Hey, welcome to The Five. A publication about the stories that matter.
One note, I had to take a week off the podcast due to family illness (kids can’t stay out of urgent care—ugh), but it will return next week.
With that being said, let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
The manifesto of the Nashville shooter was released this week. Turns out Audrey Hale, who murdered three children and three adults (including one woman who attended Bible study with the mom of one of my closest friends) killed these people because she hated religious Christians…and because the target was easy.
The 2023 Nashville Covenant School murders understandably received massive news coverage when they occurred. The fight over obtaining the murderer’s diary also received news attention. But when “nearly four dozen pages” of the murderer’s diary were finally released last week, the mainstream media completely ignored it. It turns out that behind the scenes, the FBI had fought hard against the diary’s release. Some Covenant School parents also opposed releasing the diary because it would force families to re-live the nightmare. The Tennessee Star’s parent company, Star News Digital Media, successfully filedtwo lawsuitstoobtainthe diary.
Five days after the release of the diary, with the exception of the New York Post, which is a national news outlet, the news coverage was limited toseven other conservative outlets such as The Daily Wire and Newsbusters.
The school murderer was transgender, and her diary reveals a suicidal left-winger who hated whites. The FBI expressed concern that the release of the diary from a transgender person could lead the public “to dismiss the attacker as mentally ill,” which would “further permeate the false narrative that the majority of attackers are mentally ill.” It worried that the diary could “potentially inflam[e] the public.”
The FBI worried that releasing the diary could have “unintended consequences for the segment of the population more vulnerable or open to conspiracy theories, which will undoubtedly abound.” Self-professed “experts,” the FBI fears, will “proffer their perspectives” in the press.
Furthermore, Hale picked her alma mater beause she knew there would be no armed resistance, compared to two other places she wanted to shoot up.
The diary showed that the murderer had picked the Covenant School because it was a soft, unprotected target. Even if the national media ignored these comments, the Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake, who had access to the diary, said on the day of the attack, “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to.” A couple of days later, Nashville Council member Robert Swope stated that the murderer “looked at” two other Nashville public schools before deciding “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do.”
The national media ignoring this story re-victimizes those who have already been through so much. My former college classmate (pictured below) became a face of the shooting when she picked up her kids weeping children after the carnage. Those children are not even given the dignity of the corporate press accurately reporting on what happened.
Much has been made about “protecting” the Trans community by holding back the manifesto…but I’d like to argue for equal rights here. By definition, equal rights means that I treat you with respect as a free and independent adult, regardless of your race/creed/nationality/identity.
Equal rights also means that when a person murders for an ideology, the world gets to find out why. If Hale had killed people in the name of Protestant Christianity I would be the first to stand up and demand the manifesto be released, because a murderer cannot be prioritized over victims.
[two]
One of the most surprising things about 2024 is how the world’s richest artist, with the biggest stadium tours, is starting to fade out. Sure, Taylor Swift is bigger than ever, but honest record critics are starting to take note in publications like Paste (who described Tortured Poets Department as “mid”), The New York Times (who call Taylor’s sonic input “cluttered”) and All Music (who describe her latest as “melodramatic to the point of ridiculousness”).
Lauren De Witt, writing in Crisis Magazine, called out Swift’s fanbase:
“There’s a reason Gen Z and Gen Alpha love Swift with an ardency that surpasses even that of the Millennials who loved her first: Taylor Swift, though 34, is still ‘feelin’ 22.’ It’s readily apparent that this is a woman entering the latter part of her prime childbearing years who remains lost and alone. She is a billionaire with the world at her feet, but it’s clear she has no real idea what to do with it. She remains emotionally stunted, repeatedly trying to fill the aching cry of her heart with created things and transient romantic relationships.”
For years, I would have considered Taylor Swift to be one of my favorite artists (her 2012 album RED still stands as one of my top records of all time), but I didn’t realize until recently I had only given her last two albums (Midnights and Poets) a spin or two each.
RED dropped when I was still in my twenties, on the tail end of figuring out my life’s direction and purpose. More than a decade later, I (like many of Taylor’s initial fans) have found many of those answers…while she seems to have transitioned into the stereotypical young adult who returns to their high school parking lot to gossip and suck down a vape with the teenage crowd.
Swift’s lyrical output at 34 is perhaps best contrasted with Dolly Parton’s writing at age 27—when the Tennessee native wrote both “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” in the same day. Seven years Swift’s junior when she penned two of the biggest country music songs of all time—diving deep into financial hardship and heartache to create a pair of songs that defined an era of both pop and country.
Dolly, who grew up on a dirt floor as one of 12 kids raised by sharecropper parents, had a LOT of real world heartache to draw from—compared to Swift’s manufactured emotional pain that comes mainly from dating very famous celebrities.
Will Swift’s adult fanbase fading out and negative album reviews hurt the singer? Not financially. Just as pro sporting events serve as a moment of respite for middle age men living “lives of quiet desperation,” Swift’s true product in the market is a place for teenage and early twentysomething girls to find manufactured online friendships. Don’t have a close knit group to take you out to a bar on your 21st birthday? You could work harder at building real relationships…or you could just post yourself weeping and wailing at the Eras tour, and boost your TikTok following with complete strangers.
I’ve often defended music (especially live music) as a point of commonality in an increasingly fractured world…but Taylor Swift’s mega-tours don’t seem to fit the bill.
Instead, this feels like a gathering of teens and twentysomethings are looking to Taylor as a mentor to lead them through a confusing stage of life—but Swift is stuck circling a cul-de-sac of immature celebrity relationships and being seemingly completely confused of where to go next. In the meantime, she’s got a bajillion dollars, millions screaming her name and a gaggle of celebrity cling-ons to help her avoid the difficult life decisions that reality slaps the rest of us in the face with.
That doesn’t mean that Swift can’t re-invent herself in a new stage of her career…but for now, Taylor seems content to remain in the high school parking lot, while her fans over the age of 25 are driving away towards more significant life choices. And sooner or later, that disparity is going to show up in dropping streaming stats and lower ticket sales.
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[three]
Conservative pundit Candace Owens, who was fired by the Daily Wire in March, returned to YouTube this week. She spent the first episode of her show attacking former co-worker Andrew Klavan for allegedly attacking her…then talking about how the President of Ukraine might have her assassinated (video here):
”People are afraid for my life because of this, and I understand why.”
Later, she transitions into an ad by saying “you may not be able to save my life from Zelinsky, but” [then goes into ad read].
Owens is REALLY good at counter punching, with previous takedowns of Steven Crowder, and brilliantly handled a college student well when the student asked “as a nonbinary person, what do you have to tell me about my identity, because I know for a fact I’m not confused.” Owens replied: “Ok, next question. Great statement. That’s a statement.”
Candace’s response is a great example of when to step out of a debate. If someone isn’t asking you a question and just wants to yell, you can’t win by responding or rebutting their points.
However, much of Owens’ content is such a obviously desperate plea for attention it’s painful.
From a conversation with comedian Bryan Callen:
I was giving a speech of the night, and I was talking about even. English words that had real meaning, right? We've allowed people to take those words, twist the meaning, and then say that we're not allowed to use those words anymore. And I'll give you a perfect example. Um, I'm reading a really old book right now called The Immoralist.
It's from, Pre World War I. Um, and the word fa*ggot is in the book as it is meant to be, a bundle of sticks. That's right. Right? That's what it is. At some point in society, you know, the word fa*ggot, a bundle of sticks got taken and got assigned to something it never meant. And now we're no longer allowed to say that word and it gets censored everywhere, which is interesting, right?
No…it’s not really interesting at all. I’m guessing “fa*ggot” fell out of meaning as “a bundle of sticks” because we started heating our homes with coal, then with electricity and natural gas, and there was really no more reason to talk about bundles of sticks. Owens defending the slang term would at least be…something to talk about.
The “fa*ggot as bundle of sticks” non-controversy is just as silly as Owens’ claim that a Ukrainian shadow organization will try to murder her. After all, the U.S. is a functional ATM for Ukraine, with more than $175 billion in taxpayer dollars being withdrawn to date. Why would they possibly risk that relationship to whack an only kinda-popular YouTuber?
Candace Owens is a prime example of what it takes to make it in the new media world—not great ideas, just statements thrown into the world with so much volume and confidence they seem credible…no matter how absurd.
A prime example is earlier this year when Owens said she would “bet her career” on French President Emanual Macron’s wife Brigitte was born a man.
Emmanuel and Brigitte’s relationship is disgusting because they met when he was 15 and she was hit 40-year-old teacher, and it’s classic groomer/victim behavior. I don’t care if they’re both consenting adults now (he’s 46, she’s 71), but the label of “child molester,” like “murderer” is a lifelong designation you can’t take back. But the idea that Brigitte was born a man and has been able to keep it out of the press for decades is…beyond absurd.
Owens was wrong…but rather than sticking by her word and quitting media (or at least retracting her statement), she just moved on to the next stupid thing—that a foreign leader was trying to kill her.
Candace Owens is billed as a political conservative, but in reality, her platform is that Candace Owens will say and do anything to make sure you keep tuning into Candace Owens.
Hey, I would never try to silence her…but it’s worth noting that some media personalities can be constantly wrong to the point of self-parody…and just get more money and viewers for their trouble.
[four]
Celebrity trainer and TV personality Jillian Michaels (who I’ve always respected, as she was super kind to my friend, who was a contestant on The Biggest Loser) went on an epic rant that captures how widespread the cultural backlash is to ideas that have been tried, and aren’t working.
I'm a gay woman, my mom's a Jew, my dad's an Arab, I have a black kid, and believe it or not, my son is half Latin, even though he doesn't look like it. I hold a million cards in your game of woke victimology poker. And when I leave California, maybe you've lost your f***ing mind.
Just maybe! Like, uh, when you, when you have me running from home.
We're going to pass a law for LGBTQ rights so that 24 year old men can sleep with 14 year old boys and not have to register as a sex offender because it's just not fair to the gays. I'm like, I'm just What? It's, what? Like, I don't know if you saw that one, that was like, I think early 2020 when they passed that law.
And it's, so I was like, if a 24 year old man touches my 14 year old son, I, I will get a gun. Yes. And take matters into my own hands. Yes. Like, you. Kidding, or the fact that a 12 year old child can be put on off label cancer drugs to irreparably change their body. Again, if my son came to me and said, Mom, My daughter. ‘I think I'm trans. I'd say, okay, you know, like you want to dress this way. You want me to call you Whatever the heck you want me to drop fine Explore it. I love you I'm cool. Like do you as long as we're safe, but we're not changing your body until it's fully developed.’ I'm, sorry conversation's over Can't get a tattoo exactly It's insane Like I I'm I I just can't it's it's madness It's madness to me.
Queue the slow clap meme:
[five]
As always, let's head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup
Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Green Knight) got a lot of accolades (see Metacritic reviews) for his directorial debut, which blended John Wick action and a children’s bedtime story/legend from India for Monkey Man (trailer). It’s on Peaco*ck as of today if you're looking for some weekend streaming.
The 1997 Matt Damon legal thriller The Rainmaker (based on a 1995 John Grisham novel) is getting rebooted as a TV show, with horror director/producer Jason Blum overseeing.
If you want to see Kevin Costner’s Horizon western…better get to the theater ASAP, as the first entry pulled in just $15 million opening weekend, which means it will be headed to PVOD pretty shortly. The second entry hits theaters this August, although I doubt we’ll get the third and fourth films in the series, considering the first two cost $100 million to make, meaning the Yellowstone actor just created one of the biggest flops in recent movie history.
Matt Damon (Goodwill Hunting, The Martian) and Casey Affleck (Oppenheimer, Manchester by the Sea) play a deadbeat dad and career criminal who team up to rob a corrupt politician, in an action-comedy. Friends since childhood, this is the EIGHTH time the pair have appeared on camera together, including Good Will Hunting, Interstellar, Chasing Amy and the Ocean’s 11-13 trilogy.
On Apple TV+ in August.
Peaco*ck trying to capture the magic of 2001’s Roman epic Gladiator by…just telling the same story again, pretty much as a TV series. The budget looks somewhere above your basic Netflix streamer, but notably more shoddy than a true big budget theatrical release. Which means it could be a suprise summer hit, or an absolute mess. But I’m intrigued by the fact that the writer of Saving Private Ryan penned the script on this one.
On Peaco*ck 07/18.
[new music]
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nights Sweats releases another 60’s-Stax-records-tinged single off their forthcoming fourth album, which is shaping up to be one of the best records of of the year.
At first, I rolled my eyes at Luke Combs “Father’s Day album,” which seemed like a blatant cash grab around the holiday weekend. But there’s no denying Combs’ songwriting chops, and at first listen, this feels like a genuine attempt to capture a moment in time as he reflects on both his young sons and his father.
The fact that Combs’ has the backbone to release an album without any manufactured “radio hits” is quite impressive. Few who have reached the top of the mainstream display that kind of artistic courage.
Worth a spin.
Until the next one,
-sth
