Latest news with #culturewars
Forbes
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Sydney Sweeney's ‘Good Jeans' Ad—The American Eagle Controversy, Explained
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 10: Sydney Sweeney attends the Variety Power Of Young Hollywood at NeueHouse Los Angeles on August 10, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/WireImage) WireImage Why are culture warriors so fixated on ads? American Eagle's newest ad campaign starring Sydney Sweeney sparked backlash online, as a video of Sweeney in a Canadian tuxedo talking about her 'good jeans' was accused of delivering a regressive message. In one of several videos for American Eagle's ad campaign, Sweeney delivers a little talk about DNA, saying, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color." "My jeans are blue," Sweeney concludes, with the ad delivering the now-infamous line, 'Sydney Sweeney has 'good jeans.'' Online, progressive commentators seemed disturbed by the ad, and criticized the Euphoria star for catering to the male gaze. Others viewed the focus on the 'good genes' of a conventionally attractive, blue-eyed blonde woman as some kind of eugenist dogwhistle. Many criticized and pushed back against the clip, which sparked a counter-reaction from reactionary content creators, who heralded the ad as a cultural victory. Forbes has reached out to American Eagle via email for comment. While some viewed the American Eagle ad as reflecting something unpleasant about the current moment, it could be considered a symptom of nostalgia culture—the ad is explicitly a remake of a controversial Brooke Shields ad from the 80's, shot when she was only 15 years-old. In the last few years, fierce controversies have often been sparked by commercials, with commentators seemingly viewing ad campaigns as the battleground for a never-ending culture war. After a period of faux-progressive ad campaigns and reactionary backlashes (such as non-binary Mr Potato Head and the Bud Light fiasco), the pendulum has now swung the opposite way—now, it's progressives who are expressing outrage over advertisements. The Sweeney ad sparked discourse, then memes and mockery, as commentators tried to make sense of the controversy, and gauge how much outrage the campaign had really caused. While some expressed disappointment in Sweeney for leaning into sex appeal to sell products (such as her 'bath water' soap bars), others commended Sweeney for capitalizing on her brand, noting that she was one of the few non-Nepo Baby stars out there. What seemed like a small outrage, largely contained on X (Twitter), eventually spread to the rest of the internet. On TikTok, Doja Cat joined the discourse, mocking Sweeney's genes monologue with an exaggerated Southern accent. The Late Show host Stephen Colbert discussed the controversy after playing the clip on his show, stating: 'Some people look at this and they're seeing something sinister, saying that the genes/jeans denim wordplay in an ad featuring a white, blonde woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, white supremacy and Nazi propaganda. That might be a bit of an overreaction — although Hitler did briefly model for Mein Kampfort Fit Jeans.' Weirdly enough, the White House even commented on the controversy, with spokesman Steven Cheung describing the backlash as 'Cancel culture run amok. This warped, moronic, and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024. They're tired of this bulls**t.' It's all ads, it seems, all the way down—are we doomed to endure endless discourse about which demographic is being targeted by corporate America's newest ad campaigns? The internet has shown that it can meme water bottles, McDonalds milkshakes and Labubu dolls into the stratosphere, turning ordinary items into must-have purchases. Advertising is all about attention, after all, and everyone is desperately trying to make their brand go viral, by any means necessary. MORE FROM FORBES Forbes What Is The 'Gen Z Stare'? The TikTok Debate, Explained By Dani Di Placido Forbes How Labubu Dolls Took Over The Internet By Dani Di Placido Forbes The AI-Altered 'Wizard Of Oz' Controversy, Explained By Dani Di Placido Forbes The Controversial Donald Trump 'South Park' Episode, Explained By Dani Di Placido
New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
The Far Right in Germany Wants to Soften Its Image, Not Its Policies
The leaders of the hard-right Alternative for Germany party, known as the AfD, floated a new plan last month meant to vault them into power. It had two simple parts. Divide mainstream parties with culture wars. Then, soften the AfD's image for Germans who say they'd never vote for it, turned off by its denigration of migrants and other stances. The AfD got an earlier-than-expected opportunity to put the plan in motion recently, seizing on a political rift in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government over a high-court nominee. The AfD injected disorder into the proceedings, turning it into exactly the sort of culture-war fight that its leaders say could help the party. The AfD's new strategy emerged from an internal analysis of its performance in national elections in February. It ran on an anti-elite, anti-immigrant platform that included promises of mass deportations. It also vowed to reignite the nation's industrial economy, powered by German coal and Russian natural gas. The party finished second, winning more than a fifth of the vote. But the AfD found itself shut out of government, with no other party in Parliament willing to work with it. Unable to cement its place in the Bundestag, the AfD decided that it needed to expand its appeal at the ballot box and in circles of power in Berlin. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
School chaplain the Church of England is trying to cancel again... six years after he said pupils needn't accept LGBT ideology
Everyone who knows the Reverend Dr Bernard Randall attests to his intellectual vigour, kindness, tolerance and patience – qualities the Anglican church would no doubt prefer all its clerics possessed, though by no means all do. With the Church of England facing abuse scandal upon abuse scandal, spend an hour in the company of the Oxford graduate and former Cambridge University director of theology and it's hard not to conclude he is the kind of man the beleaguered institution needs now more than ever. But for the past six years, Dr Randall, 52, has been on a Church of England blacklist, a casualty of the culture wars – a victim, as he sees it, of a grave injustice and 'a perfect storm of failings'. As it stands, were he to try to preach at a CofE church, he could face legal sanction. His crime? As The Mail On Sunday exclusively revealed in 2021, Dr Randall, school chaplain at Trent College in Derbyshire, simply gave a sermon to pupils, telling children they did not have to accept LGBT ideology – upholding, he says, the Church's own teachings on marriage. Bizarrely, the independent school, which has a long Anglican tradition, secretly referred Dr Randall to the Government's anti-radicalisation programme Prevent following the 2019 sermon – and later sacked him. Less bizarrely, Prevent saw no reason to take any action against him. Nor did several other official bodies which later considered his case. Six years on, Dr Randall explains what it is like to remain a pariah: 'When I first lost my job, things were very hard, and we were making a lot of use of supermarket surplus food given out free. 'After the story broke in the MoS, we were extremely grateful for the kindness of some strangers, and a couple of charitable grants. 'I got part-time work with an adult education provider. So we're OK, but we've definitely had to tighten our belts. I had to have a tooth extracted because I couldn't afford a crown. And I'm very worried about when our mortgage is due for renewal – but then so are lots of people.' What is apparent is that this once confident, much respected clergyman is now in despair, bewildered and broken by what he and many others consider a betrayal. If Dr Randall had failed, say, to tell police about abuse allegations – as former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby failed to do – his blacklisting, say supporters, might be understandable. Just as it would if, like the man now leading the Church, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, he had turned a blind eye to the case of a vicar accused of grooming teenage girls. Dr Randall remains, in the eyes of the Church, a safeguarding risk – someone who might cause 'spiritual and emotional harm'. He calls this perverse, accusing the Church of desperately trying to maintain the 'appearance of being progressive'. He says the Church has become 'a corporate machine, more concerned with appearances and tick-boxing than showing basic Christian virtues'. As chaplain, he told pupils that 'you should no more be told you have to accept LGBT ideology than you should be told you must be in favour of Brexit, or must be Muslim'. He was, in part, reacting to campaign group Educate & Celebrate, invited by the school to teach staff to 'embed gender, gender identity and sexual orientation into the fabric' of what they do. After falling into a bitter dispute with the school's bosses, he was sacked, then reinstated, only to be made redundant during Covid. Despite being cleared of wrongdoing, Dr Randall, who is married with a daughter, was unable to get another job in the Church. The Right Reverend Libby Lane, the Bishop of Derby – the Church's first female bishop – refused to grant him a licence or permission to officiate because her safeguarding team decided he could pose a risk of harm to children. It raised concerns about how Dr Randall 'would speak to and support someone who came to him if they were struggling with their sexuality'. For what it's worth, Dr Randall believes the Church is absolutely right to be more relaxed about gay people, describing the vitriol they once faced as 'abhorrent'. He complained that the proceedings were flawed and Bishop Lane 'discriminated against me on the grounds of my orthodox beliefs on gender and sexual orientation'. But Archbishop Welby refused to allow Dr Randall to bring a misconduct case against Bishop Lane, despite being told by Gregory Jones KC the decision was 'plainly wrong'. Mr Jones, reviewing the case on behalf of the clergy discipline tribunal, said Archbishop Welby had 'misunderstood the scope of his powers', adding that the Church's 'error' was 'gross'. The tribunal ruled that while there were 'serious errors', Bishop Lane personally did not have a case to answer. But it was decided that the Church 'should look at this matter again and that it might well be appropriate' for an independent team to start from scratch. And so, after waiting more than a year, Dr Randall found himself at a preliminary meeting last month with CofE safeguarding adviser Lee Elliot and Bishop of Repton, Rt Revd Malcolm Macnaughton, the Bishop of Derby's deputy. Bishop Malcolm read a statement which claimed the chaplain remained a risk based on what he might say in future sermons. Mr Elliott referred to Dr Randall's Christian beliefs as 'your views'. Dr Randall responded by saying that his sermon reflected official CofE doctrine, not personal opinion. Mr Elliot went on to claim that saying 'things that are controversial... could significantly lead to harm', before abruptly ending the meeting. Dr Randall later told the MoS: 'This has been six years of silence, shame and spiritual exile. 'I have been punished not for wrongdoing, but for believing. The Church's safeguarding process has become a tool of coercion, not care. I am speaking out because I know I am not alone, and because no one should suffer in silence for staying true to their faith. 'I have been treated as guilty without accusation or evidence, and pressured to renounce my beliefs to be deemed safe. Despite no complainant, no evidence and no allegation of misconduct, I have been treated as a risk.' The toll on his physical and mental health has been 'devastating'. Describing 'long periods of despair and hopelessness', he says there were times when just being asked 'How are you?' led to tears. 'The whole thing has been hanging over us, and of course my stress and distress is felt by them [my family], especially my wife, who sees me suffering and can do very little about it. Because of the way the Church has treated me, we can't move on. Once, I started thinking about self-immolating on the floor of General Synod [the church's ruling body] as a protest. 'The tears came when I realised they'd just put it down as an unfortunate incident, and then carry on in the same way as before.' Andrea Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, says Dr Randall's case is less about safe-guarding than censorship and freedom of speech. She says the CofE 'continues to treat Dr Randall as a risk without presenting any evidence or allegations', adding: 'This is a clear abuse of process and a violation of his rights. It is heartbreaking to see a man of faith and integrity suffer so profoundly for doing what he was called to do. 'Bernard Randall has been vindicated time and again, yet the Church continues to punish him. 'How much longer must he wait for justice?'
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Beware the blizzard of lies: US advice on how to handle Farage's Trump tactics
Truth, the progressive California politician Hiram Johnson once said, is the first casualty of war. His oft-cited remark was supposedly made in 1918 in reference to the first world war, which had by then caused millions of human casualties. More than a century later, truth is again caught in the crossfire, this time as a casualty of 21st-century culture wars. If Donald Trump is the high priest of disinformation, then Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is showing signs of being a willing disciple, if his behaviour in the UK this week is anything to go by. Farage has proposed sending prisoners abroad – including to El Salvador, where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of deportees and suggested sending US citizens. He also suggested an extensive police recruitment drive and prison-building programme all while cutting health and education spending. The parroting of Trump's policies by a UK populist has not gone unnoticed in the US. And for those who have studied the president's modus operandi, there is one particular tactic the British public should be braced for: the blizzard of lies and false statements that frequently overwhelms his opponents. The Trump experience, they say, contains sobering lessons for Farage's critics. US pro-democracy campaigners says Trump has become even harder to factcheck since his first term, thanks to a combination of factors including looser social media content moderation and a reluctance among some media owners to stand up to his intimidation. The Washington Post, which tracked more than 30,000 lies or misleading statements from Trump during his presidency, lost subscribers and public trust after its billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, reportedly vetoed an editorial endorsing the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president. 'It's become more difficult because there's less commitment from those who are in the best position to do the factchecking,' said Omar Noureldin, a senior vice-president for Common Cause, a non-partisan group. 'Seeking the truth here comes with costs and risks.' Complicating matters is the loss of trust in institutions, with many consumers relying on social media platforms for news. 'Even the best factchecking can be unpersuasive, because we're not just facing an information crisis here, but also a trust crisis in the American information ecosystem,' Noureldin said. Media watchers say the political environment has become so deeply polarised that factchecking can even have the counter-productive effect of further entrenching misplaced beliefs. 'From a lot of research, we're reaching the conclusion that factchecking hasn't been as effective as one would want,' said Julie Millican, the vice-president of Media Matters for America, a media watchdog. 'One reason is that information and disinformation spreads faster than you can check it. It takes a lot longer to factcheck something than it does for it go viral. 'But the other thing is factchecking can backfire. People so distrust institutions that factchecking can validate the misinformation in their minds and make them more inclined to believe the lie they believed in the first place.' A 2022 report from Protect Democracy suggests this is the result of a deliberate strategy of authoritarian regimes. 'Disinformation is spread through coordinated networks, channels and ecosystems, including politically aligned or state-owned media,' the report said. 'The goal is not always to sell a lie, but instead to undermine the notion that anything in particular is true.' Further complicating the problem in the US has been Trump's appointment of allies to key government agencies that have traditionally served as sources of accurate and reliable data for factcheckers. A case in point is Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has engaged in anti-vaccine theories. As Trump's pick for health and human services secretary, he is in charge of the country's vast health bureaucracy. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Factchecking wasn't working very well in the first place, but now you can't even get access to the facts that you need be able to factcheck as well as you used to,' said Millican. The outlook seems bleak, but campaigners say that does not make the problems insurmountable. One answer is to invest in independent, non-partisan research. A prime purpose would be to increase media literacy among young people, who primarily get news from platforms such as TikTok which can be subject to disinformation tools such as AI-manipulated videos. The aim is to teach consumers how to spot doctored footage. 'Media literacy is extremely important and something that should be invested in and taught at a young age,' said Millican. Another solution is the development of 'pre-buttal' strategies to inoculate the public against disinformation, in effect getting the truth out first. Media Matters for America and Common Cause used this approach during last year's presidential election, partly by producing videos designed to counter anticipated false narratives surrounding voting procedures in certain areas. Also important, said Shalini Agarwal, special counsel at Protect Democracy, is calling out the demonisation of vulnerable groups, such as immigrants, as soon as it happens. A crucial role is played by media, even as Trump intensifies his assault on journalists as 'fake news' and tries to exclude certain established outlets from press briefings. 'It's really important when there are opportunities for one-on-one briefings and there are multiple reporters,' Agarwal said. 'Part of it is a sense of collective action. Often, whoever is speaking at the podium won't give a straightforward answer or gives a false answer and then tries to move on – it's incumbent when that happens for other reporters to jump in and say: 'Wait. What about what the other reporter asked?'' Millican has two pieces of advice for Britain and other European countries hoping to arm themselves against any coming authoritarian onslaught: fortify the media and preserve legislation designed to combat disinformation and illegal content online – represented by the online safety act in Britain and the digital safety act in the EU. 'The first thing that's going to happen in these authoritarian takeovers is they're going to try to silence and take over the media and information landscape,' she said. 'Any efforts to rein in hate speech or misinformation on platforms will be seen as tantamount to suppression of conservative thought or free speech. 'I can't stress enough trying to buffer the pollution of your information ecosystem as much as possible. One of the first things that they're going to do is just take down any barriers they can.'
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘We're struggling': unease as crowded Cotswolds braces for JD Vance's summer holiday
The narrow lanes and honeyed stone walls of the Gloucestershire market town of Stow-on-the-Wold are not the setting where one would expect to see an angry altercation – unless it was a standoff between Range Rovers for the last parking spot in the gridlocked market square. This is a place of ancient doorways and expensive condiments, where the pavements are dotted with teashops and vintage cars drift past with their roofs down and a plaque on the war memorial records the last time a battle was fought here, in 1646. But could this almost parodistically charming town, or another very like it, soon find itself at the heart of the angry US culture wars? According to reports, the US vice-president, JD Vance, will be holidaying in the Cotswolds with his family next month, and protesters are determined to let him know just how warm the welcome will not be in England's chocolate box countryside. 'JD Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the UK as Donald Trump,' said the Stop Trump Coalition, which mobilises British opposition to the US president. 'We are sure that, even in the Cotswolds, he will find the resistance waiting.' If so, it will not be a new experience for the veep. Vance's wife, Usha, and their three young children had to abandon a ski holiday in Vermont in March after they were met with crowds of protesters with signs reading 'Go ski in Russia'. The Vances were also jeered at Disneyland in California after part of the park was closed off for their sole use. For some, such as the comedian and former chatshow host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, the actor Portia de Rossi, outrage at the Trump administration has gone further. The couple moved to the Cotswolds earlier this year and now regarded it as permanent, DeGeneres said last week, explicitly so they could escape the Trump administration. Luxury estate agents say they are among growing numbers of wealthy Americans seeking a foothold in what some, inevitably, are calling the English Hamptons (others, on account of the many posh people here already, prefer to call it 'the Couttswolds'). And now, the VP? He may not be popular, but in Stow at least, the Vance resistance did not yet appear to have mobilised earlier this week. Local people know the value of the tourist dollar or yuan, and despite the crowds of tourists disgorging from coaches and the backed-up traffic on the A429, they welcome them, if occasionally through gritted teeth. 'That's the balancing act that [we live with],' said Ken Greenway, who had ridden his scooter into Stow 'to escape the crowds in Burford', his equally picturesque village nearby. Vance and his compatriots were welcome, he said, 'and anybody who has got a business must be over the moon to see all these people coming in. But the locals, we're struggling. I mean, it's taken me 20 minutes to come two miles [into town] on the main road.' Some of the VP's countrymen are less polite about his trip. 'I'm glad we'll have gone by then,' says Laurelyn Karagianis, visiting with a family party from Los Angeles. It had been a dream for a decade to visit the Cotswolds. 'When I think about a cosy, Christmassy holiday, I think of Bourton-on-the-Water, Castle Combe,' she says, adding that it is a shame that US politics has followed the family down the winding lanes. 'I just met with a [British] friend who I haven't seen in 15 years, and that was the main topic of discussion over dinner. It's sad that our politicians are kind of a laughing stock that the world has to protest,' Karagianis says Whatever the cause – US political refugees, a post-Covid exodus of London's wealthy, or sun-dappled social media posts in which Americans visit a pub or try to work an Aga – most local people agree that visitor numbers have swelled significantly in the past decade. For some, enough is enough. After eight years living in Stow, Lesley Webb is moving to West Sussex after a change in her circumstances – which she admits is a relief. 'It's an awful thing to say, but for me, it's just become too touristy. Stow itself has got busier and busier and busier. It's just the volume of people, everywhere,' Webb says. Perhaps happily for the village, rumours now suggest the Vances may end up not in this idyllic part of Gloucestershire so favoured by Americans, but across the Oxfordshire border, closer to Chipping Norton. The Spectator, quoting 'almost impeccable sources', reported that 'a filthy rich Anglo' could be lending his own home to the second family to spare them the deprivations of Airbnb. 'Apparently some senior British political figures, who have knowledge of Cotswolds social scene, are helping the Vance family plan their trip,' the magazine said. Whoever could they mean?
