The Hierarchy of Collective Madness™️

An update was begging to be made.

Hi friends!

How we all doing? By this time next week we will have made it out of January, if you can believe it. Honestly, with vibes like these, who needs enemies, and it now looks like we’re nearly, officially in for the sequel that no one asked for but we all knew was coming — Trump vs. Biden: Old and Olderer.

Lots to freak out about, but first I’d like to take a moment to honor Nikki Haley, a true icon of delusion, a literal Indian woman cosplaying as a white lady while denying the role of slavery in the American Civil War, and a platinum level girlboss who made her husband change his name simply because she didn’t like it. She will not be missed since she is very much still alive and will probably continue to do crazy shit, like telling people they should work until they’re 70 (ew). Thankfully, unless she pulls off the upset of the century, we can soon stop paying attention.

This was a crazy week in American politics that included Ron DeSantis kicking off his fuck me pumps and exiting the race, the discovery of a fun new flavor of voter suppression when a deepfake Joe Biden robocalled voters, Trump acting like himself in and out of a courtroom, another GOP bribery scandal, and Hillary Clinton’s (I’m assuming) middle-aged, gay intern posting one of the worst tweets in recent memory. Did I miss something? Who cares, that feels like enough.

Old, powerful people can’t read the room on social media because they live in a different room, in a different house, in a gated community, and the yes-people around them also have no clue. Sad to say it, because you know I’m low key obsessed with their whereabouts, but after that tweet, I don’t think the pussy hats are coming back anytime soon.

Hillary’s intern reading the comments on their masterpiece.

The regrettable reignition of the “Barbie” discourse reminded me of all the reasons why we can’t have nice things, like a cohesive feminist movement focused on the reality of what is actually happening in this country, and how it’s getting dangerously close to worst case scenario.

You guys, I hate to be the one to break the difficult news, but the Academy Awards are not actually a litmus test for the state of womanhood in America, and they’re certainly not the most deserving target for mass outrage when you take a look at what’s happening to women worldwide.

I loved “Barbie” and so did the masses, it made $1.4 billion. But it’s also potentially the top artifact of one of the craziest developments in the Age of Unhingement™️ that we don’t talk about enough — social media being the impetus to corporations getting involved in politics they have no business engaging in.

Every brand now has a voice and there’s an expectation they use it for social good, a byproduct of a culture that thinks every entity with a platform needs to have a take and that it needs to be the right one (the one that aligns with theirs). But what you get when you mix (formerly) counterculture politics with corporate profit is always a hot mess of “good” intentions and blowback because it actually makes no sense.

The feminist message in “Barbie” was extremely accessible, and much like the outrage around the Oscar snubs, an easy bandwagon to jump on. But social movements are not easy, they’re challenging to the status quo and ideally intersectional. Feminism has bigger dolls to dress than, uh, award snubs for two extremely successful women privileged in every single way who were, uh, both nominated for Oscars this year in other categories. So why are we still talking about this?

me giving you a little hug through the internet.

One cool thing about how far we’ve come as women is that in this lifetime I can write about vibes without being burned at the stake. This week, the vibes around the election were giving this CGI ant spiral that half the commenters couldn’t tell was fake.

It didn’t help that this was also the week when the journalism industry — already teetering on the brink financially because we’re just hungry content goblins who can’t read good and all the ad money is being spent elsewhere — seemed to be flatlining right when we need legit journalism most, an election year where anything could happen, propaganda is thriving, and everyone has too many opinions.

those who reach the peak will be left to inherit the earth, good luck!

It is a direct path to insanity to pretend that this election and the conversations surrounding it are normal in any way. And so, the 2024 U.S. election has officially made the madness pyramid.

There really are no touchstones for any of this: the treason, the criminal charges, the elder abuse (to be clear, we’re the ones being abused by the elders), Gen Z who are now eligible to vote and have a very different relationship to establishment politics that no one in the establishment understands, misinformation meeting generative AI, and the world order’s ongoing menty b just casually screaming in the background.

I slotted the election above WWIII because it’s feeling like we may get there first? But in lieu of raising your cortisol level with links as to why, I will let you google your way to impending doom or fill in the gaps with your own bias on which evil group of fascist olds/sexy rebels you throw your weight behind if that applies. And if it does, congrats, you are well on your way to becoming a life coach.

Of course, this hierarchy is still a work in progress and many key elements to the madness remain missing. But, like a rat trained to take selfies who fell in love with the craft, I am but a loyal servant to my muse, the Unhingement, and will add and amend as we live this great journey called 2024.

And as I journey, I will hold my Canadian passport close, as it gives me both the strength to continue and a level of moral superiority I so adore.

Have a great weekend!

Less Lessons More Blessin’s™️

Liz