Pop culture news info anti-fascist October brain dump
I promise, there is some real good news in here!
Welcome to Healing is My Special Interest, the newsletter at the intersection of late-diagnosed neurodivergence and healing from high control environments. Happy anti-fascist fall, and to celebrate 5,000 subscribers to this weird little newsletter I am offering an October special of 20% off of paid subscriptions (monthly or yearly) for LIFE. This newsletter runs on your support and I am so, so grateful. Plus, once you join you get to comment and read all the juicy stuff behind the paywall!
Edited to add: thanks to the feedback of some readers, I am taking out some content in this newsletter that was not well-thought out and contributed to ageism and ablism. I’m grateful to folks for pointing out to me the impacts of those lines of reasoning/thinking and in the future I aim to do much better on this topic!
Hello everyone! I’m probably supposed to write something about crisp fall weather and watching the leaves change color but mostly I’ve been thinking about how modern humans have an almost visceral reaction to seeing decay. We try not to think about it and to to hide it from sight but we would do well to stare at it every now and again. It is a fact and a cycle of life, after all. And how can we change systems if we don’t look at how they erode and degrade over time? Nothing lasts forever, including capitalism and democracies and social media platforms. Anyways, that’s what fall makes ME think about.
Besides that, my brain these days is filled with so many random thoughts. I’ve been researching J. Edgar Hoover’s partnership with Christianity Today / Billy Graham to promote authoritarianism1, re-watching Dr. Dobson videos that are truly chilling2, and also spending much of my days co-regulating with a kid who is not in in-person school. I’m feeling a teensy bit overwhelmed by this newsletter, because I really really want it to be good and amazing and well-researched every single time . . . but also. This is my first time trying to write a book while also running a newsletter and a podcast and being the primary stay-at-home parent. Just yesterday I realized I really needed to clean the one room in my house with carpets. I had to find a place that rents a carpet cleaner, clean the carpets, clean the machine, and return it all within 24 hours. You wouldn’t think this is that big of a deal, but for me it felt like I had achieved some milestone in Being An Adult3.
I am still thinking about fascism all the time, but I think about a lot of other stuff too. Since I don’t want to talk too much about movies or media that are related to the actors strike (which is still on-going, although I am SO happy that the writer’s strike has been resolved!) I thought today it might be nice just to have a little brain dump post where I do some rapid-fire thoughts on some pop culture stuff. So are you ready? Let’s go!
JVN and Dax Shepherd
Jonathan Van Ness is a non-binary icon (and they always were the best part of Queer Eye in my opinion4) and they went on Dax Shepherd’s podcast to promote their own. I am not up for listening to the audio of the entire interview, but braver people than I am reported that Dax started grilling JVN about trans issues and it got really heated as Dax insisted people on the right weren’t misinformed at all but simply had a difference of opinion. At one point, JVN says “I feel like I am talking to my dad” and later on broke down crying (after effortlessly educating Dax ON THE SPOT about all sorts of actual information about trans people, trans athletes, and trans children). Just hearing about this exchange brought me back to so many conversations I have had with folks who claimed they were playing “devil’s advocate” or who seemed to have no sense that the misinformation they so blithely spouted had real-world consequences on already marginalized people.
Dax is rightly getting dragged on social media sites like TikTok and JVN is using this visibility as a way to continue to educate people about trans people. Even though they are exhausted, they keep going. Because for them, this is not an issue to debate. This is an issue about protecting children, and giving them a future where they feel like they can belong.
I am so glad to be out of spaces where I have to talk to bad-faith people about issues that are so close to my heart. The world doesn’t deserve my vulnerability, and we truly don’t deserve JVN’s either. I am so grateful for their work, and I am hopeful we are entering a period where the majority of folks can rightly point out how privileged and uneducated folks like Dax Shepherd truly are.
Drew Barrymore and no tolerance for scabs
Hey speaking of another celebrity that is getting the consequences of their actions is Drew Barrymore! Drew announced she would be resuming operations of her talk show (because it is sooooooo important to people—yikes!) but since she had three WGA writers on staff this constituted breaking the strike. She thought she could get away with it because she is a cute white lady who cries a lot and builds up a lot of goodwill with people (and to be fair, it seems like she really does connect with folks on her show). But the response on social media was swift and concise. Several prominent content creators pointed out that Drew Barrymore was a SCAB for breaking the strike and people turned on her. To the point where she made an apology video, that got such an outsized reaction that she deleted it, and announced she would not be filming her show until the strike was over. And wouldn’t you know it, a week or two later, the writer’s guild of America reached a deal and they got most of what they asked for.
Why is that? Well, I think it’s in part because of what happened to Drew Barrymore. She was the canary in the coal mine, and the Hollywood executives found out just how much class consciousness we have all been developing in the past few years. Our economy is crumbling, capitalism is failing us, and so many of us have slowly been developing our muscles of solidarity. While the past few years (decade?) have been excruciating on many levels, they have also involved so many of us learning a lot about history and race and class. All of these things come together in labor solidarity. We are tired of rich people getting richer while poor people get poorer. This has been the summer of strikes, and I am so incredibly pleased to see it. Historically, one of the best ways to combat fascism and/or authoritarianism of any kind is to invest in labor and unions. When the working class person knows their worth in society and is treated accordingly, they are much less likely to vote in a “strong man” who promises to fix everything.
I think culture is shifting, and people coming for Drew Barrymore is honestly such a positive sign. One thing we are not gonna do around here is support scabs, even if they are Drew Barrymore. Labor solidarity forever!!!!
Climate Protesters
I follow some climate protesters and they make me laugh, cry, get angry and feel incredibly sad. My favorites are the people who dress up as Orcas (eat the rich!) and the people who simply cannot hide their rage and fear at how little the (incredibly wealthy) people in charge of us are doing about climate disaster. I saw a TikTok that said climate disaster looks like watching an ever increasing amount of videos of natural disasters until one day YOU are the one recording the disaster on your own phone. And that really stuck with me. The young people are angry and they have every right to be, and I hope more and more of us can join them in their anger. As a mother of two kids, I have to be angry and aware of this, because my kids (and everyone else!) deserve a world where they can live without constant fear of death and suffering by climate. And also because I am a mother, I need to have hope for the future. And climate protesters give me hope!
Young people are going to keep protesting and interrupting business as usual for the wealthy and the privileged and I think that is absolutely fantastic (including our elected officials). If that scares you or makes you uncomfortable, that might be a sign that you need to engage with the totality of issues impacting young people and their future. We don’t get to decide how they feel about the system they were born into. We get to decide how we can support them in their aims for a livable planet for ALL.
British fascism podcast
If you think I am a bit too radical (which . . . is fair enough, I guess. Autistic people gotta be autistic, amiright?) then I have a podcast recommendation or you. If you are American and scared about the “f” word (or, conversely, if you are SICK of everything being incredibly American-centric) then this podcast on the history of British fascism could be your cup of tea5. Just be forewarned that any discussion of fascism is going to include a lot of ant-semitic, anti-immigrant, and anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric spouted by said fascists, so trigger warnings there. The guys who do this podcast are very different from me but I appreciate them doing this work and it is very eye-opening to see the patterns in history—and to also talk about why fascism didn’t gain such a powerful hold in England like it did in other countries. And yet, just because it didn’t get into power doesn’t mean that it isn’t a part of Britain’s history and also their present. Fascism often is lurking around, waiting for its time to come into power.
The Republican Debates
I think a lot of people are starting to ask themselves—what is the point of these political debates when Republicans clearly just want the strongman/fascist leader—who is Trump? What does political theater actually accomplish in an age of authoritarianism (spoiler alert: nothing, except giving airtime and legitimacy to increasingly more dangerous viewpoints as other people try and be as horrible as Trump to get votes). Trump is not attending any of these debates and still has a whopping 63% of the Republican votes. This is up from 58% a few weeks ago . . . the more “in trouble” he gets the more his followers love him. Because that’s how fascism works! As a reminder, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in prison after a failed coup attempt and became more popular/well-known and was democratically put into power. As another reminder, Mussolini is actually the person who invented both fascism and the phrase “drain the swamp.” (y’all if Madeline Albright has been trying to warn us that Donald Trump is copying Mussolini because Donald Trump is a prototypical fascist leader, I think maybe we should listen???) I guess Paul Ryan just recently told Republicans they need to pick another candidate because he doesn’t think Trump will win against Biden, and that Republicans currently look like “fools who can’t govern.” Hey, he said it, not me!
The death of Twitter
Have you all left Twitter/X yet? Well, you should! Elon is out in the world whipping up hatred against marginalized folks left and right, has turned my favorite social media platform into a bed of violent fascism, but I guess folks are finally leaving because he might charge people money? Twitter, and people’s reactions to it slowly devolving into exactly what Elon wanted (a place for fascists to thrive and for marginalized people to no longer use it as a way to connect or share vital information without being harassed) has been fascinating to me. At what point do I get to say I told you so without it being annoying? (I know, it’s annoying whenever anyone says it, including me). BUT. When I deleted my account last January I thought all of us were going to do it at once. It appears that didn’t happen.
I have been investing my energies into writers and thinkers here on Substack, which has been a great usage of my time and energy and mental health. I have also invested a bit into TikTok. I know many millennial folks loved Twitter but we have got to be able to look at the decay right in front of us and make some choices about what we are going to do. Don’t give Elon any money or attention or business, because he is literally trying extremely hard to be the next big Fascist leader in the US—which has dire consequences for immigrants, Jewish people, and queer folks in particular6. Follow your favorites where they can actually grow and flourish—and support them if you can (if you are here you are already doing that for me—and I am assuming for others—which is honestly so great).
Some things die and it’s really sad. But instead of hanging on while it dies, let’s look for where there is light and movement, ok? I personally am finding a lot of community and insight here on substack. Here are a few people in particular I wanted to highlight if you are itching for up-to-date news on important topics:
Joshua P. Hill writes about labor issues and keeps me informed on all things strike-related.
John Ganz writes about all things fascism related. He has a global/historical perspective and is a bit terrifying—but my belief is that everything is better in the light.
Jemar Tisby writes about all things Christian nationalist from a Black Christian perspective.
(There are a ton of other substackers that I enjoy/follow, but these three consistently churn out work that is incredibly needed these days!) Let me know your favorite substack writers in the comments!
Jo’s boys podcast
Ok need a palate cleanse from thinking about fascism and/or death? I’ve also been thinking about the book Little Women! I’ve been listening to and immensely enjoying the podcast Jo’s Boys (and spoiler alert, I’m going to record an episode with Peyton about it soon!). I am re-reading the book to prepare for my interview about Beth March in particular. In re-reading the book there are parts of it that feel as fresh as a daisy—especially Jo and all of her consternation about gender. Literally on page four she says she can’t get over her disappointment at not being born a boy, and throughout the book she constantly references herself as being a gentleman or doing things in a gentlemanly manner, calling herself the father of the family and the brother of her sisters . . . Lou Alcott (as she referred to herself) also had a fascinating relationship to gender.
Anyone who is trans or nonbinary or gender nonconforming can see Jo and Lou Alcott are trans icons, and yet the wider world is NOT ready to have that conversation it seems. Academics and an old school variety of “feminists” in particular have a very hard time with reading a trans story into Little Women, for a variety of reasons (none of them compelling, in my opinion). But young people don’t, and I think that is really important! I spent two minutes talking to my 13yo about Jo March and they got it immediately. What is it about adults where we can’t seem to do the same?
Peyton wrote for the NY Times about the possibility that the best-loved girl in all of literature actually was a trans man, and got a lot of pushback for that piece. And yet this is how we move the conversation forward--by centering trans people and their scholarship and engagement with works, and we let people be fully human. I can’t stop thinking about all of this (and now I am also going down a rabbit hole of thinking about Pilgrim’s Progress, which plays a huge role in Little Women and that I was raised on. If anyone is a John Bunyan scholar, get at me because I have some questions!!!)
Anyways, thanks for sticking around for this newsletter and these important conversations! Let me know what you have been thinking about/reading about in the comments and let’s share our knowledge! And tell me what March sister you are :)
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I am reading this book and it is incredible and also I am trying to figure out how I can shoehorn J. Edgar Hoover into my book about Dobson (I see the patterns here, but will everyone else go for it???)
Then, cleaning the carpets with a professional grade cleaner made me despair because the water was BLACK and I was horrified and started spiralling thinking about how maybe my family lives in a hell hole because I can’t deep clean everything all the time and anyways. My mental health is great, thanks for asking.
Although I do love Bobby’s ex-vangelical solidarity and Antony is a little cutie patootie and Tan is the most gorgeous person in the world and Karamo truly cares about people SO much!
cup of tea, because British people. Get it???
Do you sense a theme? Historical and present-day fascism always targets the same groups to “other” in order to whip up hatred/fear and get elected into power.
I think we have to be very careful when we talk about age and elected officials. The problem with any person is not their age. You mentioned two distinct issues in relation to older politicians: ability to perform their duties and being “out of touch.”
Being old does not inherently mean you can’t perform your job, and questions of “ability” do not only affect old people. Rhetoric around “ability” has been used very successfully to exclude lots of people from government, so it’s not a new tactic. Likewise being old does not necessitate being out of touch, and old people are by no means the only politicians who are out of touch. “Out of touch” is also a slippery idea. Out of touch with what? According to whom? Ultimately it has to (or should) be up to constituents to decide what their reps need to be *in* touch with, and whether a candidate is or isn’t, whether that’s class, age, or other cultural social particularities.
Besides veering into ageism, focusing on these issues with old politicians, and putting blame or responsibility on individual politicians or old politicians as a class MISSES what the high concentration of old politicians, or rather *questionable politicians who are old* points to about the rot in our “democracy.” Any two party system (where party organizations have almost unlimited, unelected power) with functionally nonexistent campaign finance regulations, and no term limits below the executive will *always* *ALWAYS* result in a preponderance of career politicians, and career politicians *checks notes* get old (unless they are drinking/bathing in the blood of children apparently).
It’s not like the electorate just likes old politicians (on the contrary, age has always been something that had to be managed by campaigns/the party) — career politicians are elected in their prime, selected and groomed by the party, with the understanding that the party will keep them in office (into old age) for as long as they tow the party line and the party can make them reelectable.
It’s also not really like old people just “don’t know when to quit.” It’s in the interest of the party to favor keeping party loyalists, whose careers were made by the party, in office — finding new candidates who they can ensure will both *win* AND *be under the party’s thumb when they take office* is risky, difficult, EXPENSIVE business, and they don’t want to be doing it for more than a few races in any given election.
It’s also not like these politicians somehow cling to power *because they’re old* or started clinging to power *when they got old* — clinging to power is what they set out to do and have been doing for decades. More importantly, it’s what all the other career politicians who aren’t old yet are doing right now — and they get a pass because they’re not old?
Lastly, it’s not like they’re out of touch because they’re old. In fact they are tremendously *in touch* with precisely and exclusively what they are supposed to be — the party. They (young and old) get “in touch” with the electorate at election time.
If you look at the people actually running the parties, they’re not old. And the people (who run the corporations and interests) who fund the parties? Also not old.
If you look at how the Justins got elected, they are a great example of grassroots activism exploiting a miscalculation by the DNC. It’s great that they’re young — they have plenty of time to f*** some sh*t up. But mostly its great that they aren’t bought and paid for.
Sorry, you got me on one of my AuDHD soap boxes. 😅
TL;DR: it’s not just that ageism is ableism is cringe; it’s that age is the wrong problem, a red herring, its missing the forest for the trees.
Unpopular opinion, but I'm a Meg March! I am happy with quiet home life, I'm highly conscientious, I'm not as ambitious or successful as some people but I do really want to be competent in my sphere, I'm hetero married, and I'm the eldest in my family and my younger sibling is a trans man. Justice for Meg. <3
(Also GOOD JOB not listening to the JVN interview, I walked into it blindly unaware and it fucked me up really badly and sent me into a new spiral about being let down and betrayed by a public figure I thought was safe, big religious/parent trauma trigger energy yikes! so bad!)