It is really quite amazing that Tulsi Gabbard, right-wingers and QAnon have converged to swarm a fictional movie for allegedly exploiting young black Muslim girls, a group that all three have expressed zero actual concern for in the real world
Amazing, but not surprising. Bad faith actors are gonna bad faith act.
None of these folks have watched the film, most don’t know what it’s about and are unaware it’s a French indie film by a Black woman director—a child of Senegalese Muslim immigrants—not a Netflix production.
Curious: Have you watched Dance Moms or Toddlers and Tiaras, both of which have run for...uh...9 seasons?
I’m asking, where were you 9 years ago? For what it’s worth I think Dance Moms and T&T are garbage but this movie is critiquing that kind of culture, not celebrating it. If you want to attack Black women because it’s easier than going after white ones, go off I guess
There’s a nuanced conversation to be had but it won’t happen in the context of reactive hysteria
I think sexualization of children is bad. So does Maïmouna Doucouré. If you think making something visible is feeding it—what is it exactly that QAnon is allegedly trying to do then?
And yet, we should also ask why feminist filmmakers of color are being held accountable for ways in which disgusting people miswatch their work? Is advising them to “be careful with shot choices” not like telling women to cover up in public if they want to avoid being harassed?
The burden always falls on women to avoid sexual assault, people of color to avoid brutalization by police, immigrants to avoid being attacked as unassimilable foreigners. A young Black woman filmmaker attacked for critiquing exploitation of young Black women?
It’s exhausting.
This whole thing with Cuties shows how the tropes and energy behind prior shock-tactic viral movements like #WhereAretheGirls and KONY 2012 can easily be weaponized from “protecting” Black women to attacking them, almost like flipping a switch
Basic logic: If you think the clips from this movie are “evidence of child porn,” why are you sharing them all over the Internet 🤪
This is not what you do with child porn, folks. If you ever do come across child porn, report it to authorities, amplifying *makes you complicit*
Meanwhile, as Maïmouna Doucouré gets irresponsibly dragged for her feature film debut, quite literally elsewhere in France, Roman Polanski continues to be feted as a genius theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/…
Also I’m curious how right wingers can pile on the Black woman director of Cuties while blinding themselves to this and repeated examples of their orange god-king’s disgusting fetishization of adolescent girls businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-…
Literally laughed out loud
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And after massive protests, Xi suddenly rolls back Zero Covid policy with the standard “oh the virus has evolved/our policies have worked” stuff that govs everywhere have done. What are the “Xi can’t possibly pivot or lose face!” maximalists thinking now? nytimes.com/2022/12/08/wor…
I would’ve thought it would come with a massive vax push but Xi clearly thinks he has power firmly enough in hand that he can shake off whimsically ending a despised public health mandate—and the millions of deaths that will likely follow
A gift of @ewarren’s Op-Ed in the @nytimes, in which she gives smart, sound, detailed advice on what Dems should do now that we’ve held the Senate. Sharp analysis on how progressive ideas won voters over, and going further will win more, per her brand. nytimes.com/2022/11/12/opi…
Curious what part of
—reverse Trump tax giveaways to wealthy
—cut housing and child care costs
—end gerrymandering
—protect abortion rights as kitchen table issue not ideologically
—focus on economic well-being of families
—embrace populist economic policies
If anyone, ANYONE doubted that Trump's 2024 campaign (which is surely coming, now more than ever) was going to lean hard into China-bashing and inflaming anti-Asian xenophobia, stop doubting.
I continue to feel sorry for her assault but questions about her journalistic ethics began well before that and then erupted with her Benghazi coverage.
But now who knows how deep Qanon has its claws into her.
It’s quite possible, but it is absolute garbage that Newsmax is trotting her out there while trying to guide her to a coherent on message right wing talking point. Then again I’m sure they’d throw Kanye out there to spout unmedicated antisemitism if he were available.
Pence is no hero for not criming Trump into office, just like Romney and six other GOP senators are no heroes for voting to impeach him and Liz Cheney is no hero for helping investigate a deadly insurrection
But the bar is just so low for Republicans now—we celebrate Team Normal
The truth is of course that the Republican Party will never be normal again. When no more than a token handful of its members are even willing to *investigate* a massive existential crime against democracy, it’s clear it is beyond hope. And this just the most egregious evidence.
The GOP is a party that refuses to acknowledge the clear and present threat of climate change to the humans species
That won’t act to reign in guns even as kids are murdered week after week
That lets its members flout rules and overtly embrace white nationalism without censure