spelled out, word-for-word in by the Department of Justice.
[four]
The intent, however, when
*DISCLOSURE: I know a member of Paramore on a VERY casual basis (if I said hello, he would know who I am), but have never met Hailey Williams.
This week, Hailey Williams of the platinum pop-punk act Paramore trashed her own fans at a live concert (see the video here):
“If you vote for Ron DeSantis, you’re fucking dead to me.”
Observations:
A). Popular music is often political—from Green Day to Young Jeezy, to Conservative-leaning country artists like Aaron Lewis of Stain’d fame, an artist’s job is to look at the world and describe what they see. When an artist does that well, great records are born (Green Day’s American Idiot, Rage Against the Machine’s…discography). Then, a bevy of less good (often cringe) copycats follow, trying to hop on the bandwagon (and billboard charts).
What’s different here is that Hailey’s vitriol isn’t pointed at a political figure—it’s pointed at her fans. Given the younger demographic that follow Paramore religiously (teens and early-to-mid-twenties), it’s a shame some of these fans put up a big chunk of their available change—only to be spat on.
B). So, DeSantis is now the person the celebrity left hates?! I guess Hailey isn’t worried about Trump? I don’t plan to vote for DeSantis in the primary (I’m currently open to Tim Scott or Vivek Ramaswamy—undecided).
[five]
Well, it seems like the output from Hollywood is already slowing down with the writer’s strike, so we’ll only take a look at one upcoming project…
At first, I assumed HIJACK was just another Liam-Neeson-Wants-His-Stuff-Back film, with a different actor. But Idris Elba isn’t leading another Taken clone, and instead heads up something that looks smarter and more original.
Streaming on Apple TV+ June 28th.
NEW MUSIC
I’m going to recommend two new projects that dropped today. Since I haven’t had time to fully digest them, I’m simply selecting my favorite track (at first spin) from each new album.
The Foo Fighters return today with their first disc since the untimely death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.
*Hat Tip: Matt—for sending me this song to listen to first.
Jelly Roll, who previously lived in the alt/independent hip hop space…released a heck of a first country outing. “Church” is a heck of a meditation on sin and redemption. With a different production value, this one could actually fit in on Christian radio.j
Until the next one,
-sth