Why Are People "Rooting" For Higher Gas Prices?, Disney Using "Don't Say Gay" Bill To Cover for their Support of Muslim Genocide?, 1915 Sunken Antarctic Explorer Ship Found (The Five for 03/11/22)
Hey, welcome to the Friday edition of The Five.
Let's dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Well, it happened.
A certain kind of person on social media decided…skyrocketing gas prices are a GOOD thing.
There are plenty, but here's one example.
Let’s pause there and note the bevy of assumptions in a single tweet.
A) Gas prices in the U.S., which is not at war, are EXACTLY the same thing as the Germans bombing the U.K. in WWII and closing the island nation off from resupply.
B) That gas price increases are not preventable.
C) That we don’t have domestic oil that could be quickly tapped.
D) That all Americans are able to travel to work and for essentials via subway, bus or bike.
I live in a pretty large metro (St. Louis is approximately 3 million), and there are busses and trains here.
I checked, and it would be a two hour (one way) commute by train. Travel by car is less than 20 minutes.
There’s no subway.
There are no bike lanes.
There’s no way to get to my job from my house without a car.
Of course, I could sell my house and move closer to my work, but houses are easily an additional $100,000-$300,000 in the area where I work, so that seems like a heck of a lot of debt to take on, just to ride a bike to work and save a few gallons of gas.
And even if I did try to bike, the roads around my work also are essentially impassible via pedaling.
Apparently I’m not alone in that, as one Canadian pointed out this week.
At this point, there’s not much value in being the umpteenth person to dunk on Steven Colbert’s “I’ll pay $15 a gallon, I drive a Tesla” cringe moment…but it’s worth asking why so many people seem to be, I dunno, excited, on social media about high gas prices.
There’s no evidence that higher gas prices in the U.S. will curb Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, since global markets are up and somebody is still going to buy Russian oil.
Plus, we could just turn our oil pumps back on and prioritize the financial wellbeing of the working class (who are hit hardest by price increase in essential goods) rather than live in fear of a Swedish teen screaming “how dare you” (while also offer tax incentives and grants to speed up new energy solutions).
In a society that talks so much about “privilege,” I can think of few more obvious privilege markers than demanding people who are poorer than you live on even thinner margins as they pay more to drive to low-wage jobs.
My friend Alex has…an uncanny ability to call things ahead of time…so dropping this Tweet in, in the event we see the “mail in ballot/gas prices” talking point come November.
[two]
Florida’s new law banning sexual orientation from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students from Kindergarten-3rd grade. Specifically, the law states:
A school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
There have been a lot of hot takes this week over the law was an op-ed in USA Today demanding…Disney do something?!
Disney CEO Bob Chapek claims the company is committed to inclusion in its storytelling. But it’s not home to a specifically queer fairy tale – making its long silence on a potential law that harms the LGBTQ community frustrating, if unsurprising.
The company has angered some fans by not publicly condemning Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill – a piece of legislation now in the hands of Gov. Ron DeSantis after Florida legislators passed it on Tuesday.
The bill – if it becomes law – would block public school teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and allow only “age appropriate” instruction for other grades.
During Disney's annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, Chapek addressed concerns about its decision to stay silent in public, and said he thought he could be more effective working behind-the-scenes with lawmakers.
"We were opposed to the bill from the outset," he said in his first public remarks on the controversy. He said DeSantis has agreed to meet with Chapek and hear some Disney employees' concerns.
Observations:
A). Seriously, why the hell should corporations be sounding off about social issues? Why is a theme park and streaming video company morally bound to speak on a law completely unrelated to their line of business?
B). If this is how it works…why don’t I just yell a lot about the fact that Illinois charges $400 for out-of-state deer tags…for me to hunt on my own family’s farm? Where is Coca Cola on this issue? Nike? Netflix? I demand a corporate CEO take up my cause. (After all, I too was “born this way.” my)
C). Just gonna got out on a limb here and say that Disney maayyyyy just be doing this to distract from their human rights issues, such as thanking the actual prison guards who slaughter Uigher Muslims.
D. Worth noting, White House Press Secretary got called out for a vote cast by President Biden in 1994 banning “promotion of homosexuality as a positive lifestyle,” which, unlike the Florida bill, was pretty openly homophobic.
I would like Disney CEO Bob Chapek to address Biden's 1994 vote…because that’s how this worksk right? CEO’s of companies you buy things from must address everything that’s ever happened, apparently.
E. Whatever you think of the law…there’s no defending Chapek, or Disney, as ethical actors. Helping to cover for Chinese state sponsored genocide is inexcusable, and disqualifies Disney from having a credible voice around any issue involving ethics.
Fortunately for me, I’m not really a boycott type of guy, cause Obi-Wan Kenobi looks dope (see #5). But I’m not gonna sit here and be lectured by Chapek and his constantly shifting moral code, which bends and twists with the stock price.
UPDATE: Best solution I’ve seen so far…
[three]
One of the most significant historical and cultural discoveries of the century turned up this week, when the The Endurance, the ship of famed Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton which sank in 1915, was located.
Scientists say they have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice.
The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust says the vessel lies 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) below the surface of the Weddell Sea, about 6.4 kilometers (four miles) south of the location recorded in 1915 by its captain, Frank Worsley.
An expedition set off from South Africa last month to search for the ship, which was crushed by ice and sank in November 1915.
Mensun Bound, director of exploration for the Endurance22 expedition, said footage revealed the ship to be in remarkably good condition.
“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen,” he said. “It is upright, well proud (clear) of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail.”
Currently, scientists plan to film and photograph the wreck, but there are no immediate plans to pull the ship off the seabed.
Which is a shame, because this would be one of the coolest museum artifacts of all time.
[four]
Well, here's some sad news…no time for a #4 story this week due to a scheduling conflict with my Friday.
Enjoy this special edition of “The Five Minus On”
[five]
A major release hit Netflix today. The Adam Project stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, The Proposal), Jennifer Garner (Alias, 13 Going on 30), Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight, Avengers) and Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy, Avatar) about a fighter pilot who travels back in time and works with his childhood self to save the world.
Indirectly, this certainly feels like another blow to movie theaters, as another big-budget flick with A-list stars is heading straight to your living room and bypassing the local multiplex.
This one feels a bit like Stranger Things vibe, exploring both adolescence and high concept science fiction.
Trailer here.
Following on the success of The Book of Boba Fett, Disney+ is releasing the next entry into the Star Wars saga on May 25th. (which is a hit on the small screen but not the big one—no upcoming films for the franchise have release dates).
Ewan McGregor will reprise the role title role, which he first played in the 1999 prequel The Phantom Menace. Hayden Christenson also returns as a young Darth Vader, and Kumail Nanjani (The Big Sick, Eternals) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior, The Great Gatsby) add to the list of established actors in this story.
This is a short one—just six episodes total.
First trailer here.
Bridgerton Season 2 will hit Netflix on March 25th. I don’t care, but some shows are too big to ignore, so there you go. First trailer here.
Chris Pine (Star Trek, Wonder Woman) joins Thandie Newton (Crash, Westworld) and Lawrence Fishburn (The Matrix, John Wick) for the spy thriller All the Old Knives, about a pair of spies (and former lovers) pulled back into espionage (possibly on opposite sides).
On Amazon Prime Video April 8th. First trailer here.
Probably due to the pandemic delays, Chris Pine has two movies coming out in April…and they certainly share a decent amount of common ground.
In The Contractor, Pine plays a disgruntled former Ranger who up for some spy stuff after the Army screws him over on his pension.
Gillian Jacobs (Community) and Keifer Sutherland (24, Designated Survivor) co-star. In theaters April 1st.
Rosario Dawson (The Mandalorian, Rent) is starring DMZ in a Dystopian action miniseries, directed by Ava Duvernay (Selma, Queen Sugar). Duvernay has an Oscar, but has a track record of tanking bigger projects as the creative lead.
A friend of mine worked on publicity for A Wrinkle in Time, which absolutely bombed despite being based on a beloved novel and boasting an A-list cast (Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifanakis).
As my friend put it “Ava can manage actors, but not action. She has trouble with all the special effects.”
Who knows, may be Duvernay turned it around…as there will be plenty of action and special effects in DMZ, the story of a woman who enters an an active war zone in Manhattan to save her son from the lawless chaos happening there.
If you’re wondering what’s different about that and real life present day New York…well, DMZ is a TV show, and will have prettier people.
MUSIC NEWS: Alt country artist Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon Jennings) is stepping away from touring (and will only occasionally record solo music) to focus his full energies on producing albums for other artists. It's an interesting turn, as Jennings has enjoyed a strong following and album chart success over a lengthy career.MUSIC/MY PICK: It’s tough to pin down exactly what Lee Bains + The Glory Fires sound like…but a quick summary might be the band is what would happen if Lynyrd Skynyrd would have been born 20 years later and raised on ample dose of Social Distortion.
If that sounds like an appealing concoction, their new single is worth a spin. It’s a southern-fried stomp I’ve been spinning all week.
Until the next one,
-sth
I love your comments on the high gas prices! You said it perfectly!
" In a society that talks so much about “privilege,” I can think of few more obvious privilege markers than demanding people who are poorer than you live on even thinner margins as they pay more to drive to low-wage jobs. "
As a Canadian I despair when I see people agreeing with our clueless, idealistic Prime Minister, that high gas prices are good for us! The absolute definition of "privilege".