In The Buzz Cut, we bring you a round-up of all the weird, controversial, and wonderful stories we’ve been reading all week.
After rumors of Queen Elizabeth II’s retirement started abounding a year and a half closer to her 95th birthday, the royal family confirmed the queen had no plans to retire, not at 95, or “any other age.” British media, stop speculating about her retirement. She’s going to stay “on the job” forever.
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At a recent NATO conference in London, world leaders including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British PM Boris Johnson, and France President Emmanuel Macron were seen making fun of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tardiness, mocking Trump for holding unbearably long press conferences that make his team’s “jaws drop to the floor.” The clip went viral, hammering in yet another nail into what has become a dying, pathetic presidency for Trump.
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A fancy bike brand, Peloton, released an ad consisting of a montage of selfie videos taken by a wife, who is gifted the exercise bike by her husband, and then dutifully goes on to use it regularly. Her seemingly authentic journey of self-actualization, which occurs on the stationary Peloton bike, did not fool internet users — they made it clear they did not buy the sexist ad, and would definitely not buy the Peloton.
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It’s 2019, and we’re still overly-stigmatizing sexually-transmitted infections. Before the 1960s, for example, nobody paid mind to a little herpes. Now, a herpes diagnosis can be accompanied by dollops of shame and panic thrown in. How did we get here? Well, the media made a big scene, partly because the drug companies orchestrated it.
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Elon Musk called a Thai cave rescuer a “Pedo Guy” on Twitter in July 2018. Now, he’s on trial defending himself against a defamation suit. His defense? “Pedo Guy doesn’t mean pedophile.”
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Mckinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, has recently been found to have advising the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — an embattled anti-immigrant federal agency — on “detention savings opportunities” including cuts to food supplies given to immigrants detained against their will. It joins a host of corporations trying to profit off of right-wing xenophobia.
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How is India faring under Prime Minister Narendra Modi? Here’s a rap sheet of all the human rights violations Modi has condoned (or even encouraged) and how he got away with all of it.
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Fleabag isn’t the best television our generation can create. It’s not even close. Sure, it’s entertaining, and well done, and honest — but is the praise lavishly showered upon Phoebe Waller-Bridge due to her talent, or due to her privilege?
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What does it mean to be a social justice champion? Is it to aggressively posture you’re learning, take up space, use your privilege and advocate for those who can’t, like Jameela Jamil does? Or is it to unlearn social conditioning alongside your followers, without any grandiose claims of saviour-ism, like NoName’s approach? Wear Your Voice has a favorite of the two.
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Deepika Padukone, Bollywood actress and self-appointed champion of people with depression, has taken her journey with the illness, including her decision to speak up, to the New York Times. Here’s what she has to say.
