Hot Takes Vol. 2

Andrew Tate, Satanic Grammy LARPing, and the Pope on smoking and sodomy laws

Goodbye Spotify

OUT: Paid music streaming platforms

IN: Radio, free streaming w/ ads

I’m working on an article about why I got rid of Spotify Premium. In short, it was ruining my life…feeding my sense of late phase capitalist anomie and entitlement to instant gratification, and in the process destroying my neuropathways. Something about relying on someone else to choose music for you, and waiting for ads to finish before listening to specific songs you want to listen to, instill in you the virtues of patience, humility, and a reminder that we are primarily receivers and not manipulators of reality.

Safe Satanism

Ross Douthat published an article this week in the NYTimes in response to the new statue built in front of the NY court house. The statue, which looks like a cross between Lilith and Baphomet, is supposedly and ode to female empowerment and a symbol of protest against abortion restrictions. Strange how some abortionists have no qualms unveiling the diabolical implications of celebrating abortion. More importantly, Douthat’s article highlights the naivete of Americans who dabble in forms of “spirituality” like Manifestation Techniques, crystals, and Tarot readings. Spirituality, within the social imaginary of American humanistic materialism, tends to be regarded as a neutral phenomenon…it’s “what you make of it” in the end. Douthat warns that perhaps that’s not the case, and that despite the person’s good intentions, they can be challenging ungodly spirits that can cause much damage.

Satanism is just a LARP…

That being said, an increasing amount of people seem to be alarmed by Sam Smith’s satan-themed Grammy performance. What is it with all of these celebrities appropriating occult and esoteric motifs? But don’t worry, I’m sure the satanic aesthetic will fade out of fashion at some point. It all must be a big LARP. It’s not like those very kind people who run record label conglomerates would have any interest in using such imagery for sinister purposes…

Yonce all on Ticketmaster like…

That being said, I will not be attending the Renaissance tour. That is final. Any pain Ticketmaster may inflict on those of you who choose to attempt to buy tickets is none of my concern.

Andrew Tate: Butterfaced psyop

I see no point in having an opinion about Andrew Tate. Like the stuff of most other viral news stories, he’s a psyop. He’s been allowed to become popular and then had his reputation destroyed in order to demonize anyone who espouses views that run even minimally adjacent to his. For what it’s worth, his 15 minutes were rather short…usually best to fatten up a calf before slaughtering it. Also I have a hard time taking him seriously when he clamors about being an alpha and attracting so many women. He’s kinda ugly and talks like a dweeb.

Nietzschean Individualism

Since I mentioned Tate, I’ve discovered while working on an exhibit about Nietzsche’s influence on the US (which all you New Yorkers should check out during President’s Day weekend) just how much the “opposing sides” in the culture wars are more like two sides of the same coin. Both take Nietzsche’s anti-foundationalism and extreme individualism as points of departure, merely placing different accents on the implications of such convictions. At the end of the day both the left and right reject the idea that we are contingent beings, who can only thrive in the context of a relationship with God, family, and a broader community. Both self-referential identitarianism and the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” brand of traditionalism (even the religious strains) are utterly Nietzschean.

Stop making sinning boring

Chris Damian recently critiqued my article on Bad Catholics and firing “sinners” from religious institutions. I don’t really have the energy to respond. All I really have to say is that sinning is much more fun when you actually allow yourself to enjoy and revel in your sinful behaviors, and stop wasting your time trying to morally justify it. Smells like Nietzschean ressentiment when one spends their time playing jesuitical word games in order to persuade people to confer their approval upon their behavior.

Smoke-free campuses

While on a field trip in Manhattan, a student commented after walking past several people who were smoking cigarettes, “I can’t believe people still smoke. I thought they only did that in movies.” On college campuses, one may be the object of moral disapproval and dirty looks should they dare to light up a cigarette in front of others. Vaping, while still popular, is becoming passe. While smoking weed (and increasingly, eating weed) has become the go to vice—whether for the sake of stress relief, social bonding, or partying. The lack of cigarette smoking on college campuses is emblematic of the psychological and existential condition of Gen Z students…as well as their professors and administrators. It’s a dreadfully dull combination of materialistic moralism (that is, it’s not what comes out of the body that matters, but what goes in) and a neurotic evasion of anything that forces them to confront symbols that remind them of death and human finitude. This combination is the natural product of the content being taught to them in classes: pragmatism without ontological substance, moralism without aesthetics.

Sodomy>Cigarettes?

So the Pope said sodomy laws are unjust. That’s nice for him to believe so. For all the people up in arms over the statement, the Pope is totally entitled to having that personal opinion about such a political matter. It’s not like such a statement was spoken ex cathedra, as it has nothing to do with matters of faith and morals. I just find it funny that while the Pope may not deem sodomy an act worth penalizing people for legally, he does find it worthwhile to ban the sale of tobacco products in the Vatican because of its “adverse effect on health.” I suppose sodomy can be much more beneficial for people’s health than smoking cigarettes. Though the genius of a great many artists and writers (some of whom, like Oscar Wilde, were Catholic) was forged in the crucible of the legal/social stigma against sodomy and the easy access to cigarettes. Now that the formula has been reversed, who know if we will get another Oscar Wilde at any point soon… (Also Pope Benny and Pope Pius XIII smoked).

Theme Nights NYC

I keep getting ads for theme parties at clubs in NYC. From Bad Bunny Tarot Night and Reggaeton Night, to Beyonce Rennaissance Night to 90s R&B Night, my reactions oscillate between self-righteous scoffing and intense FOMO. On one hand, it’s enticing to go out to a club where they play YOUR specific niche music vibe all night. On the other, it comes off as incredibly gimmicky, rendering even going out dancing a space for one to project their self-curated identity markers. I’ve given in (begrudgingly, of course) and attended a handful of these events. The 90s pop night in Williamsburg was lackluster, with an old overweight white DJ and a bunch of drab, rhythmically challenged millennials bopping around to Britney Spears, Nelly, Green Day, and *NSYNC. Scenes like those make me want to swallow more of the Peterson-pill, as watching grown adults desperately attempting to hold on their youth and avoid commitment and responsibility in the name of self-expression and self-care (myself included) is a pitiful sight to see. I also attended 2 reggaeton nights: one entitled Safaera (titled after Bad Bunny’s song) NFT and Music Night, held in the basement of a LES disco, and Gasolina Night, held in Webster Hall. The former at least had less of a desperate cringe vibe as the 90s night—the majority of people in attendance in that steamy, crammed basement were Latin@, knew how to dance, and had some edge to them…at least for a lower Manhattan crowd (one patron almost started a fight with a friend because she accused her of stealing her jacket). The latter (which was 18+) was mostly white NYU kids who couldn’t dance for their lives, and really were just there to say that they attended Gasolina night than to actually live in the moment fully. While I can’t deny being enticed by the barrage of theme night ads on social media, I don’t intend to be in attendance again any time soon. Besides, there’s a reason why discos are for people below a certain age.

The African Pope

The Pope visited South Sudan two weeks ago . I’m reminded of Pope John Paul II who once implied that the future of the Catholic Church is in Africa. Dare we hope that the next Pope be from Sub-Saharan Africa. In my articles featuring African Catholics like Obianuju Ekeocha and Cardinal Sarah, I’ve highlighted the way that Africans are in a particular position to understand the errors of the past and the needs of the future. Victims of racism, colonialism, and capitalistic exploitation, as well as globalist secular manipulation and indoctrination, Africans tend to see through the right vs left Western “culture war,” opting for the primacy of God, family, and cultural heritage over the variety of Western neoliberal self-referential paradigms. An African pope might be able to cut through the clash in the Church between Eurocentricity and free market fundamentalism on the one hand and sexual libertinism and leftist sociopolitical posturing on the other. It will be hard for white Catholics to lodge accusations of racism or of heterodoxy at an African pope. On a lighter note, I find it entertaining how lefty Catholics (like this reporter) make a big fuss over Francis’ presence in Africa while supporting the globalist, elitist proposals of the heterodox German bishops.

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