Rebound nation
I wrote for MSNBC about Bennifer and our political ouroboros
Maybe we are here because of fear and people clinging to what they know. Maybe we are here because of the break down of our systems and institutions.
Celebrity fascinations tend to reveal more about the culture than the celebrities themselves, who are just humans muddling through the same broken world the rest of us are, but with more money and nicer boats. And it’s worth reflecting that in 2024 the endless fascination over a middle-aged, microwaved leftover of a celebrity coupling has to do more with the deja vu of our current political climate than it does with Bennifer themselves.
Right now, America is on Round 3 of an election cycle that has brought us the same characters, the same stakes, the same scandals and the same issues.
It’s Donald Trump going against Joe Biden. America is locked in a proxy war. Our headlines are once again dominated by sexual assault allegations.
And like Affleck reportedly is, we too are all a little worn down and checked out. Fewer Americans are reading the news than did in 2016. And the news has hardly changed. Outlets are still pretending like they don’t know what Trump means when he says he’s going to ban abortion. (It means, dumb-dumbs, he wants to ban abortions.) Pundits are still chiding Democrats for being out of touch and not listening to their base. For voters under 30, Trump has been on every presidential ballot since they reached voting age. It’s as if we are locked into a “Groundhog Day” nightmare scenario of our own making. It’s 2016 “2 Fast 2 Furious” and this time with 34 more criminal convictions.
But why are we here all over again? Why can’t we get out of this political ouroboros?
You can read the rest on MSNBC.
Also, the return of Affleckian discourse reminds me of this New Yorker piece on the great sadness of Ben Affleck and this
banger about Affleck and Dunkin.This discourse also had me thinking about this essay by
about how our investment in celebrity narratives is really about our investment in our own narratives.
I voted for Obama because I didn’t want Bush Clinton Bush Clinton presidencies. Really : Only 2 families in the family could govern? The political parties anointment machine is the problem, MAGA just took over their party first.
The Democratic Party is not safe either. Black women are fed up and we’re watching. SCOTUS attacked our voting rights long before they went after our/your reproductive rights. The only time I have ever seen Democrats put up a real fight were the Impeachment Hearings. If they fought like that for voting rights, reproductive rights etc - they might be able to get those White Rural Voters they salivate over.
It seems like we just don't have the imagination to think of anything new.