Image: Season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, Jaida Essence Hall @jaidaehall
Hey everyone,
I’m back to writing once a week as I have some SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) writing work which is taking up my keyboard hours. Plus, I get the feeling that unlike me, not everyone is an “Inbox Zero” kind of person, so I imagine some of these emails are stacking up.
This week I haven’t been researching anything in depth but one story caught my attention for being adjacent to my interest in how media is consumed. You may have heard about it because anti-Tr*mp media outlets tripped over themselves to post the “feel-good” headline: Teens Use Social Media To Derail Tulsa Rally. In short, there was an online campaign among users of video sharing social app, TikTok, to RSVP the Tr*mp rally in Tulsa on June 20 so organisers would over-prepare and the event would look empty. It is believed that the idea came from 51-year-old grandmother, Mary Jo Laupp, who started the trend one night when she suggested the idea during a rant expressing her disgust at the proposed date of the rally on Juneteenth (a day before). Her video was seen by 700,000 users and the campaign developed from there.
The group of users who are thought to have pushed the offensive are teenaged TikTok users wanting to flex their democratic muscles before voting age, and K-pop (Korean pop music) fans on Twitter. The reason young people in these subcultures had such an impact is in their savviness with social media algorithms. Basically, they can make whatever event or political issue they want to reach the top of trending topics. This point alone is what should be the story, in my opinion. That today’s youth know how to ‘game’ social media to their own ends because they were born into it is incredible and should be worthy of study. Tr*mp’s rally disappointment, on the other hand, is not as telling as his opponents would hope it is, as the administration is likely to have a variety of tricky tactics yet to employ, including voter suppression in majority Black and Democratic counties. Plus, not all Tr*mp voters are ones protesting lockdown, nor the ones refusing to wear masks in public. There’s still a stronghold of supporters who prefer a Republican leader regardless of who it is. However, having said this, as of Wednesday this week, The Economist has reported that Biden is looking likely to win the electoral vote in November. Until then, we will all wait with baited breath.
Image: Fatal police shootings in the US by share of death per 1 million of the population. Perhaps the best infographic to illustrate the imbalance and why Black Lives Matter.
Some other bits and bobs that caught my interest this week:
The cringier side of TikTok: TikTok teens live in mansions which are basically content farms;
Homophobia in South Korean culture is hindering COVID-19 containment efforts;
How is Black Lives Matter and the Anthropocene connected? Climate Apartheid;
As you might know, Yemen is now in the grips of one of the worst humanitarian crises in history. Here is a centralised list of ways in which you can help.
Also, the war in Yemen has now reached my dream destination and nature wonderland, Socotra Island. Very sad.
I’ve just noticed that the crisis started on my birthday in 2011. Geesh.
Finally, a couple of videos in honour of Juneteenth and Black Lives Matter. I was This Week years old when I found out about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who is said to be the Godmother of Rock’n’Roll. Basically doing what black and white men get credit for long before them. Here’s an hour long doco on her, but if you don’t have the time, just watch her legendary Manchester performance of ‘Didn’t It Rain’ below.