Ugh this. I think it’s equal parts racism and a twisted desire for celebrity (rather than infamy). Obama is a gifted orator and a charming guy and the non-racist public really liked him. Trump will never be charming or beloved to anyone but bigots.

I’m with you. When I was in parochial school, I had a teacher who was reprimanded for saying, basically, that the US only went to war to protect our financial interests, but didn’t seem to care about the suffering of people around the world, especially POC.

I absolutely hate how much this makes sense, but I think you’re probably right. Right wing assholes love to demonize anything they don’t agree with, even like, an event in honor of 20 small children who were murdered.

Yeah, I had an old friend from undergrad do this recently. She just had her kid, and the baby’s cute and stuff, but I was weirded out to get a shower invite a few months ago since she literally only communicates with me through my best friend.

I agree that she appears to completely like empathy. But personality disorders (sociopathy is a form of antisocial personality disorder) are illnesses and, while you can’t grow a conscience, counseling could potentially help her learn to modify her behavior and avoid doing something like this again. That’s a big if,…

Jesus, thank you for saying this. I think they’re both awful, but they’re mostly just the same awful in two (differently sized) packages.

I’ve taught teenagers too, so I get that you probably see this stuff a lot. But I would argue that a great many straight/bi/pan adult women had an experince in which they didn’t the sexy 20-something who was perving on them as a big scary grownup. So a lot of us understand that situation; it just doesn’t make it any…

I am not that much older than this dude. Like, probably not even a full year. But I am fully aware that I am not a teenager. I may not always feel “grown up”, but I don’t hang out with 14 year olds. He’s not 19 or 20. He’s nearly 25. Even that is a big difference.

I’m not saying she’s not talented. But I still don’t think she would have become a pop sensation without playing up her looks. Having big boobs, a small waist, symmetrical face, and white skin helps too.

Yeah I mean, I have no clue how personally invested she is in this new persona. I realize that celebrities, especially major label pop stars, have a lot of people manufacturing an image for them. But I do think she has at least some agency, if only because she isn’t a young ingenue at this point.

Yeah, I figured she was doing a white lady take on soulful slow rap with Drake, which will be fucking terrible. Though I do like Drake

Ooohh that makes sense. I mean, “I’m Not Okay” is kind of timeless. What weirdo teen can’t relate to a “fuck the cool kids” fantasy?

As a Lebanese-American person, the lyrics of this song really make my head hurt. 

But no one forced her to suddenly become political. Lots of pop stars basically never talk about politics. I agree that some public takedowns can be brutal, but it’s hard not to be frustrated at her failed attempt to capitalize on supposed “wokeness” or diversity or whatever. 

Yep, this is important. The only time she’s ever “taken a stand”, as far as I know, was when she donated 10K to Planned Parenthood. Which tbh is a pretty small donation for a multi-millionaire.

This. She has a great body, but if she went makeup-free and dressed like one of us normals, no one would have ever paid attention to her.

This is maybe a horrible thing to admit. But Katy Perry was one of my earlyish celebrity crushes and this picture haunts me.

Ah yeah, I admittedly didn’t think about it from that angle. Teen me had a very weird/morbid obsession with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain more specifically. I was like, 3 when he died.

Exactly, that’s why I’m so bewildered by it. All the guys from MCR are dads with solo projects now! How odd.

Yeah, no. It doesn’t matter what he looks like; homeboy is a pedohphile. Or if you’re a pedant, ephebophile. Just on a cognitive level, there’s a massive gap between 14 and 24 year olds. Not to mention how much life experience you gain in those 10 years.